Sure, I know there isn’t much buy-in for common annuals these days. Now we can add to the historic disdain – from many longtime gardeners, though certainly not all – for such plants as petunias, geraniums, lobelia and so on the fact that they usually aren’t native. So there’s that.
Of course, I don’t care about any of this. I love all the plants I’ve mentioned and many, many others of their ilk.
Like roses and other continually hybridized and improved species though, annuals are having many of the features I love about them removed. Just as with roses, the first thing to go is often scent. Petunias can have lovely scents, though not any of the current varieties from the big growers like Proven Winners. Their big things are heavy flowering, doubling, multi-colors, and always new and better series every few seasons. Waves seem to have been overcome by Supertunias.
I’ll buy pretty much anything that strikes my fancy at the time no matter what it’s called, but in addition to the big brands that dominate local nurseries, I always try to have a few old-fashioned petunias with scent. Thankfully, these can still be found, mainly online.
Two stand-bys are the Old Fashioned Climbing (I would go with a more specific name for this one if I were them) and Rainmaster (Petunia axillaris, shown above), both of which I get from Select Seeds. Both have lovely scents and the climber, which is multi pastels, really does climb. The Rainmaster needs to be deadheaded and if you’re looking for the traditional mound of flowers that most petunias provide, forget about it. It has kind of a strange habit, but I like it. It wouldn’t work for a hanging basket. I go to the new hybrids for that. This one is more upright and can mix well with other vertical annuals, like salvia.
What’s wrong with deadheading anyway? It’s a good way to while away a summer Saturday morning when there isn’t much else to do – with cocktails still several hours in the distance. And the Rainmaster foliage tends not to get ratty in late summer as with many other varieties.
Am I alone in my fondness for old school scented petunias? If not, I’d love to hear about other sources. It’s always good to have a fallback. In the meantime, I’m thankful I can still get these.
I have been starting more flowers from seed every year. You can find scented petunias in the seed catalogs and they are easy to grow. Have pots of them all over the porch. There are other types of flowers with the scent bred out that can still be found in scented form if you look, like sweet peas. I refuse to buy unscented roses. If it doesn’t smell like a rose, it’s not a rose, as far as I am concerned. Feel the same about vegetables and flavor. Whats the point of a beautiful, yet tasteless tomato?
I agree!
Totally agree. I have a nostalgia for the self-seeded white-to-lavender petunias that grew outside my grandmother’s front door in Tulsa in the 50s. She sheared them back a couple of times each summer, then watered and they returned nicely. Seeds must have escaped since she never replanted. I try to copy that, and let volunteers stay. Each generation moves toward less color, but more energy and more perfume.
Select Seeds is such a treasure! Anyone who doesn;t know them should check them out Despite their name .they also sell plants
I second the plaudits for Select Seeds. Great place to purchase seeds and plants, and they trial the things they sell themselves.
I’m not a petunia fan – scented or unscented – so maybe have no right to comment here! But I so agree with the principle of scented flowers being, well, scented. Like Abigail, I would not give house room to an unscented rose and as for unscented freesias, don’t get me started….
I’m not a huge fan of petunias, but did enjoy their scent. I get some of the purple ones every year. For some reason, almost at all the deep dark purple ones that you get mixed in with other colors in a “six pack” always*do*’have that beautiful, sweet scent.
I noticed that too! I just got a beautiful hanging basket on clearance from Walmart and I was pleasantly surprised by the rather strong fragrance. They won’t last too much longer (even here in NC) but it was worth it for a buck!
Deadheading petunias – isn’t the problem (if I remember rightly) that they are unpleasantly sticky??? With you on scent, absolutely!
I use scissors; there are so many, it’s faster.
There is a fairly new AAS Winner called Evening Scentsation that produces a nice pleasant scent in the evenings. Our professional, volunteer judges really enjoyed it and were happy to see the scent coming back. https://all-americaselections.org/product/petunia-evening-scentsation/
I agree with Dee. Dark purple and single usually have scent. Have you noticed the lovely spicy scent of stems when you dead head?
Thank you! I thought the same thing. I always enjoyed opening the back door enveloped by the scent of petunias. I miss it. Agree about the roses too. I have my grandmothers roses that have the most wonderful scent! A wonderful spicy, rose multifloral shrub.
I’m not one to buy annuals, but I purchased seeds for scented petunias many years ago, and now have had them for years because they re-seed. I love them. Texas Agri-Life in my region conducts yearly plant trials–all annuals–for growers. They always want gardeners and Master Gardeners to come and rate these plants. I’m loathe to do this. I see it as a waste of my time. I don’t buy annuals if they don’t have a scent and/or don’t re-seed.
The captivating fragrance of large clump of dark purple petunias, a full moon, and chilled glass of pinot noir . . . What more could a girl want. . . . OK George Clooney
You obviously know the way to a girl’s heart – and may even have persuaded me to try petunias next year – along with all the other
excellent horticultural recommendations here. In the meantime, I’ll just have to keep going with the pinot noir…..
The “veined” petunias (light blue with very dark blue veins) and the purple and the dark navy blue petunias all have some scent, especially in the evening.
We buy them specifically for that.
Thank you for the suggestions for even more fragrance!
Elizabeth, you are so spot on!! Knowing that there are still people discerning enough to care about such things is very comforting. Keep up the good work!❤️
When we bought our ( now) 100 yr old house, back in the ’80s, i dug a bed, along the driveway…..didnt get around to planting anything for a few weeks, and lo & behold, i saw little petunia seedlings…i ended up with a wonderful bed of old-fashioned, blues-to-lavender-to-white, fragrant petunias, i think thanks to an earlier inhabitant of the house. And so i think of the legacy, of gardeners, and their gardens….
I absolutely loathe them. Even their crinkly nose name. Pet-uuuuuuhn-iassss. Hideously trashy looking annual. But I love your writing and should never judge what others like! They are just not to my taste. At all.
I love the scent of petunias! Takes me back to memories of being young and visiting my aunts’s sister-in-law who had a inground pool with petunias around in pots. Lying on the hot concrete and drying off and smelling the lovely petunias. Who cares if they need deadheading or not. Roses have prickles, petunias are sticky. Nobody’s perfect!
I noticed the nicotiana in your picture. That’s another flower whose scent has been lost in the breeding. Luckily, the old fashioned fragrant ones are still available. I planted some years ago and they reseeded for me for several years – almost too well. Then I didn’t see them for a few years. Then last summer one reappeared.
I’ll have to look into the old fashioned petunias again. The nursery I used to work at sold them, but I’ve never seen them anywhere else. Most of the petunias we carried were the newer lines with bright colors and no scent. No one I worked with liked them. They hated them almost as much as begonias.
As for roses, I went to a rose seminar several years ago, and one of the presenters tried to convince his audience that roses don’t have to have fragrance to be enjoyed. After all, “most of us look at the roses through the windows of our homes.” I am not one to disregard a rose that doesn’t have a fragrance if I love the flowers, but I am one that yes, looks out the window at my garden, then can’t help myself and have to go outside to smell the roses – and other flowers too!
There is a genetic link between fragrance in flowers and vase life or longevity of the flower. That’s why it’s been bred out, to our loss. It’s also why locally grown and sourced roses (called “garden roses” in the trade) are popular. Each color of snapdragon had a different fragrance, not evident if shipped dry over long distances but evident to any gardener or flower farmer.
Brilliant! I have been ordering from Select Seed for years. I always order a few plants of the Climbing Old Fashioned Petunias and other things. Their catalogue is a treasure house of rare and hard to find plants. Their packaging is also unbelievable….they send out the best quality plants around. I adore those petunias. They were sold out one year and my garden was not the same. They make me smile. Thank you for writing this lovely article that caught my eye!
I agree, scent in the garden is critical.
The leaves of annual asters used to have a wonderful scent when rubbed. Does anyone know where I can find some that still do? Val