Can I save a broken Petunia?

I know this is probably hopeless, but thought I'd ask. Last year a volunteer petunia grew in my gravel drive. It bloomed and bloomed, and we got very attached to it. I know it's silly, but it was just such a trooper! We got really nuts, and coddled it thru the winter, covering and uncovering, and it survived. Last week the buds started to open. Two days ago, with it's first bloom, we found it was broken off at the base. The woody stem had just split and finally detached, probably from the winds knocking it back and forth, but who knows (at least we don't). I put the broken off part of plant in water, and it's blooming it's silly head off :(. Any chance I can some how root any of this plant? I know it's foolish, but, well, so be it.
Thanks,
margo

Hello Margo,
you could try with a stem cutting (no wood), about 4" long, remove all the flowerbuds, dip it in rooting hormone and then plant it in a soiless starter mix.
Or you could wait and see if the one you have in water right now will actually develop roots and then plant it.
Hope this helps a bit.
Thea

Thanks Thea, I think I'll do both :). Take a branch or two off the remains and plant, and keep the rest just in water. Maybe there's hope after all. We have no idea where this came from, I have always resisted buying Petunias (tho i crave them), as I am not good with plants in pots. If I can plant something in the ground, my attention span seems to last long enough to get it well started, and then it's on it's own :(. Works for lots of things, but not in pots.....:)

The base part that's still in the ground may grow again too, I wouldn't give up on it either.

Thanks ecrane3, we are still protecting it, and hoping. Of course, it's in an inconvenient place, but it means we remember to watch out for it. I'm getting it a tiny picket fence.....I know, I know....

lol catmad you sound like me. I have to baby even the smallest plant even if it is out of place...lol
Years back my sister and I babied this one plant in her garden, fertilized it well and took care of it extremely well, waiting for it to bloom....welllllllll a dear friend of ours stopped by and asked us why we haven`t pulled this (by then 6') weed....lol
We all had a good laugh and laughed even harder when we tried to pull the weed which had roots by then all the way to China....lol
Hope your little babie survives :)
Good luck
Thea

Thanks Thea, I feel better:). But Ya know, Ya had to try to save the plant, it might ave turned out to be something spectacular. I have things in my garden that I suspect are "weeds", but I like them, so they get space. Besides, they survive my "care" better.....

Your plight gave me a little chuckle, catmad, because I've been known to protect out of place volunteers, too. So how is it doing? Petunias are one of my favorite flowers, but I usually don't buy them, either, but this year I have and am looking forward to their fragrance in the cool morning air when they take off.

Thea, I nursed a weed for an entire summer, too - I thought it was an intentional plant, but as it turned out, I'd pulled out the plant I'd planted and kept the weed. I didn't remember what it looked like as a little thing. Live and learn. :-) (and laugh, eh?)

Sadly, Petunia didn't make it. She's still in her pot (yes, I'm an idiot) but I have planted seeds of Vining Petunia in there as well. I think some have sprouted, they are the tiniest plants I've ever seen. I'm hoping for the best. No volunteer petunias this year, it's been too dry for it, I think. I still look at the potted ones when I shop, but somehow, it "just don't seem right" to buy them.
I did find a volunteer rose, tho. Maybe next year it will flower.....