My blogging friend Gail at Limestone and Clay has complained about the lackluster performance of her Ruellia. I must not have been fully awake when I read that post, because I never got past the words "Wild Petunia" and "Ruellia" to the important word "strepens." I responded in a comment that hers must not be happy because my Ruellia humilis blooms profusely. Ah, the difference one Latin word makes.
Not only does this native plant pump out the lavender trumpets, it does so on the edge of the blacktop driveway, with no supplemental water and no mulch. It does this for a very long time, too. Even when not in flower, its fuzzy foliage is attractive. No, this plant isn't perfect. The flowers last only a day, and its seedlings appear far from the mother plant. I'm frequently pulling them out of the lawn. But it suffers no serious pest or disease problems, never needs to be deadheaded and thrives on neglect. So, Gail, how about giving this Wild Petunia a try? I'll bet you'll like it better.
edit. 7/13/08 D'oh! I'm such an airhead. I typed "humulis" instead of "humilis." I corrected the error. I apologize for any confusion.
30 comments:
It's nice to see a plant in it's mature form. I'll have to make a notation of it on my want list. Very pretty pics.
Catherine
I just planted this in my garden last month. I found it at a Native Plant Sale and I am so excited to see what it will look like as it matures. Mine isn't as full as yours right now but it has been blooming nonstop. The flowers are so delicate, like tissue paper.
I have never heard of this plant. I will have to hunt for this treasure.
Pretty, pretty. I want one.
"Never need deadheading and thrives on neglect" Now there's the plant for me!! I'm going to be out searching for that one!!
MMD,
It does sound a better ruellia. You know the flowers and leaves look almost identical...an easy mistake to make. You're neglect must be a better quality neglect than mine!;-)
Where did you find this guy? Mine came with the yard, it's wild here...and I just noticed one is blooming after the big rain we finally had. They are both lovely flowered plants.
Gail
Clay and limestone
Thanks for the tip on Ruellia humulis--it's just the type of low-care plant I look for. I'd never heard of it, despite not being a complete neophyte in native plants and it being local to my zone!
~ Monica (looking for a local source for this now...)
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's never heard of this plant. Anything that thrives on neglect is a plant I'm interested in!
I've not heard of this one either. I love those purple blooms!
Very interested in finding this plant at our local nurseries. I too have never seen it. What was the zone? Wow, now I have plantlust!
Jen
MMD,
I'm not sure I'll be looking for this just yet, with all the mallows, poppies, calendulas, gaillardias and other annuals who move around our garden. Ahem, they're more marauders than Monarda, lol. :-)
They certainly are attractive though and sound like a great 'solution' plant for folks who problematic crappy dry areas, such as driveways and such. One confession though: I kind of like the wild petunias, and a couple of years ago when my sister gave me some sedum plants, one tagged along and I tried to plant it where Fernymoss wouldn't see it at first. I tucked it in at the base of the boulders in front, but a couple of days later I was busted and it had disappeared, lol.
I don't have Ruella, but what an interesting post and yes, what a difference one Latin word can make.~~Dee
Hi, MyGardenTravels - I hope you can find it. It is a great little plant.
Perennial Gardener - I commend you on your good taste! Got to love that nonstop bloom.
Lisa - It's a good plant for the dry sunny areas where not much else will grow. I hope you can find it.
Sue Swift - I don't know how well it would grow in a container!
Flydragon - I'm not exaggerating. The only thing I do to it is cut back the dead stems in spring. Of course if I had cut them down in fall, I probably wouldn't have it sprouting all over the lawn.
Gail - I can neglect plants better than anyone! I can't remember when I got it, but I'm pretty sure it came from the native plant sale at Citizens for Conservation.
Monica/GardenFaerie - this is one of those overlooked prairie plants. I don't know if I had heard of it before I bought it, or if I already had it on the radar when I found it.
Rose - it's not flashy enough to be well known, but maybe we can popularize it.
Robin (Nesting Place) - the flowers are really quite beautiful on close inspection. The color is very difficult to capture with my camera. They are a bit more lavender than the closeup photo depicts.
Welcome Muddy Boot Dreams - it's hardy to Zone 3. This is one tough little plant.
IVG - who wouldn't like a Wild Petunia!
Dee - so does the spelling. I just realized that I typed "humulis" instead of "humilis." I better fix that.
Since that second word in the name changes the species it can be important :lol: I liked the post on the railroad gardens. I would like to build one of those some day.
Hi - thanks for telling me about a plant I know absolutely nothing about :) I'll have a look out for it over here...
BTW I've tagged you - I do hope you wanna play...
http://vegplotting.blogspot.com/2008/07/playing.html
Wonderful! I love native flowers, they're much less work than some of those other plants.
LOL, MMD,
I wasn't the one who pulled the wild petunia! But this year, the first, we do have quite a few of the fancier cultivars out front, go figure!
I never quite understood why my mom always hated the wild petunias either ... so what does that say about me and Fernymoss? (Don't answer that question, as it was rhetorical, lol!)
very pretty plant and blooms MMD. I'd never heard of it or seen it before.
Good morning. I've never tried growing ruellia. Is it a little like the wild geraniums? Very pretty.
Marnie
Ruellias are tough, I'll give them that. I have three different ones in my yard and they are about the only things flowering right now. Two are wildings and one was a gift--so I don't know what they are exactly.
I wish I like lavender flowers better. I'm surprised you grow them. I think of them as being southern flowers. You grow so many cool things that I've never seen except in books (and now on blogs). Ruellias seem such lowly plants. Yours looks way better than mine so perhaps you it is the up-market version.
I wonder how it would do here in NC. I fear it might be too hot for it. It would be worth a try to get those kinds of blooms. It is really pretty. I love blue in the garden.
Digital Flower Pictures - I know a lot of gardeners are put off by Latin names, but my mistake shows the importance of it. I'm afraid of the garden railroading hobby. It's a place of no return I think.
VP - thanks for the tag. I've been so busy in the garden & with life I haven't hardly had time to even answer my comments! I'd like to do the meme when I get the time. Good luck trying to find this Ruellia. It's hard enough to find it here. Which is strange, as it is such a great plant.
Cinj - native plants planted in places they like are much less work than other plants. You notice I don't have any Chelone or Joe Pye Weed. My soil isn't moist enough for them & it would take a lot of trouble to make them happy. Dry soil plants, on the other hand, love my garden.
IVG - "Born to be Wild."
Garden Girl - I just can't figure out why this plant isn't everywhere instead (or next to) of Stella D'Oro Daylilies. It's not like it's hard to grow or propagate.
Roses & Lilacs - by wild Geranium, I'm assuming you mean the woodland species G. maculatum. This is a very different plant with very different growing requirements. I have the wild Geranium in the shady woodland garden where I keep it well mulched. This plant love the sun & the heat & laughs at drought.
MSS - LOL: upmarket? This is the thing that's growing wild on the restored prairies around here. Lavender works for me because I don't have any orange. It goes well with the whites, pinks & purples of the front garden.
Anna - it is purportedly growable down to Zone 9 & as you can see it's growing on the searing edge of the blacktop in full sun. I think it's probably tough enough for NC.
I love this plant too and planted a lot this year. It still hasn't started blooming yet. The variety I have is much taller - 4 to 5 feet and darker purple.
Phillip - that sounds like an even better Ruellia! I bet it's not hardy in Zone 5.
I had never heard of Ruellia, but
bought one at Walmart last spring.
I live in an apartment, so I just
have it in a planter on my patio.
This has been the prettiest blooming plant I have had. I wake
up every morning to see how many
new blooms I have. I have had no
problems with insects or disease.
I live in Texas, "hot and dry", so
I have to water it about every 3 days.
Welcome, Walt Wilson! It's hard to believe that such a carefree & long blooming plant isn't more widely known. It's amazing that it can go 3 days in a pot without water in Texas. Ruellias are great.
I need some information. My beautiul Ruellia in a planter on my
patio has grown to about 4 feet.
I'm such an amateur at gardening, I
need to know if I should cut it back this winter. It is still blooming beautiful and the hummingbirds and bees just love it.
I live in the Dallas area.
Hi, Anonymous - I think you have a different species of Ruellia, the common name is Mexican Petunia. I know many Texas bloggers grow it. I'd ask advice of Pam at Digging, MSS at Zanthan Gardens, or Annie at The Transplantable Rose. The links to their sites on on my sidebar under "Flingers." I am such a technodork I don't know how to embed links in a comment. I hope they can help you.
Since this post, I've looked high and low for this plant in Michigan, and my local native plant group confirmed that it's not available here. It's even a threatened in Michigan!! (See Comments under this entry.) I never would have guessed. If you know of an online source for it, please let me know. I'd pay to have seeds or a cutting mailed to me, too.
Thanks! Monica
Monica- and I have it coming up like weeds! Don't worry, I'll send you some seeds.
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