Petunia Black Velvet, Phantom, and Pinstripe

Ball Hort has released a devilish new group of Petunia this year that are poised to be some of the top sellers for 2011.  Petunia Black Velvet, Phantom, and Pinstripe are the first ever to actually get to claim true black for a bloom color.  Not "Nurseryman's Black" either - these are the real deal!  I've seen too many "black" German Iris, and while they're extremely dark, you can still tell they're just a dark purple.  While these do have a slight hint of purple, they are the closest thing to black that I've seen and the effect is one that I think will dominate impulse buys this season.

Petunia Black Velvet and
Calibrachoa Can-Can Terracotta

Blooms - Black Velvet gets to claim The First All-Black Petunia prize.  The blossoms are large, and the name aptly describes the appearance.  Phantom is essentially the same plant and bloom, only with a fat, bright yellow stripe down the center of each black petal.  To say its a good accent plant would be putting it a bit lightly.  Pinstripe sports the same star-burst accent, only with a slightly thinner strip of creamy-pinkish-purple.  Yet again - if it's impact you're looking for...


Size and Habit - I planted several out, both in the landscape and in some baskets early this summer.  I was surprised to see that they didn't form the typical trailing Petunia mound, rather they were much more upright.  I wouldn't call them vertical - but don't plan on these cascading well out of any window boxes.  Size appears to be somewhere in the 12" tall and wide range - although my plants at home never see the kind of attention that I give to the ones at the farm - so I'm sure bigger is possible.  As long as you're thinking "mounded", you'll be all set.


Vigor and Longevity - Cool season performance is top-notch. The plugs we received early in the summer exploded and bloomed profusely until July.  Ridiculously hot and dry temps forced nearly everything in the landscape into stasis, and occasionally death - these were not immune.  Not that it's a slight against them however - we lost Sedum this July to the weather.  That's right, Sedum.  It was bad.  At the peak of this heatwave - I left Connecticut for even warmer locales.  Upon my return - my baskets were not very happy with me.  They were thoroughly baked, and required multiple soakings to fully re-wet the soil.  Most things were pruned back and I crossed my fingers.  Within a week or two - I had Petunias again, and the basket was loaded up with black flowers until November.  So as far as landscape/container performance is concerned - I'm thinking they're at least as tough as any of the best varieties already out there.

7 Weeks after sticking the cuttings,
Black Velvet is full and blooming.

Bottom Line - These are going to be huge!  Regardless of whether they're good plants or not - it's a crazy new group of colors and people will buy these by the cubic yard.  From what I've seen with our trial plants, as well as with a fresh crop of unrooted cuttings for trade show season (that are now finished and starting to bloom) - these plants will live up to the hype and provide a full season's worth of easy color.