PlantFiles: Desert Petunia, Florida Bluebells, Mexican Petunia, Mexican Blue Bells
Ruellia brittoniana

I have a tall, purple-flowered variety that does not set seed, and it is still pretty invasive. The tiniest piece of stem will root and grow a new plant, and the jumble of roots and trailing stems it forms underground make this impossible to tear out without missing pieces that will once again root and grow a new plant. It is pretty when contained, but it will otherwise spread and take over. Also, I can't believe they call these "Desert Petunia," because come wintertime (my dry season) these look like poo! They flower all year, and so will keep flowering just fine for me, but the foliage really suffers without regular water... and the last thing I need in my garden is a plant that spreads and grows like crazy and looks bad all winter.

This plant has been a dependable bloomer dispite heat and drought. Every day there are new blossoms to replace the ones from the day before. It does spread but one must use a little common sense in choosing the right place for a plant.

Although it is a beautiful plant, I wish the literature I read about it would have told me that it reseeds itself prolifically. I am a landscaper new to Florida and learning about the plants that grow here and trying to re-establish my business here from a move from Jacksonville, NC to the nature coast of Florida. I definitely will not use this plant in my designs. And, when customers want it in their beds, I will tell them that they will have a heck of a time taking care of and trying to control these plants.

Our Ruellia brittoniana has been in the same location for three years, and it has not spread much at all. Our is of the larger, purple variety. It stands about 4 1/2 feet tall.

It is an amazing plant, producing new blooms every day. Perhaps 8a is the perfect zone for growing it. We don't have to thin it, we don't have to contain it, we don't have to water it, and we don't worry about it. We just enjoy it ... a lot.

I planted four 'Purple Showers' originally and through cuttings have appx. 2 dozen in different places, as backdrops, all over my garden. Great dark green foliage to front with color with deep purple flowers each morning. By evening all the days flowers have dropped with tomorrows flowers set and ready to open with the first hint of dawn. Fortunately, I was able to locate a 'Sterile-Non Invasive' variety for my original plantings so I'm not having the seeding problem some have experienced. I really enjoy the daily blooms, ease of rooting and low-no maintenance they offer. They seem to be tough little guys (3-4' mature) that LOVE the heat requiring only a brief watering when several days of 90+ temps causes a slight wilt to the top foliage. They also thrive in ANY of several unprepared soil types found around my garden with only low monthly liquid feedings. Mine have been blooming continuosly for nearly a year now. Must be exhausting!! I LOVE them.

This plant was listed on a xeriscape list for North Texas. I planted it in full sun and although it did grow, I rarely saw any flowers on it. It seems that the flowers would bloom and then fall off within a few hours. It also looked pretty pitiful, like it was dying for water.

I would not suggest planting this in a xeriscape.

My Mexican Petunias are the dwarf kind They make small clumps and do not reseed but come back from their roots. I have had mine for 4 years and they multiply very slowly. They make a good border plant because of the low small mound which is about 8". I live in East Tx. where it is muggy and rains a lot. Also they are growing in shade and part shade. Mex. Petunias don't start blooming until late July (maybe because they are in the shade). I have never had trouble with bugs or mildew. You do not have to do anything to them. They just grow.

I got a sterile variety of purple ruellia, so it won't be invasive. The butterflies love the slightly sweet smelling beautiful flowers. The flowers fall on the ground and leave a purple carpet around the plant hence a common name of it "purple shower".

My favorite thing about this plant is it brought back a colony of white peacock butterflies that got wiped out by last year's hurricanes. Apparently its leaves are a food source for the caterpillars.

I love this plant's tall form, not the short mounding cultivars. It seems to me that the shorter ones are more invasive. I have both purple/blue and pink, and I too, have noticed that the pink makes all sorts of seeds, but the purple doesn't. I have a white form too, which seems to be right down the middle--it makes some seed, but not nearly as much as the pink. This plant needs SEVERE neglect to die, and even then you just can't be sure!

As previously reported here, I have found this plant propagates easily from cuttings. I have successfully rooted new plants by just sticking the cut end of a pruned stalk into moist soil and letting it grow on its own. I find a few seedlings scattered around my yard that self-sowed, but not at all to the point that I would consider it invasive.

I've had better luck with the taller variety than the dwarfs, but both do grow here in NE Fla. I use the tall variety at the back of borders. It is especially effective for me as a backdrop for my pink and white dianthus (carnations). It flowers more profusely in full sun, but will tolerate shade.

I also had one plant of some species of the native Ruelia (check the DG plant files for "wild petunia" for examples), with a nice blue flower, but I've lost track of where I transplanted it.

Jeremy

I have the taller pink variety of Mexican petunia. I love it! It looks different then my sisters purple wild variety. Hers are pretty but they over run her yard. I like the look of the foliage on mine better. It gets about 24" tall and has stems that resemble skinny bamboo type canes. It looks like a tropical plant. I have it in Pink and it hasn't gotten invasive so far and I had it four years.. I got about six little plantlets from it in four years. And 13 plants I took from cuttings.I could have had more if I'd wanted.
This early summer I got Katies Dwarfs in three colors. I don't know if they will be invasive or not. I've read conflicting views. Some say the Dwarfs take over and some say they behave in their gardens.
I'll find out soon I guess.
I'd love to find the colors of white and purple in the taller variety. The kind with the bamboo looking stems, ( not the wild variety.)
If anyone has it in that variety and colors that I am looking for, and would like to trade for some of my seeds.
or trade cuttings please email me at [e-mail:windyrr2@tampadsl.net]
Of cuttings I have Katie's Dwarf in three colors and the taller pink Mexican Petunias "Chi,Chi" ( the kind with the cane stems) and night blooming jasmine cuttings.
Of seeds I have morning glory vine, pink and blue mixed. Night blooming jasmine And magenta colored 4 O'Clocks and purple orchid tree seeds
Thanks. Cheryl

This plant grows beautifully in the Lubbock area. It self sows readily, filling in bare spots and has constant blooms. I can see where it would be invasive for other type os beds, but it works fine for me. Reminds me of oleander foliage. The moneywort I have growing underneath seems to like the company.

VERY INVASIVE. Good choice if you want to fill a bare area quickly, but be ready to pull seedlings daily, and I mean daily.

This is a very nice plant - I grow it in pots, so I avoid the invasive properties. They are not hardy in my area, so I bring them into a greenhouse for the winter. I have both blue/purple and pink (I prefer the pink) currently in 6" pots. I wonder if they will outgrow the pots . . . does anyone know the ultimate pot size for these plants?

Invasive in the right conditions.

I moved mine to an area in which they receive part shade (instead of full sun) to help control spreading.

author - june My blue ruella are great but right now they are struggling to flower. They were planted by nursery last Sept. 2003. They were amazing. I have just watered when weather is hot and dry. Hope they bloom soon as some nearby gardens are in bloom early morn.

I have both, the dwarf and the adult variety.

Dwarf - Scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most invasive, I would rate it as a 9.0. What is scary is that birds/wind/boogie man carries the seeds to the outdoor container plants as well. The one thing that they seem to adore is excess water or over watering. I noted that in summer due to our drought conditions,their growth rate was stunted and their self propagation was insignificant.

Adult - this one (so far) has not shown similar aggressiveness as the dwarf. I rate it a 4.

I planted mexican petunia's last summer and thought they were great but then they started getting spider mites. I treated them once with soap and seemed to alleviate the problem but I saw a few new spots yesterday.Has no one else had this problem? Zone9

These plants bloom in the afternoon and lose the flowers the next day... kind of like a Four O'Clock. So I mix them with Four O'Clocks. The foliage looks like an oleander and they mix well with dwarf Oleanders and look great together.

I just planted mine in August. I thought it would not bloom until the following spring or summer, but after the shock of being transplanted was over it has started blooming for me. Mine is three feet already, and I know that they will be invasive but eventually they will start clumping together. I live in Dallas, Texas (U.S.); although our summers are fierce, this plant seems to thrive with total neglect.

The top image by FlowerManiac is the dwarf variety which is not invasive. See the description of Mexican petunias named "Bonita" and "Katie" in the database.

I'm in Houston and it's as invasive as the orange Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans) It travels by seeds and runners and breaks off when pulled. I have seen it sheared into a hedge and that was attractive but I know they have to constantly work on keeping in line. Ruellia cultivar 'Katie' is much better behaved.

Everyone who says this plant is invasive in Florida is right, but no more so than the native beautyberry or saw palmetto. And it can be a nusiance if you're into no-maintenance gardening. But it's also very pretty, especially when planted in beds of allamandas and jatrophas--a fantastic color combination that has, on two or three occasions, actually stopped traffic. It also provides a colorful understory for mature shrubs with ugly legs, such as older hibiscus plantings. Finally, it is a terrific cut flower. The stems will bloom as long as they have buds, and then the stems will root in the water and you'll have plants to give away.

Here in Florida, "Mexican Petunias" are considered a category 1 invasive species.

Ruellias are pretty but they are invasive and they also possess the power to displace and hybridize with native foliage.

If I had to have one, I would stick with the dwarf variety because it clumps and maintains a fuller, nicer shape. It doesn't reseed everywhere like the taller variety other.

This is only my second year to garden, so I have only learned about this plant when I received it as a bonus in a trade. I love purple flowers anyway, but this one... OH MY! I LOVE how it blooms daily for me! And in the heat of a Texas summer!! What a JOY! I will NOT be without this plant in the future. I can hardly wait to see more and more of it in my garden.

Like someone else said, I think I might have a slightly different variety since mine seems to be taller than the others, with narrower, less sparse leaves.

I can't wait to try rooting cuttings of this one to share with others!

This plant is the easiest of the easiest to care for. I took a cutting from our other house and moved it when we moved to our new house with wonderful results! I have the pink and the purple. Yesterday I found a little one coming up across my yard - nature just amazes me!

I use my Ruellia like Lirope (Monkey grass) to outline my flower beds. When they get too bushy, I thin them out and plant in other areas of our yard. Wonderful show when they bloom!

This plant is VERY INVASIVE. When watered or rained upon it shoots seeds all over the garden. Has a deep root system and can not be easily pulled out. I have a beautiful golden barrel cactus that has this plant growing up and around the spines. My husband likes it for the color and foliage. I dig it up whenever I can. The only way to control it is to spray a pre-emergent so that the seeds do not germinate.

Ruellia grows anywhere and everywhere I don't want it to - in my yard, the seedlings grow fast and will take over my daylily beds if I let them.

I have both the tall and the short ones. The tall ones are all around my yard in purple, and can be invasive, but that's OK with me; we just mow around the edges. I also have some white ones, but they are not as prolific as the purple--I encourage them. In the short ones I have purple, white and pink all mixed up in one flower bed. They are somewhat brittle, so when pieces are broken, I root them in water, then plant them somewhere else. I really appreciate flowering plants that don't need to be pampered!

This plant is excellent in areas where height and color is needed. I have mine now for two years and they are spreading throughout my front garden (western exposure; afternoon sun). I've never had seed pods on mine, however, knowing that they will come back in the spring, is my solace.

I just purchased them in the color pink and she is doing very well on the opposite side of the house (eastern exposure; morning sun).

Hummingbirds will also visit this plant!

Happy Gardening!

There seem to be two plants called Florida Bluebell. That which interests me grows profusely in the Florida Keys. It propagates by pushing up its own shoots from the ground surrounding itself. Its one remarkable feature is that it blooms during the night EVERY night and sheds its blooms at around 4.00 pm EVERY day. Blooms are small but profuse and come in light and dark blues and dark pinks . I am not a knowledgable gardener but have tried a few shoots in southern England with no sucess ; even indoors in England it flourishes greenery but never a flower in sight.

In the Florida Keys it just looks after itself but appreciates watering in dry spells.

Mexican Petunias are one of the easiest plants to grow that I have planted. I saw some purple flowering ones along a busy street and immediatley went to the local Target to buy some. You can almost ignore these plants. I added the pink flowering kind a year later. Both of these are prolific bloomers.

I have not seen a single seed on the purple flowering one, but the pink flowering one is full of them. I propagate the purple kind by cuttings, usually with a rooting agent, but they will take root without it. I haven't lost a cutting yet. I started with two plants and now I have about two dozen.

These are very drought tolerant. They do occasionally get a little bit wilty in the worst of the heat, but just a little bit of water brings them back almost before your eyes.

I really like these plants, they give a wonderful splash of colour. I use them as background plants, since they do tend to reach around three feet in my area (zone 9a.)

Added: I am wondering if I don't have a different variety of these plants, as mine are 3 feet tall. The pictures look more like the ones in my parent's yard, which are shorter and more dense. Theirs also come in a white flowering kind. I would like it if someone would correct me if I have a different variety. (nurafey@netscape.net)

We live in zone 7, in the desert southwest and sometimes have 100+ degree weather during the summer; our winters usually do not get below 20 degrees. Heat does not bother the Mexican Petunia.

We have hard desert alkaline soil. We do not improve the soil or mulch for these plants. They are hardy. They can take direct sun or morning sun/afternoon shade. We water daily when the temps get into the 90's.

The plants bloom all season (from June sometimes through Sept. in our area.) They drop their flowers daily and they reseed. The seeds can be planted in the fall or in early spring.

Mexican Petunias grow pods that burst open, scattering seeds in all directions. Collect seeds only when pods turn black but before they burst. The heat from your hands will cause them to break open.

I have been searching nurseries and websites for a source of Mexican Petunia seeds for about two years now, plus I have sent out emails asking for sources, but there does not seem to be a source for these seeds as of yet.

These plants can be transplanted easily. Pinching makes them bush out and look better.