PlantFiles: Carolina Wild Petunia
Ruellia caroliniensis

This is one of my favorite plants for southeast Texas gardens. First: There are two types : one grows to about a foot and then branches & makes flowers - not desirable; and the other begins branching from the first node out of the ground so it ends up looking like a little Christmas tree with flowers. A friend and I planted one in her front yard and it spread, but not obnoxiously. Now it grows from full Texas sun to dappled shade and blooms beautifully in all situations. It's lavender flowers provide a sort of unifying theme to the garden. We love it.

This is a wonderful little native plant that is useful as a border plant. It will reseed itself everywhere and is very drought tolerant. It will withstand mowing in the yard if you allow it to naturalize in the lawn. It blooms from early spring through late summer and into early fall in central Florida. The flowers usually last only one day and are easily blown off by strong winds, but the flowers are abundant.

A ground cover for shaded areas.

Grows well in containers in bright shade. Needs to be brought indoors during the winter months and placed in a window with bright light. Does not need to be kept moist.