It's a great looking petunia. I wonder if deer will find the flowers or foliage tasty? I assume it's growing in a pot: how big is the pot? And do you grow them from seed or are they cloned and sold in six-packs at the garden center? I wonder if they would perform well or look good used like living mulch, planted underneath roses. I tried it with vining nasturtiums and they have nearly swallowed up that bit of the rosebed. Sorry for all the questions, but I tried petunias once long ago, and it was a 100% failure. It would be lovely to have something besides dahlias and oriental lilies to carry my garden through the mid-summer lull.
I spent a moment contemplating the difficulties of growing roses where you live. I know that when I moved here I looked forward to growing a lot of roses that I could not in NJ. The move added hybrid tea roses to my list of possible choices, but most tea roses seem too tender for the garden. I cannot imagine what it must be like to garden where perennial plants and shrubs must endure such frigid conditions. Clearly good sod and pots of great petunias make the task easier.
I'm trying to think of good roses with zone 3 or 4 cold hardiness. I grew Blanc Double de Coubert, a rugosa that kept its corner of the garden deliciously scented through much of the summer; but dry weather killed it. I remember growing Champlain in NJ and being very happy with it. It did not have the classic hybrid tea rose shaped blossoms, but it was a pure red; and it tolerated brutal conditions. John Franklin worked pretty well, too. I also grew Henry Kelsey which I enjoyed. John Davis, growing in a nearby park in NJ was absolutely glorious: twelve feet high and wide and covered in pink blossoms. I have planted John Davis here. One thing or another seems to induce me to move it now and again and in four years this climber still has three inches to go before it reaches knee-high. Alexander Mackenzie also grew in a park in NJ. I saw it almost completely covered in purplish/mauve flowers one spring. It was glorious, it must have reached at least 15 ft in every direction.. mmmmaybe not a good choice for a suburban garden.
I once met some gardeners from Minnesota who grew only miniature roses in pots. On halloween they would put the pots into their unheated basement where they would basically ignore them for half a year. Then in late April they would move them outside. Maybe petunias are easier.
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(Note to self: One reason for failure to bloom is frost killing early flower buds. Another is frost killing the entire plant. And don't forget budding/rootstock issue; rootstock sometimes doesn't bloom in its first season.)
