Supertunia Baskets

Today Southern Gardening is at one of our favorite shooting locations, Truck Crops Branch Station in Crystal Springs. This year the crew has constructed a unique setup to display hanging basket plants. The stars of the display are Supertunias and as you know, I love me some Supertunias. My favorite Supertunia is Vista Bubblegum and it’s a favorite all across the southeast. It was selected as a Mississippi Medallion Plant in 2012. And it’s no wonder with its clear, bright pink flowers. This is one of the most vigorous selections, growing greater than 3 foot by 3 foot in a single season. Royal Velvet supertunia has a mounding and trailing growth habit. This plant features profuse, non-stop production of royal purple flowers that have a velvety appearance. It’s terrific in hanging baskets allowing the colorful branches to trail gracefully over the edge. Supertunia Vista Paradise has become a great garden performer with its mounding growth habit and really pretty flowers. This selection is vigorous and can spread up to three feet in a season. The flowers are medium in size and are a beautiful watermelon with salmon pink tones. This is a fantastic hanging basket plant. Supertunias are very heat and drought tolerant once established. For hanging baskets, it’s best to maintain a consistent moisture level for the very best flowering and performance. A feature of the Supertunias that I absolutely love is that they are self-cleaning. This means no more dead heading and no sticky fingers. I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman and I’ll see you next time on Southern Gardening.