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Get some pop with snaps and petunias

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By CRAIG CHANDLER

Tribune correspondent

Published: November 8, 2009

In most parts of the country, cool-season flowering annuals provide late spring to midsummer color. But here in the Tampa Bay area, we can often enjoy these plants from late fall to early spring.

And to me, petunias and snapdragons are tops for dependability.

Both can tolerate light frosts, and neither is prone to lots of pests and diseases.

These annuals are also complementary. Snapdragons are upright growers, while petunias like to spread. They can be planted together in a pot or planter or in a bed that has been generously amended with organic matter.

One of my favorite combinations is pink flowered snapdragons planted with white flowered petunias. Mass plantings of yellow snaps and pink or red petunias can also be striking.

For best results, grow these annuals in full sun; fertilize lightly, but regularly; and make sure the soil or potting mix around the plants does not get too dry. Also, be careful not to set the plants too deeply or pile organic mulch up around the plants, which can cause stem rot.

Maturing plantings of both petunias and snapdragons can be revitalized with selective pruning. Remove the spent flower spikes of snapdragons to stimulate more flowering, and prune back the old and declining sections of petunias.

An added advantage of growing snapdragons in the garden is that they can be wonderfully fragrant and are great as cut flowers for inside arrangements.

Craig Chandler is a professor of horticultural sciences at the University of Florida's Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in southern Hillsborough County.

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