Michelle65, sorry, but I have to dispute most of your claims. First of all, Wave petunias are spreading petunias, not the other way around. Spreading (Supertunia series, Surfinia series, etc.) petunias grown from cuttings have been around for decades. The Wave series (introduced in 1995) was the first commercially successful spreading petunia that was propagated from seed. Your statement that "the ones that say spreading petunia is the exact same this without the pink pot" is entirely erroneous, as is your statement "greenhouse have only been able to buy Wave seeds for the past couple of years". You should also know that there are FOUR separate divisions of Wave petunias. Actually 5 if you include the vegetatively propagated DOUBLE Waves. Wave, Easy Wave, Tidal Wave and Shock Wave all have very distinctly different growth habits. Are you paying extra for the pink pot? Absolutely. If it is in the pink pot and says Wave on it, it is required to be a Wave petunia, however that is entirely up to the distributor if they want them in a POP (point of purchase) pot or not. Waves can be planted in any color of pot, and there is no law saying that they have to be identified as a Wave. However, if it is NOT a Wave, and the signage identifies it as a Wave, THAT is illegal. The difference you see in price at retail is a factor of a number of things. If it is a spreading petunia grown from a cutting, it will always be more expensive than one grown from seed. But....if is a seed grown spreading petunia (Wave, Avalanche, Ramblin', Plush, Opera, Explorer, Trilogy) and it has all of the marketing POP items associated with it, it drives the price up. All Kleenex are tissues, but not all tissues are Kleenex. All Waves are spreading petunias, but not all spreading petunias are Waves. And for the record, there are no "generic" spreading petunias. Everything has a specific variety name, you just don't always see it at retail.

I have the wave petunias from wally world. they all did fine - except one. I had to change its location (it could have been the shadow of eucalyptus prevented growth). Now it is flowering as expected. I like wally world because they bring new items (similarly for no particular reason discontinue some of my favorite ones). The price is always right. I paid $3.88 for a sixpack of waves. People who take care of plants are not expected to posess skills or knowledge beyond watering the plants (severe memory lapses are tolerated....many plants end up in the garbage bin). So dont expect expert advise....they are not master gardners. They can stock, water, move flats, get you the price and in rare cases help you to load your goodies. Big box stores are not out there to pick your pockets. Knowledgable customer always benifits. There is no hard and fast rule about local, mom & pop or master gardener's product will always be better. Win some, lose some - such is life.

Great tunies Pudge! Love the colour. My mixed containers that I grew from seed are starting to look really nice. I nuked one with too much Miracle gro though, I must have put it in twice. And my beautiful fuchsia got covered in concrete brick sawing dust when we were getting our new patio and died instantly. I washed it off within a couple of hours and it was already dead. It must have been alkaline or something, I have never seen any plant go from thriving to dead so instantly.

I looked at the "I grow" statement and I've said the same thing myself. What I refer to is that in a business, all members don't automatically "grow". I am the primary grower and list myself as such. I think the post just wanted some hints on how to produce nice baskets, and what we find helpful. Pretty innocent and perhaps the responses were enough to put the poster off, if he/she were a shy person. I remember in ag econ class........we were discussing the law of diminishing returns. An assumption is made, if you are in the business, one is capable of growing any quality of product they wish. IOW, where is the most profitable point on the line for maxing out profit for $$$$ put in. It's not always the best product who is the most profitable. I try to produce the best product I can where I can still get a high return. Not the best return, because quality is an issue I feel helps to sell my product overall as opposed to mass produced. As a "farmer" and that is essentially what we are........one is always at the mercy of some variables. Weather is the most obvious. I've had cold, dark springs where no matter how much heat I throw to a crop, they are more spindly than I'd like from low light levels. Sometimes I'm the victim of poor cutting quality. Sometimes an unexpected pest outbreak robs the pots of the vigour they should have before the pest is identified and treated. So, there are many variables to consider and the same crop may need to be grown in different ways every year to achieve maximum quality. Firstly.....don't stint. Use an appropriate number of cuttings, and if in doubt go higher instead of lower. May cost more in the initial, but also could cut down on pinch or chemical pinch applications. So, may be cost effective. Secondly, good scheduling. Know how many weeks it's going to take beforehand so that time is allowed for growth and pinching. Thirdly, start with high quality stock. This can be trial and error, but is essential. Find a source you can trust. Fourthly, yes........good soil. You can make your own quality soil. I worked for a large concern where we did, but it is not usually price effective for a smaller grower. Know your fertilier needs and use them, and use care on salts buildups. More isn't always better and I do leach outs on a schedule. Pest control. One of the worst enemies of small cuttings or plugs in large pots is fungus gnats. I seldom have a problem with them because one skill I mastered early was watering. Wet soil and fungus gnats can set your schedule and quality back more quickly than anything I can think of. If you do get them, get rid of them pronto. And of course heat is an issue. Basket crops can be grown cool. If one does, however, choose the old fashioned way of not pushing a crop, they have to allow for more bench time. That may.......or may not........be cost effective in the long run. Know your numbers and be realistic. Internode control. A must for lush baskets. Pinching is a given, either manually or chemically. Do it early enough so that new growth and branching has a chance to develop to bloom WHEN you need them. Know your marketing windows.