Here at Diply, we're pretty committed to keeping you updated on the newest trends and hashtags you see on social media.
So when we saw #nightskypetunia trending on Instagram, we had to check it out for ourselves. It turns out that planting these gorgeous flowers pretty much puts a planetarium right in your garden.
If you have a green thumb, you need to get some of these.
Known as Petunia cultivars, night sky petunias or galaxy flowers (we're sticking with 'galaxy flowers'), the rich purple color is enough to make these flowers stand out. But it's the intricate, lighter-colored patterns on these petunias that give them their name.
The white speckles are just white speckles — but the fact that they're surrounded by lighter purple, then dark, almost black, purple makes them appear as vibrant as stars in the night sky.
The patterns don't follow any particular scheme, so every individual flower has its own galaxy on it.
Some of the flowers are almost all-purple, others are all-white, and some have some pretty unusual patterns.
That's right, we dug around a little and found out that the colors of these flowers depend on temperature.
Cooler temperatures bring out the white patterns, while warmer temperatures cause the purple to flourish. That means you can totally tweak the patterns if you're growing these indoors.
Of course, you can always plant them outside and let Mother Nature decide what color they'll be.
You'll need to keep them within the right temperature range, but in most climates you'll be able to see them bloom from early May until the end of summer.
It's a new type of flower, but these unique petunias won't break the bank. Amazon sells packs of seeds for about fifteen bucks. They're also being stocked at all sorts of garden centers.
Just make sure to add the hashtag #nightskypetunia so you can show off your galactic garden.
