Had an argument about this with my significant other.

Annual

Petunias are perennials in warm climates. They can't survive cold well.

Keith

Apparently,with the help of global warming I lost the argument….
these were planted spring of 2025 zone 7a, latitude 45. She cleaned up the bed, watered and fertilized (with her hubbie ridiculing these efforts). ….and viola, I’ll be dangled!!!

Interesting. I guess I live in too cold of climate

Wife's aunt grows thousands each year , sells out early

No winter overs ......starts new each year

That depends on your climate zone.

Being against a sunny brick wall, especially with a Southern or South West exposure could help petunias survive a moderate winter. In Ohio, a lot of people plant fig trees on a wall like that.

Petunias do come back from seed sometimes too, often in different colors than the original plants. I robbed soil from a long raised bed, that had, had petunias in it in previous years and ended up with petunias in a lot of pots of elderberry cuttings.

Keith

And now I hear about it all the time. I hate petunias!

Don't let Porky hear you say that. He'd go into a stuttering rage.

Keith

I didn’t know this when I opened the thread but wondered if that might be the case. They are annuals here but winter is half the year.

I'm in 7A also, Petunias don't survive here....I'm guessing your 25 crop dropped seed and that's what came up.....

There's a lot of tender perennials that are grown as annuals in cold climates. Some other ones are geraniums, lantana, impatiens, and I believe all the varieties of peppers. My paternal, maternal great grandparents had huge numbers of geraniums. My great grandfather would cut then severely back and store them just barely alive in their basement, during the Winter and then put them back in May. A lot didn't make it, but he would propagate more by rooting cuttings. Everytime time I smell geraniums I remember my great grandparents.

My great grandfather was one of the very first professional football players. He was the largest player on his team at only 164 pounds. He guarded a still during prohibition and became a master carpenter, who built fantastic homes and toys for us. I still have the Noah's Arc he made me out of wood. It has an enclosed cabin, gang plank and lower deck with stalls for the animals. It has wheels, so I could push it around. It was sized to hold the Britains Aniimals, of which they gave me a lot, which I still have too.

I've seen pepper plants that were like small trees in Florida.

Keith