Surfinia has been a real queen of balconies for over a dozen years.The name surfinia covers a whole group of cascading petunia varieties with flowers of various sizes and colors.Surfinia were created as a result of crossing wild forms of Japanese and Brazilian petunias and are the result of the work of breeders of these countries.Plants are propagated by green shoot cuttings.
It is worth recalling that surfinas appeared on sale in Europe in 1992, and in Poland two years later.Since then, many varieties and new groups of cascading petunias have been available.
In addition to the oldest group of cascading petunias - Surfinni, which already has several dozen varieties, the cultivation includes:
- Group Cascadia- compact habit,
- Group Fortunia- with large flowers and thick foliage,
- Group Conchita- about small flowers, blooming profusely all summer,
- Group Suprise- with medium-sized flowers and small leaves,
- Group Vitrotunia- Polish breeding.
Small-flowered petunias from the following groups are also very popular:Million Bells ,Celebration ,SuperbellsiSweet Pleasure .
The largest group are varieties in shades of purple and pink, there are also flowers in red, orange and yellow.The main advantages of surfinia are: very fast growth, perfect branching and profuse flowering. Their additional advantage is their great resistance to unfavorable weather conditions.
Nevertheless, you should take care of them, that is, regularly and generously water them and feed them every 10-14 days with a multi-component liquid fertilizer with an increased iron content.
Remember about the right land
The soil is a source of nutrients for plants.There is little of it in the balcony box and it is quickly overgrown with roots, so it should be replaced every year.The soil for balcony plants and grown in containers is made of substrates based on high peat, transitional peat, coconut fibers , granulated mineral wool, clay and other materials.
They are usually mixed with slow-decomposing fertilizers that have long been a source of food for plants. Producers also add special mineral granules that store water and stabilize the level of moisture in the substrate.In gardening stores, we can buy substrates for specific species and groups of plants.
The reaction of the substrate, determined by the pH indicator, determines the absorption of nutrients.Most species of plants grown on balconies develop well in a slightly acidic substrate, i.e. with a pH of 5.5-6 .
