Supercal petchoa trial#

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. Super vigorous plants quickly fill out baskets and will grow 12-16” tall and spread to 24-30” wide. Petchoa are also “day-length neutral”, which means they bloom early and keep on flowering. Seldom do they suffer from that bane of all Texas gardeners Powdery Mildew. The plants are more alkaline tolerant than Calibrachoa so they don't turn yellow the moment you plant them. Unlike petunias the foliage isn't sticky, so dead flowers and debris doesn't stick to the leaves. ‘Supercal' Petchoa really does have the ideal combination of its parent's traits. To be truthful neither petunias nor Calibrachoa really excel in the Dallas area, so how was this new hybrid really going to do for me? Well come to find out after 3 years of testing they have become one of our favorite cool season hanging basket and container plants, outlasting both of its parents every year.

I was just getting familiar with the genus Calibrachoa, also commonly called Million Bells, which only appeared on the garden scene a few years back and now breeders have gone and crossed it with Petunias! As usual my first question to the breeder was “why the heck would you do that?” They answered it would offer the best of both parents making a “better” plant for our extreme climate. I remember my first question was “what the heck is it, or did they misspell the names on the tag?” I had to do some research and call the breeding company to discover that Petchoa is a new hybrid genus of the closely related Petunia and Calibrachoa (Million Bells), with ‘Supercal' as the variety name.

Supercal petchoa trial#

I certainly hadn't 3 years ago when we received our first plants for the Dallas Arboretum Trial Gardens. I bet you've probably never heard of the genus ‘Petchoa' or the variety ‘Supercal' before. Meet the vigorous new offspring of petunias and calibrachoa Submitted by Jimmy Turner, Senior Director of Gardens, Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens Offering the best traits of both the Petunia and Calibrachoa, the Petchoa is as hardy as it is beautiful