Kitchen Garden Forum

Dear Kazimoto,
Remove them; leaving these flowers will cause the plants to become stunted and the plants will not do at all well after they are planted out. Removing the flowers will also make the plants bushier, which is a good thing.
regards Sally Wright.

That's very useful, Sally, because I have just had two lots of petunia plants delivered for our window boxes, supposedly "garden ready" though I will keep them in the greenhouse (planted in the boxes) until the end of May. Almost all the plants already had flowers, so I have removed them, hoping they will concentrate on bedding down and bushing out. So your answer confirms that, I hope!

Dear Monika,
I would keep removing flowers until about a week before they need to be planted out. Petunias grow so quickly that this is all the time they need to get back into flowering mode at planting time.
Regards Sally Wright.

Thank you, Sally! Great advice.