As a national garden writer, I can tell the trumpet call has gone out for the long summer ahead. This is a call for petunias, summer’s favorite flowers, and they are trumpet shaped, of course. This call is also one of panic as I hear it in the voices of gardeners saying "I can’t find my Bubblegums."

This means they can’t find their Supertunia Vista Bubblegum petunias. There is little doubt this is the most awarded petunia of all time. You can count them, 296 awards filling 10 pages. Bubblegums and all of the Supertunias are among the most awarded flowers available to gardeners. By awards I’m referring to rigorous university trials in both the United States and Canada.

You want to get them planted now while the temperatures are mild over much of the country and acclimation is nice and easy. Even in the South it is a great time to plant before triple-digit heat indexes are the norm.

Planting now will give you the longest time to enjoy a Supertunia Summer Celebration. You want to plant now because everyone is ready for seasonal color, and shopping at the local garden center is among the stiffest competition. Hence the panic over Bubblegums.

In recent years The Garden Guy has put Supertunias through quite a trial. The trial wasn’t really trying to prove anything but just satisfying a hunch after having watched Supertunias since my days as a horticulturist with Mississippi State University.

The Supertunia Vista Petunias are among the toughest petunias for the landscape and yet work beyond all expectations in containers and baskets too. I wanted my test to begin here. So, I planted Supertunia Vistas Bubblegum, Paradise and Silverberry in October.

I know this sounds more like Supertunia Fall versus a Supertunia Summer but hang with me. Not only did they come right through fall and winter in the landscape but right into July when this part of the landscape turned into an unsuspected Yellowstone. I’m talking trophy sized bucks. In zones 8 and warmer, Supertunias can be planted in the fall with great success.

There are six Vistas to choose from including this year’s Proven Winners "Annual of the Year," Supertunia Vista Jazzberry. This year my Supertunia Summer kicked off in March with Supertunia Vista Paradise and Jazzberry coming through the winter in containers.

If you are ready to graduate from the Bubblegum School of Supertunias, then you might expand your repertoire by adding more Vistas. Did you know there are also Supertunia Mini Vistas? There are 10 awarding colors from which to choose. Don’t let the word mini cause you to think they are diminished in any way other than a little more compact.

At last year’s Young’s Plant Farm Annual Garden Tour in Auburn, Alabama, we were shocked at the Supertunia Mini Vista petunias not only during the tour in June but with their photos from the end of July. They even raved about their beauty and rugged nature in what was one of the hottest summers in memory.

Then there are the regular Supertunias. Nothing regular here: stars, stripes, doubles and the best of multicolored petunias in the world. Petunias like Daybreak Charm, Persimmon, Picasso in Purple and this year’s new Hoopla Vivid Orchid will take your breath away.

Many consider Supertunias the ultimate component combination plants in designer type mixed containers. Master Gardener Andrea Owens Schnapp in Walton County, Florida, demonstrated they are the picture-perfect-petunias for mono culture, or petunias without partners. Her glazed containers of Supertunia Persimmon and another with Supertunia Raspberry Rush were suitable for magazine covers.

The Garden Guy is always gearing his garden up for pollinators and I am pleased to report that Eastern Tiger, Spicebush and Pipevine Swallowtails all place Supertunias on the menu. Let the Supertunia Summer begin!

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(Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” Follow him on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy.)

(NOTE TO EDITORS: Norman Winter receives complimentary plants to review from the companies he covers.)

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