Potted petunias not watered for over two weeks

[WhenDoISleep]

I have some petunias planted in pots attached to a wall in my front garden. I was away on holiday for over two weeks and during that time the person who should have watered them didn't, instead relying on rainfall. When I returned yesterday it was to tubs of brown sticks with shrivelled leaves.

The petunias were flowering beautifully (Queen of Hearts variety) before I went away so I am a little upset about what I can back to. Is there anything I can do to rescue and restore them? DH has very helpfully cut the worst one right back so there is only an inch showing above the soil.

Is there any green left at all? Have they responded to a good water?

It sounds fairly terminal. The only consolation is that you'd probably only have a month left before autumn sees to them.

I've successfully rescued a couple of petunias in the last fortnight but it was touch and go and I had a bit of (sad!) greenery to work with...

If all is lost you could rip them out and plant up with winter pansies and ivy. Get a head start!

The two remaining ones do have some green growth. I watered them well last night and will do so again later. I think I will give them a week and see how they are then.

The one DH chopped of has had it then and I will remove the remainder.

Lovely idea about pansies and ivy for the winter.

The ones I've brought back from the brink had encouraging green shoots in the 'armpits' of some of the brown crispy stems (sorry for lack of correct terminology).
They responded to my snipping the brown bits off right back to a green node. I now have flower buds

I put some slug pellets (I know) in the planter to make sure the precious green bits weren't nibbled before they got going.

The process probably took 10-14 days and they're still not back to normal but look a lot healthier. Time will tell whether it's enough for a final display before the temperature drops. Good luck!

One of my containers of geraniums and bacopa weren't watered for 2 weeks whilst we were on holiday at the beginning of August. They weren't rescuable. I have dug them out and put in a heather and some cyclamen. Looks loads better, and I would have that at some point over the next month anyway. Now I can enjoy them sooner rather than later.