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Pretty Petunias (Petunia Seed Collection Tutorial)

Spring/Summer means the return of Petunias, my favorite flower. I have been growing them from seed for several years now (which is difficult based solely on how small the seeds are!) and I try to collect seed at the end of the season. I also end up buying 2 or 3 unique varieties every year. Luckily the seeds tend to be quite inexpensive when compared to their plant counterparts. Especially when you collect them for free! I've included a picture-tutorial at the bottom of this post to help with petunia seed collection.

A selection of Petunias I grew in 2020


Petunias are an incredibly diverse flower and come in a wide variety of shapes and colours. They serve well in multiple applications, including bedding plants and hanging containers. They are incredibly forgiving if you forget to water and grow quite quickly - three plants will easily fill a hanging basket. We typically put 5-7 in our hanging garden boxes in front.

That's just two petunia plants!


I typically start petunia seeds around January (in 2021 I started them on Dec 26th and it was way too early). If you aren't interested in growing from seed, Petunias show up on store shelves around the beginning of May. I have purchased petunia seeds from several companies with varying degrees of success - and at vastly different price points. 

A months worth of growth


The reason to purchase seeds over saving them is reliability - saved seed will contain mixed genetics if the petunias are cross-pollinated. I have had plenty of odd looking petunia flowers due to this. This process is also how new varieties are created, but the likelihood of stumbling across a good combination is rare. Being able to duplicate that combination is even harder - the below photo is two plants from the same package of saved seeds. 

The plant on the left had more pink in it's DNA compared to the one on the right  - despite coming from the same saved seeds.

The only way to guarantee the same DNA traits is to propagate from clippings - luckily Petunias root quite easily in both dirt and water. However, if you decide you'd like to try saving some petunia seeds of your own here's how to do that! 



Step 1: Wait for the petunia flower to die and fall off on its own - do not deadhead.

Step 2: Where the flower was connected there should be a hard green lump (that's the seed pod!) - not every flower will produce one of these so  if you don't see one on the first flower you check, keep waiting for new flowers to die off and checking their former places.

(Optional Step 3: Put a clip or something on the stem to identify that's where the seed pod is - I use coloured bobby pins)

Step 4: Wait for the seed pod to turn brown and open - petunia seeds will fly out and get caught on the sticky leaves. 

Step 5: Collect and save in a dry location until next year!


The seeds are incredibly small and it's easy to 'lose control' of how many go into a section - causing a cluster of tangled seedlings. If you're willing to put the time in to untangle and re-pot the seedlings you'll be blessed with plenty of petunia plants!

(I've stopped trying to seed precise numbers and just separate seedlings as need be)


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