This plant is one that my husband's Mom brought us from Florida several years ago. It's a Ruellia brittoniana Mexican Petunia. Ours is just starting to bloom this year, and I can see several buds forming. I really like the long, thin foliage, which is attractive without the blooms. The blooms seem to just last a day or so but it looks like there will be a steady stream of them once it starts blooming.
It's tag gives the following information: full sun, hardy to 32 degrees F., medium height, and flowers spring to fall. Care: Dark green foliage with attractive, funnel-shaped, petunia like flowers which bloom from spring to frost. A clump forming perennial to 18"-24" high. Heat tolerant and will tolerate heavy clay soils. Do not over water.
Buckeye Candy
15 years ago
13 comments:
Hi, I just bought Katie, the dwarf version of this plant on the sale table! It's adorable and I will see if it will survive this garden. The leaves have a nice seersucker look like seersucker sedge! The flowers only last a day,
I did a post on Ruellia hirta and Mr McGregor's Daughter did a post on another native ruellia. You might like the natives, too.
Gail
Gail - oh, I can't wait to see your new find! I will definitely check out those posts. It's always nice to find new plants!
~Cindy
I love it! Is it the same as the wild petunia I see all along roadsides? They are blooming now too, but only in the morning and look just like this, but short. I dug some for my garden. I think yours is lovely and it winters well inside? Great you got it from your mother in law-and from another state too!
Thanks for coming by my blog Cindy! That's a nice present you received. Ruellia is a pretty flower. I noticed you're in Western Pa, anywhere near Latrobe or Greensburg? I grew up in that area and still call myself an avid Steelers fan!
Tina ~ I don't know if it's the same as the wild petunia along the road. It does winter inside, I don't know that I would say well-lol. It takes a month or two to get the foliage back and looking good and this is the first that it has bloomed this summer, but that's ok because it is pretty. My in-laws live around here but spend winters in Florida, so they brought it back for us a couple of years ago.
Dave ~ we live just north of the Burgh, outside of Cranberry Twp. but I'm very familiar with Greensburg and Latrobe. I find it interesting that there are such big Steeler fans all over the country.
What a pretty little flower. I thought I had read about this flower on another blog. It might have been on gail's blog.
Eve ~ it was Gail's blog. She let me know and I went back to read about her's too!
Gail ~ Thanks for the heads up on your and MMD's posts. I did find both of them and they were very interesting.
This is a pretty flower, Cindy. I thought I'd never seen it before, but now I remember reading about it on Gail's blog. As you say, even without the bloom the foliage is very attractive.
Hi Cindy, I must say that is a beautiful bloom on that flower!
Rose ~Thanks for stopping by!
DP ~Thank you, now if more than one would open at a time.
I use these short ruellia a lot for edging. Be careful, though -- they do seed out in warmer climates! Not wildly invasive by any means. I just dig up the seedlings and put them where I want them.
They overwinter beautifully in Austin. I also grow the tall ruellia. Down here the tall one can get 5-6 feet high and is really vigorous. They root easily from cuttings.
The short one comes in several colors: Katie (pink), the standard blue-purple, and white.
I misspoke. Katie IS the short variety, as Gail says, and it comes in several colors. The pink one is called, naturally enough, Katie Pink.
I also grow the "wild" one in both electric purple and in white. They seed out very prolifically and stand up to our heat well.
Leigh - Thanks for some more info on the Ruellia. I will have to look into acquiring some of these other varieties and seeing if I can get them to work for me here in PA.
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