Unlike petunias the foliage isn't sticky, so dead flowers and debris doesn't stick to the leaves. The plants are more alkaline tolerant than Calibrachoa so they don't turn yellow the moment you plant them. Seldom do they suffer from that bane of all Texas gardeners Powdery Mildew. Petchoa are also “day-length neutral”, which means they bloom early and keep on flowering. Super vigorous plants quickly fill out baskets and will grow 12-16” tall and spread to 24-30” wide. When in bloom the plants are so completely coated in flowers it is truly hard to see the foliage, and you never have to deadhead. ‘Supercal' comes in 7 colors with ‘Terracotta' and ‘Vanilla Blush' adding a whole new unique color palette. The current colors are ‘Purple' a true deep royal color, ‘Velvet' a rich rose red, ‘Neon Rose' an aptly named super bright rose-pink with a yellow eye, ‘Blue' a true deep blue, ‘Cherry' a rich cherry-red and two unique colors ‘Vanilla Blush' which has soft creamy yellow flowers blushing to pale pink at the edges, and my personal favorite 'Terracotta' which has soft orange flowers with just a hint of pink. No matter which Petchoa ‘Supercal' color you choose, all grow best during cooler weather and do best in containers. Though I've have had good luck holding this new genus through our infernal summers, I would never guarantee it. There are much better plants for June through August, but Petchoa ‘Supercal' really does excel at the shoulders of our growing season. Invariably we all get the gardening itch really bad in late February or early March after a couple of days of warm sunny weather. Even though we know it's going to frost again, we head to the local nursery to see what we can be found. Usually its only geraniums and petunias, but now I bet you will find my new favorite ‘Supercal'.
Early spring is the perfect time to use this plant. They have excellent tolerance to our erratic spring weather of 70 one day and 30 the next. Matter of fact, I've had great luck with them the last 2 years planted in baskets in fall. They flowered heavily from September to December and then over-wintered taking temperatures in the upper 20's with no damage to the foliage. I do not recommend planting ‘Supercal' in the ground they really do much better cascading out of hanging baskets, large containers and window boxes.
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