Petunias

I have an old stump in my yard that I have planted wave petunias around for the past 2 years. Someone told me not to plant petunias in the same place 3 years in a row; that they would not do well the 3rd year. Does anyone know if this is true? If so, what would be something else I could plant that would have flowers all summer long? It gets full sun all day. I had thought about moss roses, but I think my soil would be too rich for them.

I haven't ever heard that.

I suspect the person that told you that knew that petunias are in the same family as tomatoes, and with tomatoes if you plant them year after year in the same place you do run a risk of getting diseases. But I think it's a bit less important with an ornamental like petunias, plus I'm not sure if they're as susceptible to disease as tomatoes are, so unless you were having disease problems with them last year you may not have much to worry about. If you did have disease problems last year though you may want to consider planting something else there.

I agree with ecrane 3 about why you may have been told that.

Are you putting potting soil into the stump? If you put fresh soil in, there is even less reason to worry about a soil sickness.

I do a fair amount of container gardening on bakers racks, and thus I try to use plants which spill over and have a trailing habit. (Otherwise, the plant wants to bump up into the bottom of the shelf above it.) Some verbenas are upright, but others have the low or trailing shape. In fact, verbenas, petunias, and ivy geraniums are my favorites for my pots on these racks. So, if you do want to try something else, you could take a look at verbenas.

Verbenas need regular/daily watering, and deadheading daily is helpful too. I think with the verbenas you might have to be a bit more faithful with the watering than you would have to be with petunias. But the care is about the same: regular watering and deadheading, fertilize every 7-10 days, and pinch back every now and then to prevent them from becoming lanky.

I guess geraniums would do the same, although I wonder if they would give the rustic look suitable for a stump. And they don't spread out as far as wave petunias or verbena.

I bet your wave petunia looks really nice in that stump. Many years ago I grew some things in a couple of old stumps. Mine were in shade so I think I did vinca vine or something like that.

Thank you all for the information. I think I will go ahead with the petunias again. I am planting around the stump. I've been adding compost every fall after I pull them out. I haven't had any problems with disease or anything. On the top of the stump, I have a bird bath and an ornamental dove. I just couldn't think of anything that would fill in and bloom all summer like the petunias. More bang for the buck, you know!

Oh, around the stump! I did not read your original post very carefully, did I?

We have lived here since 1991 and have lost some huge, huge trees. We have kept 2 or 3 huge pieces of center trunk, like maybe 28 across and similar height. At one time one was a "table" between two chairs, and one was a planter, but in recent years they are just used by the squirrels - they sit on them when they eat nuts. I like the birdbath and the dove idea!

Your answer might come from wild flower observation. Instead of crop rotation they grow in a jungle of other types of flowers.......some since time began. The truths of notill and little need for crop rotation are observed in all that diversity. A touch of rotting plants returns all the goodies found in compost unless of course your compost contains a bit of manure.

I have some white species tulips that have been in the ground for about 10 years. The past 2 years, the leaves have come up, but there have been no blooms. Do they need to be transplanted? Or are they just done? Perhaps they need some fertilizer?

Any chance critters have been nipping the buds before they bloom? If not then it could be they need to be divided, many bulbs will stop blooming if they are in need of division.