Petunia cultivars.
Almost all of the garden petunias are cultivars of which there are over 200.
Known as Petunia x hybrida they are complex crosses between P. axillaris with white flowers and P.integrifolia with purple flowers.
These hybrids can then be crossed back with one of the parents or other cultivars.
They can be bushy, sprawling or trailing plants up to 40 cm high and 1.2 m wide.
Horticulturally they can be classified by flower size (5 to 10 cm across) or habit (erect, sprawling or trailing).
Grandiflora petunias.
Erect and mounding plants up to 60 cm high and over 1 m across.
Flowers, up to 12 cm across come in singles and doubles.
They come in white, a wide range of colours and bi-colours.
Petal edges can be ruffled or wavy and the midveins are darker.
Multiflora petunias.
Smaller more compact than the Grandiflora plants and up to 30 cm high and nearly 40 cm wide.
They have more flowers that are smaller being around 5 cm across.
The single or double flowers come in a wide range of colours and bi-colours.
Milliflora petunias.
These miniature petunias are up to around 20 cm high and wide with single flowers up to 4 cm across.
Floribunda petunias are hybrids of Grandiflora and Multiflora petunias.
Up to around 38 cm high and 30 cm wide they have large flowers.
Each of these groups have a number of series.
J.F.
