‘Black Velvet’.
Petunia grandiflora ‘Opera Supreme Pink Morn’. Petunia the teacher
to turn off genes. In the mid 90s some plant scien- tists were trying to make a more purple petunia. They reasoned that adding an extra purple gene should do the trick, but instead of purple, they ended up with white. It turns out that the petunia cell, and by ex- tension the cells of many other living things, has a built-in defense mechanism to allow it to deal with viral infections. The detection of too many copies of genetic material triggered the protection mechanism in the purple petunia that immediately set out to de- stroy the copies. This was quite a discovery and it has led to much
M
more research into how this mechanism might be used to fight HIV and cancer. Scientists are still working on the puzzle. Stay tuned.
Wave petunia (blue). Calibrachoa ‘Apricot’.
Petunias are attractive to hummingbirds and moths, especially the lovely hawkmoth or hummingbird moth.
sunny nature, they quickly recover and start smiling in the sunlight again. Petunias are members of the Solanaceae
family, which includes deadly nightshade, mandrake and Jimson weed, tomatoes and potatoes, not to mention, tobacco and bel- ladonna, which women used to add to their eyes to widen the pupils and signal sexual de- sire.
14 • Summer 2012 Petunias are attractive to hummingbirds
and moths, especially the lovely hawkmoth or hummingbird moth that appears at dusk to sup from the bell-shaped flowers. Cut petunias back severely in midsummer
to encourage a fresh and vigorous flush of new flowers that will bloom until freeze up. Fertilize weekly with a water soluble fertilizer if you are growing them in containers. `
www.localgardener.net
ost fascinating of all is the story of how a petu- nia contributed to our understanding of how
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