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An easy plant to grow in Tucson, this grassy appearing petunia is one to place around your garden. It dies back in winter, but comes back in spring. After our extreme freeze, I thought this plant was a goner, but new growth began appearing during our first week of 80 degree weather in March. That is impressive. It spreads and can create a large grassy patch in your garden with brilliant purple flowers. The secret for letting this plant become a weed is to give it bright sunny shade or morning sun. The more sun this plant gets; the more blooms you'll see. If you alter the ground in any way and loosen our hard clay soil, the roots will have a better chance to spread....and they will if given the chance:). They will grow in shade but don't expect a lot of flowers. They will also reflect the amount of water you give them. It can be a drought tolerant plant, but if you give it more water, this plant will bush out and perform even better. It doesn't get too tall(max about 3 feet) but it will grow wide into clumps if given free range. This is a common plant around Tucson and easy to grow. Give it the right conditions and the Mexican Petunia will be a wonderful and low care plant for your Tucson garden. Until next tomorrow....
we grow ruellia here in Dallas Ft Worth too... spreads by seed all over the place... when you water, the dried seed pods get wet and explode, shooting seeds into the lawn up to 10 feet away!
ReplyDeleteWe use them in Alley's a lot... they grow and spread and drown out the weeds.
I have this plant too, both the pink and purple. They will appear out of no where. If not for my clay soil, I think I'll see more of them. I remember having the white Mexican Petunia but they died off. Sometimes they get in the path of my dogs.
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful little treasures! Not to mention, it's my favorite color:)
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