As we head into December, we start to glance to the future, to the award-winning flowers for 2025. This is always a terrific choice for your garden dollar, whether you are looking toward the landscape, porch, patio or deck. One such award winner is Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow, Proven Winners 2025 Annual of the Year.

The Mini Vista petunias have skyrocketed in popularity and for good reasons, which boils down to beauty and performance. As you might expect, you don’t achieve such a national award without some hardware so to speak, earned at the local or state level.

Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow in just a couple of years has won almost 20 awards. My guess is that after tabulations are done for 2024 it will be well over 20. The awards already earned speak volumes about Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow, as several are Perfect Score Awards. This means every evaluation taken through the summer was a "Perfect 5.0." You are no doubt wondering how can a petunia be perfect? Keep that thought. Consider the Oklahoma State University trials. Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow had a perfect score in 2022 and 2023.

I am not claiming it to be a perennial, but annual the same way you plant it every year. Nonetheless Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow was perfect both years. The University of Minnesota gave it a perfect score too but designated it as "In the Ground." I know what you are thinking. You thought petunias were only for baskets, containers and boxes.

It sounds a little like the NCAA rankings: Perfect Score at Michigan State, University of Tennessee and Directors Select at Penn State. So you see, this is a petunia you need to try in 2025. In my area of Georgia and east Alabama, we too have been giving Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow a workout.

Son James and the Eden Estate Management team have been using them in window boxes. At Kim and Joey Mixon’s window box in Phenix City, Alabama, Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow was intermingled with other petunias like Supertunia Mini Vista Indigo and Supertunia Hoopla Vivid Orchid. Then at a home in Columbus, Georgia, it was used with Superbena Raspberry verbena, and two new flowers for 2025, Stardiva Blue scaevola, and Totally Tempted Vivid Violet cupheas.

My neighbors Dave and Cynthia used concrete boxes and filled them with Augusta Lavender Heliotrope, Supertunia Vista Jazzberry petunia and the star of this column, the Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow petunias. It was a perfect blend of color. As we cross into December, my mixed containers of Supertunias Persimmon, Tiara Blue and Mini Vista Yellow have created perfect harmony.

Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow will reach about 12 inches tall with a 24-inch spread. These are carefree flowers; sunlight, water and regular feeding will keep you in bloom from spring through frost. I use a really good, lightweight potting soil. This past summer’s temperatures kept us in a high misery index. Daily water and feeding every two to three weeks with a water soluble fertilizer became the regimen. Of course cutting back in August is vital for gardeners in Georgia.

The 10 varieties of Supertunia Mini Vista petunias have won just north of 200 awards. While I am touting Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow as Proven Winners 2025 Annual of the Year, know that the new Supertunia Mini Vista Plum Veined that will be making its debut, is tough-as-nails and will make a stunning partner.

The new year points to a fun time to be gardener and a garden shopper too!

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(Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” Follow him on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy.)

(NOTE TO EDITORS: Norman Winter receives complimentary plants to review from the companies he covers.)

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