Plant record
Petunia
Petunia x atkinsiana
Petunias are not subtle, but they can soften a bed edge fast when summer finally opens.
Garden timing
Start very early indoors, or buy starts if seed timing is not worth it.
Transplant after frost into edges, corners, or containers.
Plant intelligence
Use on edges or containers; trailing types need room to spill away from seedlings.
edge plantcontainerpollinator
Lifecycle: annual
Habit: mounding or trailing bedding annual
Height: 6-18 inches
Spread: 12-36 inches
Germination: 7-14 days
Sow depth: 0 inches
Bloom: summer, fall
Attracts: bees, moths, hummingbirds
Record score
89/100deep plant record
Taxonomy confidence94Petunia x atkinsiana in Solanaceae; 2 cached source references.
Square-foot usefulness861 per square with none support.
Timing and care depth922 planting windows, 60F minimum soil, 2 cautions.
Species and variety drill-down882 variety or cultivar options attached.
Annual flower intelligence90moderate pollinator value.
Source readiness82Ready for 4 external lookup paths.
Species identity
This record covers a practical garden group; use the variety cards to narrow real behavior.
ScientificPetunia x atkinsianaFamilySolanaceaeLookup namesPetunia, Petunia x atkinsiana, Petunia x, garden petunia, spreading petunia
Garden decision matrix
Square-foot fit1 per square
Season behaviortender
Care loadmoderate water
Bed ecosystem roleedge plant, container
Variety depth2 options
Species and variety notes
Seed-grown bedding types are compact; vegetative spreading types need more edge room.
Dreamsseries
86small-bed fit
More controlled than spreading types and easier near vegetables.
Best use: cut and garden display. Tradeoff: match timing and spacing to the rest of the bed.
mounded, seed grown, compact80-100 days10-15 inches tallWaveseries
86small-bed fit
Useful only where it can spill outside the food grid.
Best use: cut and garden display. Tradeoff: match timing and spacing to the rest of the bed.
spreading, long bloom, edge only80-100 days6-12 inches tallCompanions
pepper, tomato, basil, sweet-alyssum
Cautions
Tiny seed and slow early growth.
Trailing types can smother small seedlings.
External enrichment
Cached name: Petunia x atkinsiana. Optional lookups can compare GBIF, iNaturalist, Perenual, and Trefle without changing the reviewed garden record.
Open enrichment JSONData layers
FVF reviewed cachecachedSpacing, timing, variety, companion, and FVF notes used by the planner.
GBIF and iNaturalistlive no-keyNo-key taxonomy, common-name, and community context checks through the enrichment route.
USDA PLANTS downloadsreferencePeriodic identity, distribution, native status, and conservation reference layer.
Perenual or Trefleoptional keyOptional species images, care data, cultivar/synonym cleanup, then cache only reviewed fields.
API source score
Perenual API88/100optional key: Flower and ornamental drill-down, plant photos, care flags, toxicity, bloom data. Limit: Requires an API key and plan-aware caching, so it should enrich records without blocking the app.
Trefle API84/100optional key: Scientific names, subspecies, varieties, hybrids, synonyms, and broader botanical cleanup. Limit: Requires a token and should be treated as a reviewed import layer, not a live page dependency.
USDA PLANTS downloads82/100download cache: Standard names, plant symbols, distribution, native status, and conservation flags. Limit: Best consumed as periodic downloaded data instead of one-off runtime requests.
GBIF Species API78/100live public: Accepted scientific names, synonyms, family/genus cleanup, and occurrence context. Limit: Not a gardening advice source; pair it with local square-foot growing data.
iNaturalist taxa API72/100live public: Common-name discovery, taxon IDs, and regional biodiversity context. Limit: Observation data is not the same thing as garden suitability or crop timing.
USDA PLANTS Database
Plant identity, taxonomy, nativity, and conservation flags.
Source referenceGBIF Species API
Accepted scientific names, taxonomy matching, and occurrence context.
Source reference