Petunia Tidal Wave Red Velour F1

Petunia Tidal Wave Red Velour F1 Seeds

(Petunia x hybrida — Tidal Wave Series — PanAmerican Seed — 2015 AAS Winner & Fleuroselect Gold Medal)

Petunia belongs to the family Solanaceae — closely related to tomatoes, deadly nightshades, potatoes, and chilli peppers. It is a genus of 35 species of flowering plants of South American origin.

In 1995, Purple Wave was introduced as an AAS Winner and began a new class of spreading petunias — bred by Kirin Brewery in Japan and introduced by PanAmerican Seed Company. This was the founding moment of the Wave series — a line of spreading, self-cleaning, weather-tolerant petunias that transformed the category entirely. The Tidal Wave series is in an enviable class of its own — referred to by some as a Hedgiflora, it is the biggest of the Waves, spreading to a whopping 1.5 m diameter and forming either a low spreading ground cover or a dense flowering hedge depending on how plants are spaced.

Tidal Wave Red Velour obtained a 93% score — the highest mark in the 2014 Fleuroselect Trials. The jury scored this variety particularly highly on Wow factor, floriferousness, and overall garden performance. The color itself is the defining achievement: gorgeous deep red velvety blooms that don’t fade even in the heat of summer — large flowers literally cover the vigorously spreading plants, rarely needing deadheading because new blooms continuously pop up and cover the old spent blooms. The Velour Red color is unique in seed-raised petunias — a dark blood red with velvety undertones and a darker throat that has no equivalent in any other seed petunia series.

Tidal Wave petunias are the tallest of the Wave family and bloom over and over all season long, recovering quickly even after hard rains. Tidal Wave is an excellent landscape performer with terrific Botrytis tolerance and the plants resist lodging — they won’t fall open and expose a bare center. The spreading habit is dramatically variable depending on spacing: space plants 30 cm apart to create a dense flowering hedge of 40–55 cm height; space 60 cm or more apart and growth is lower, but plants spread up to 1.5 m wide as ground cover.

Variety Details

• Botanical Name: Petunia x hybrida
  Series: Tidal Wave — Hedgiflora type (largest of the Wave family)
  Variety: Tidal Wave Red Velour
  Breeder: PanAmerican Seed (USA)
  Awards: 2015 All-America Selections (AAS) Winner — 2015 Fleuroselect Gold Medal Winner
  Seed Type: F1 Hybrid, pelleted
  Plant Type: Half-hardy annual
  Family: Solanaceae
  Origin of species: South America (Argentina, southern Brazil, Uruguay)

Key Features

• Dual award winner: 2015 All-America Selections AND Fleuroselect Gold Medal — both the top US and top European seed awards simultaneously
• Hedgiflora type — the largest and most vigorous petunia class available from seed
• Unique dark blood-red velvety color with darker throat — no equivalent in any other seed petunia
• Large blooms of 6–10 cm that cover the plant continuously — self-cleaning, no deadheading required
• Versatile growing habit: dense flowering hedge (space 30 cm) or wide ground cover up to 1.5 m (space 60 cm)
• Rapid grower — spreads quickly to cover large areas and suppresses weeds
• Excellent Botrytis tolerance and rain resistance — recovers quickly after adverse weather
• Resists lodging — plant center stays full throughout the season
• Outstanding pollinator value — attracts butterflies including swallowtails
• Full sun performer — best color intensity in direct sun
• Seeds require light to germinate — surface sow without covering

Plant Information

• Height: 40–55 cm (as hedge when spaced 30 cm apart)
• Spread: 80–150 cm depending on spacing — up to 1.5 m when spaced 60+ cm apart
• Plant Type: Half-hardy annual
• Habit: Spreading, mounding, Hedgiflora — largest of the Wave petunia family
• Flower Size: 6–10 cm across
• Flower Color: Dark blood-red with velvety undertones and darker throat
• Flowering: Continuous self-cleaning — no deadheading required
• Days to Germination: 7–21 days at 22–25°C

Germination Instructions

• Sow seed in cell packs or flats, press into the moist surface of good quality seed compost but do not cover — Tidal Wave petunia needs light to germinate.
• Maintain a soil temperature of 22–24°C. Germination takes 7–21 days.
• Place in a propagator or seal inside a plastic bag to maintain humidity.
• Once germinated, reduce temperature to 18–20°C and grow on in good light.
• Transplant seedlings when they have three to four true leaves into individual 8 cm pots and continue growing on before planting out to the final position.
• Final spacing: 30–45 cm apart for hedge effect; 60 cm or more apart for ground cover effect.
• Petunia seeds are very fine — handle the pelleted seeds carefully and keep the compost consistently moist during germination as the pellet coating must dissolve for the seed to germinate. Do not allow the tray to dry out at any stage before germination is complete.
• For Kuwait: sow indoors in air-conditioned conditions in September for transplanting in October–November.
• Petunia germinates best in warmth and does not require cool conditions — Kuwait’s warm September temperatures are ideal for germination when maintained at 22–24°C indoors. The long days of September–October provide the light duration that promotes strong seedling growth.

Growing Tips

• Prefers a rich, fertile, moist but well-drained soil in full sun.
• Added compost, manure, or leaf compost will only improve the soil.
• A potting soil is ideal for container-grown petunias.
• Offer a sheltered situation away from drying winds.
• Water once or twice per week allowing the top 5 cm of soil to dry out between waterings.
• When grown in containers, petunias need to be fertilized and watered regularly — apply a liquid fertilizer every one to two weeks or use a time-release fertilizer at planting time to keep plants blooming all season.
• Tidal Wave Red Velour requires no deadheading — the self-cleaning habit means spent blooms are covered by new ones without intervention. However, if plants become straggly mid-season, cut back by one third to stimulate a fresh flush of growth and flowering.
• In hot climates, part shade is preferred — in Kuwait, a position that receives morning sun and afternoon shade from March onward will extend the display season significantly as temperatures rise.

Gulf Planting Season

• Indoor sowing (air-conditioned, surface sow): September to mid-October
• Transplant outdoors: mid-October to November
• Peak flowering season: November to March
• Extended season: continues into April with afternoon shade protection
• Note: Tidal Wave Red Velour is one of the most impactful mass-planting annuals available for Kuwait’s cool season.
• Its rapid spreading habit — covering 80–150 cm from a single plant — makes it exceptionally efficient for filling large, raised bed surfaces, covering ground between feature plants, and creating the dense flowering hedge effect that few other cool-season annuals can achieve.
• The 2015 AAS award specifically recognized its performance in hot conditions — the trials confirmed that the color does not fade and the plant does not decline in summer heat, making it more forgiving through Kuwait’s transitional season than most conventional petunia varieties.
• Plan the final spacing before transplanting: decide at the outset whether the intention is hedge (30 cm) or ground cover (60 cm), as this determines the number of plants required and the visual effect from early in the season.

Garden Uses

• Tidal Wave Red Velour is excellent for landscape use and large containers where the masses of blooms cover the vigorously growing plants. When spaced 30 cm apart plants make a dense mounded hedge.
• When spaced 60 cm or more apart, plants spread like a ground cover.
• These award-winning plants also serve as excellent screens for unsightly features or to adorn fences — space them 60 cm apart and watch them spread into an unbelievable ground cover.
• In Kuwait’s cool season garden the versatility of Tidal Wave Red Velour is one of its greatest practical values.
• Three plants in a large 60 cm diameter container create a cascading hemisphere of deep red that functions simultaneously as a feature plant and a dramatic color anchor.
• Planted in a row along the front of a raised bed at 30 cm spacing, the same plants create a dense red hedge 40–55 cm high that defines the bed edge and provides continuous color through the entire cool season without any maintenance.
• The deep blood-red color provides exceptional contrast with white, cream, and silver companion plants — white lisianthus, cream ranunculus, and silver dusty miller planted behind a row of Tidal Wave Red Velour creates a color combination of maximum impact and visual sophistication.