Replacement for Petunias

I have an east facing yard with low walls on two sides. To the south is a very high wall (next door's extension) so the yard really only gets lots of sun until about 2 p.m.

This is my first year having a go at growing plants in containers. My main display was petunias but now they are about finished. Can you please advise what plants I should replace the petunias.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

 

What about pansies or violas? I bought some violas last week and they look really good in a container.

 

Petunias shouldn't have finished yet. Have they been kept fed and watered?

 

My initial thought, also they need deadheading to keep up their floral display do they not?

Don't do petunias meself, but I have Lobelia (trailing) that is looking very tired now, and has been kept well fed and watered. Just a novice guess, but perhaps the heat-wave that we had has caused problems.

Saying that I still have Cosmos yet to show any flower buds, I think it's been a strange season.



Steve

 

Many thanks for responding. I use Richard Jackson's Flower Power to feed once a week. Was afraid I may have over watered them. Should mention that I live in County Durham and am on the east coast. I have been dead heading but not as much as I should. Will go back in the morning and do so. Do I just pull the flowers off or snap the stalk that the head is on please? Will have a look at violas.

 

I think petunias are in the minority that don't need dead heading. I only grew them one year, and I never dead headed them but they kept blooming like crazy right up until the first frost. I did read somewhere that there's no point dead heading petunias, but I don't know what the consensus is.

 

Thanks - I shall have a go dead heading tomorrow and snip off the seed pods I've noticed. Will let you all know how the plants react. Time for bed me thinks.

 

Petunias do flower until frosts even without deadheading, but the dying flowers don't look very good and a snipping round every week or so definitely encourages more flowers IMHO. I use scissors as well because the flowers are sticky. Or encourage/bribe/blackmail/trick the Junior to do it.

Usually my summer bedding plants get pulled out in late October and we then plant the containers with Wilko's discount bulbs plus some Cyclamen on top. Bulbs never give a good show the second year when grown in containers, so my tactic is to get them cheaply and re-plant new ones every year. The exceptions are Crocus and Fritillaria which do well year after year. If you are not too picky on what varieties you want to grow, the wilkos-discount-method works very well. A bagful will cost a tenner and as I tend to forget what I bought and what was planted where, the spring is full of surprises. (Joys of old age )

I just read that Petunias etc. will give another show of flowers indoors in late autumn if pulled up, re- potted and pruned hard. Has anyone tried this? It's such a shame to compost lovely, living Petunias after they have worked so hard all summer.