PLANT A PETUNIA TO GROW AT HOME – FREE GOLDEN ATERNOONS

Yolie Canales (left) and Sarah Leister (right) display some of the petunia plugs that Golden Afternoons participants will plant on April 14 and take home to grow.
Plant a petunia to grow at home with gardening tips provided by Yolie Canales during the free Golden Afternoons program at 1 p.m Tuesday, April 14, in the lobby at the Deane Center for the Performing Arts at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro. There will be free refreshments, too.
Men and women ages 65 and older who want to participate are asked to RSVP before 3 p.m. next Friday, April 10 to ensure enough petunia plugs and other needed supplies will be provided. To RSVP, visit deanecenter.com/, email director@deanecenter.com, or call 570-724-6220.
For this program, there will be at least eight different varieties of petunias donated by Sarah Leister of Leister’s Farm Market located at 4886 PA-287 near Wellsboro.
A single petunia plug, when properly cared for and matured, can produce
dozens to over 100 flowers at a time, depending on the variety and growing conditions.
One of the donated petunia varieties is the popular Danziger Amore Queen of Hearts. It is known for its striking large blooms that feature a distinct red and yellow heart-shaped pattern. This is an early-flowering, mounded, and vigorous annual that thrives in full sun, making it ideal for hanging baskets, containers, and, landscapes.
Another is Headliner Lipstick. Its stunning, pink, fragrant blooms are drought, frost, and heat tolerant, do not require deadheading, attract hummingbirds and butterflies, and are perfect for medium-sized baskets.
Six of the petunias are Proven Winners Supertunia hybrids, including Royal Magenta; Mini Vista Plum Veined and Indigo; and Vista Snowdrift, Bubblegum, and Paradise. They each do well in full to partial sun and grow from 4-12, 6-12, or 12-24 inches, depending on which variety is chosen.
“We always have a lot of fun,” said Canales. “People can select the petunia plug they want to plant.”.
For each participant, Canales will pre-fill a 4.5-inch deep, square, black plastic planter with moisturized soil and fertilizer. She will talk about the water and fertilizer needs of a petunia plug as it grows and when to replant the flowers in a garden, outdoor pot, or hanging basket.
For 15 years, Canales and her husband ran Tioga Nursery, growing plants and flowers as a business in greenhouses on their Charleston Township property on Route 6, just outside of Wellsboro
























