Welcome to the second edition of the Denver Plants eZine
Calibrachoa

If you missed the first edition, Columbines... Look here.

This months topic... Calibrachoa. 
A fantastic annual hybrid from Proven Winners.

Calibrachoa looks very similar to a miniature Petunia, but it's not quite a Petunia. The only thing that separates the two is that Petunias have 14 chromosomes and Calibrachoa has 18.

This vigorous, fast growing annual features hundreds of vividly colored small Petunia like flowers that bloom prolifically from spring to first frost. Unlike regular Petunias, Calibrachoa is self cleaning, meaning that it sheds its spent flowers and replaces them with new ones.

A little Calibrachoa history...
Calibrachoa was developed by a large Japanese company called Suntory Ltd. In 1988 Suntory collected specimens of native Calibrachoa found growing in South America. After several years of extensive breeding Suntory  developed the Calibrachoa we know today. In 1992 Suntory's new hybrid was named "Million Bells". Six years later their new plants were released to gardeners world wide. In North America Calibrachoa "Million Bells" is marketed exclusively as a Proven Winners selection.

Growing Calibrachoa...
Calibrachoa "Million Bells" is easy to grow. If you can grow Petunia's... you can grow Calibrachoa. Place them in a location with full sun. Shaded areas will cause the plants to "stretch" as well as dramatically reducing the flower count. Calibrachoa requires soils that are fertile and well drained. Keep the soil moist especially during summer heat. Over watering is the leading cause of plant failure, which causes black root rot.

Planting Calibrachoa...
Calibrachoa "Million Bells" can be grown in patio pots, window boxes or in beds. Calibrachoa is quite popular grown in hanging baskets because of their cascading growth habit. Space new plants 8" to 12" apart depending on how quickly you wish the area to fill in.

Feeding Calibrachoa...
Feed container grown plants every two weeks, feed in ground plants monthly with any well balanced food that is high in nitrogen.

Propagation...
The entire Calibrachoa "Million Bells" lines are patented hybrid plants. Patented plants are illegal to propagate.

Notable Calibrachoa Cultivars...

Cherry Pink	Terra Cotta	Trailing Blue	Trailing Pink
Yellow	Super Bells Red	Super Bells White

10 months in the making. The Denver Plants CD-Rom is now available. Over 1400 pages of plants and flowers with 1148 pictures. To order your copy or for more information... look here.

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