To Roger: I knew you would know what this plant is if anyone does. I observed it at the beach. It is breathtakingly stunning. I would be very grateful if you could send me some details. Judith in Linden
Hello Teresa This is often referred to as Mexican petunia. Even though the plants are native to Mexico, petunias are not even remotely linked to them. Ruellia brittoniana is its botanical name. Although purple is the most frequent color, the blossoms can also be white or a variety of purple, pink, or blue-mauve hues.
The plants may handle little shade, but full sun is optimum for growth and blooming. With lots of water, the plant, which has a very aggressive growth pattern, can engulf entire beds of other plants. Mexican petunia is an evergreen plant that is considered invasive in subtropical settings like Florida. Ruellia typically dies back to the ground each winter in the Sandhills.
Flowers come in a variety of colors, from white to pink and purple tones. The most typical shade is purple. There isn’t much smell in the blossoms.
Ruellia comes in dwarf varieties like “Katie,” which grow more subtly and are less troublesome than the 3-foot full-sized varieties. The majority of ruellia species have 2- to 3-inch blooms.
It is simple to grow this plant in either wet or dry conditions. But it can’t stand very much cold. Although there are accounts of very hardy species, Raleigh may be the northernmost point for some kinds.
Ruellias serve as host plants for a variety of butterflies. They have been observed on many kinds of ruellia and include the common buckeye, malachite butterfly, and Australian lurcher.
Ruellias can be found in abundance online, typically as plants but occasionally as seeds as well. I would select specific forms and purchase plants.
If you’re feeling daring, try seeds that promise a variety of colors. You could receive something particularly intriguing. Late in March, start your seeds indoors; once they sprout, transfer them outside within a week.
When the second set of genuine leaves appears, transplant into pots. I drink coffee out of foam cups with holes pierced through the bottom borders.
What hues are available for dwarf Mexican petunias?
As long as it has a bright, sunny location, dwarf petunias are the ideal plant for both garden beds and containers indoors or outside. They bloom in white, purple, and pink, and when grouped together in various colors, they look stunning. When deciding where to plant them, keep in mind boundaries and areas where bigger plants won’t shade them out.
They are a modest plant that only grows to a maximum height and spread of around 10″. Over the course of a gardening season, they will swiftly fill in and produce lanky stems that may need to be pruned back if you want to maintain their mound-like appearance and flowering cycle.
Your dwarf petunia enjoys sunlight for growth. While it can handle some shadow, it thrives in direct sunlight, which is how you can prolong the season of flowers. This plant will wither back at the first frost and is best suited for US zones 8 to 11. To offer it the best spring growth surge, cut it back and remove any dead branches before spring.
It tolerates some dryness and is fairly tolerant of moisture, but if you want the most bloom for your money, you’ll need to wet its feet. When moving plants to your garden, think about filling the hole with peat moss to assist the soil retain moisture from rain. Consider fertilizing your petunia plants twice—once in the spring and again in the later summer—using a high-quality controlled-release fertilizer.
Are Mexican petunias sun or shade lovers?
Mexican petunia, often known as ruellia, may add color and height to your summer borders. This low-maintenance plant grows to a height of 3 feet (although there are dwarf types that stay shorter) and produces waves of petunia-like blue, white, or pink flowers throughout the summer. The colorful insects swarm to the fragrant petals of Mexican petunia, making it a perfect choice for butterfly gardens. Additionally, Mexican petunia is a necessary plant for butterfly gardens because various species of butterflies need it as a host plant for their larvae to feed on. Mexican petunia will frequently self-sow after it is established and spread widely in the garden, so plant it in areas where you can monitor it or in sizable container gardens. Deer can’t eat Mexican petunia. Hardy in zones 9 through 11.
Questions about Mexican Petunias Send us an email, and one of our flower planting specialists will respond.
Mexican Petunia Growing Instructions
It thrives and blooms best in broad sun or light shade for Mexican petunia. Although it can grow in the shade, it won’t blossom as much and will appear lanky and leggy. Mulch the plants to maintain regular soil conditions, especially in hot, dry weather, as this sun-loving perennial prefers rich, somewhat damp soil. Mexican petunias can be grown as annual flowers in the northern hemisphere. Mexican petunia may spread quickly, so plant it in an area where you can limit it.
Restrictions may apply to some of these plant’s varieties since they are thought to be invasive. Before planting, check the local laws. At Costa Farms, only non-invasive hybrids are grown.
h5#These types go well with Mexican petunias:
Do I need to trim my Mexican petunia?
Typically, a Mexican petunia only needs one annual pruning in late winter or early spring to remove any damaged, weak, or unwelcome stems back to the plant’s root system. During the flowering season, trimming spent flower stalks helps keep the garden looking tidy. Every few years, in the spring, trim Mexican petunia clumps back to a few inches above the ground to revitalize them.
The spread of this plant can be controlled with specific pruning methods. Cut off any spent Mexican petunia blooms before they set seed and pluck away any stems that have fallen to the ground and become rooted in the soil.
Do Mexican petunias ever reappear?
A: I have a roughly 4-year-old Mexican petunia known as a Ruellia. All of the stems died back in 2013 as a result of the freeze. I removed them all at ground level, and the plant quickly recovered and produced lovely flowers.
Persimmons can thrive here, however because of the intense lighting, the fruit may get sunburned.
The plant appears to have seen very little dieback this winter. Should I remove every stem at ground level or just the ones that have been harmed by frost? Will it bloom from the current stems, or solely from “new wood”?
A: Mexican petunia is categorized as a herbaceous perennial, which means that if it gets too cold, it freezes to the ground and then sprouts new growth from the base. Since it blooms in the summer, the flowers appear on young growth. Both fresh growth at the bottom and new growth from older wood will bear flowers.
Two options are available. It can be cut back to the ground once again to simulate a frozen back. It will develop from the ground up and bloom similarly to how it did in 2014. That is the simple method.
Keep it at this height and lower anything that is weak or dead to the ground as your backup plan. The remaining stems would then be pruned back to the desired branching height. Shearing or cutting it back will make it grow thicker above the sheared area and blossom.
If you prefer a taller plant, use the second technique. Use the first approach if you need to keep things compact.
Do not forget to fertilize it right away with an all-purpose fertilizer for growing flowers, such as a fertilizer for roses, fruit trees, tomatoes, or something comparable.
A: I raised one avocado outside last year from its pit. I put it in a pot and carried it inside when the weather started to become colder. The older leaves are starting to dry out and turn brown. Since bringing it inside, I fertilized it once. Every other day I lightly water it because the leaves are starting to curl up from not getting enough water.
A: The primary cause of leaves falling from an avocado brought indoors is a change in the duration or intensity of the light. The process of moving it from soil to a container might also induce leaf drop. A irrigation issue could be the reason for leaf fall. Insect pests like mites are a fourth potential.
Plants raised outside produce a distinct kind of leaf than those raised indoors. Sun leaves, which are leaves that are grown outdoors, fall off as the light intensity changes. A shade leaf is a new growth that the plant produces that is thinner, bigger, and more numerous.
Leaves may fall off if the root system is damaged. It’s referred to as transplant shock. Additionally, a change in watering schedule could result in leaf drop. If there are mites on your indoor plants, it’s likely that they were spread to the avocado because they are prone to mite problems.
Now what? Ensure that the avocado receives as much light as you can. Ideally, a window facing south should be used. For it to remain healthy and avoid growing spindly, you must provide it with several hours of sunlight.
Until water is coming out the bottom of the container, moisten the soil inside. Wait to water again until you see a significant shift in the container’s weight. Using a pencil or a soil moisture meter is another way to determine the amount of moisture in the soil.
See how easily a pencil descends by pressing it into the ground. In dry dirt as opposed to moist earth, a pencil is more challenging to push. After removing the pencil, you can feel the end to gauge its moisture level. Utilizing a soil moisture meter, which you can get at any nursery or garden center, is a third option.
Mites are a frequent issue with avocados. You can check the plant for mites using any of two approaches. First, press a withered leaf firmly against the white paper’s surface. Take the piece of paper in your hand and carefully examine it in a bright area.
You can observe tiny mites the size of a pencil dot crawling across the surface if you have good vision or are using a magnifying glass. If you softly drag your fingertips across the paper’s surface as well, the mites will leave a red stain.
To suffocate mites, spray the entire plant with a horticultural oil. Oils and soap sprays both effectively repel active mites.
A: During the fall, I’ve noticed tiny little snails clambering up my red brick planter. Many of those shells are scattered over my yard and pots. My roses never previously had powdery mildew illness, but they do now. I believe the snails are to blame for my lawn’s thinning. Older mulberries in my yard provide me with some shade. I emailed you some images of my backyard.
A: Based on the images and your description, I believe that the shade is a contributing factor in a number of the issues you’re experiencing. Plants and soil keep wet longer in areas of increased shadow.
Snails and slugs prefer prolonged wetness. The likelihood of developing powdery mildew and other illnesses rises with increased shade. Lawns narrow and finally collapse as a result of more shade.
If you prune some of the trees’ lower limbs, things will be better. More light will enter your property as a result of limb removal, which will also boost the roses, lessen disease issues, thicken the lawn, and lessen snail issues.
Fescue and ryegrass, two cool-season lawn grasses, require at least five hours a day of direct sunlight or filtered sunlight, with no more than 50% of the lawn being shaded. Lawns and floral plants will suffer if they are shaded more than this.
Lawns that are shaded cannot endure any type of traffic. In the more shady regions, the lawn will start to dwindle and the ground will become barren.
In the shade, flowering plants like roses produce fewer and of inferior quality blooms. The shade is ideal for powdery mildew. Water splashes are also enjoyed by powdery mildew. Powdery mildew will spread from rose to rose if there is overhead irrigation that splashes on the foliage and they are shaded.
Snails are challenging to manage. Trapping and baiting are the standard methods of pest management. Put moist newspapers or cardboard between the plants to catch snails. Snails and slugs enjoy gatherings under damp paper or cardboard when the sun rises.
To dispose of them, gather them up from the ground or the underside of the cardboard and place them in a plastic bag. You can start to reduce their population if you do this frequently, like once a week.
Baits for snails and slugs are also effective. According to the label, they are normally distributed about the plants on a regular basis. These can be bought online or at the majority of nurseries and garden retailers.
A: I just got a big bag of California-grown Fuyu persimmons that I grew myself. The Fuyu persimmon tree—will it flourish here?
A: Persimmons will grow in this climate almost universally. The variety known as Hachiya is one that I wouldn’t advise growing here, but Fuyu, Giant Fuyu, Coffee Cake, and the majority of the others will if they are planted correctly in enriched soil and aren’t a part of a rock mulch-covered desert landscape.
The fruit is of outstanding quality, however because of our intense lighting, it may become sunburned.
They should be surface-mulched with wood mulch, fertilized once a year, pruned similarly to the majority of other fruit trees, and watered like any other landscaping plant.
Do Mexican petunias come in a variety of varieties?
Mexican petunias can bring beauty to your garden if you take care to select cultivars that are not invasive and that you can keep up with and manage.
blue-purple petunias? Mexican petunias may initially be mistaken for regular garden flowers.
Ruelliasimplex, a fast-growing perennial with green to purple stems and green leaves, are what Mexican petunias are in reality. This plant’s invasive, wild version is so aggressive that some states have prohibited it, while others have put it on a watch list of invasive plants. Mexican petunias are categorized as “extremely invasive” by the state of Florida.
Ruellia simplex, also known as R. tweediana, R. brittoniana, R. coerulea, and R. malacosperma, is a plant native to Mexico and western South America that can withstand freezing temperatures in USDA hardiness zones 8 to 11. Even though the plants were given their correct name by a German botanist in 1879, most horticulturists today call them R. tweediana. Mexican bluebell, hardy petunia, wild petunia, Britton’s wild petunia, and perennial petunia are examples of common names.
Mexican petunias may thrive in a variety of environments but prefer moist or marshy soils, such as those found at the edges of ponds and lakes or in moist woods. In dry soils, they can endure drought and even full sun.
The plants’ colorful, spectacular blossoms are fleeting, yet they bloom for a long time, starting in early spring and lasting until frost. The shrubs have an approximate width of one foot and a height of one to four feet.
Most of these lovely, hardy plants have the unfortunate drawback of spreading out of control and displacing good plants.
Invasive Mexican petunias develop thick, horizontal roots that extend above and below the surface of the earth, making them challenging to uproot. Even small portions that are missed can reseed. When ripe, seed capsules on the plants open and release seeds all over the place. Years after the plants have been eliminated, the seeds may still be present in the soil and begin to grow.
Even worse, when the seeds are moist, a mucous-like goo forms. They adhere like glue to dry soil once they are dropped there.
Mexican petunia varieties that gardeners can enjoy and cultivate responsibly have been developed by breeders. Because they are sterile cultivars, “Mayan Purple” and “Mayan White” do not produce seeds that self-sow.
‘Mayan White’
Mexican petunias are invasive, however “Mayan White” and its relative “Mayan Purple” are sterile substitutes.
Home Depot locations in Florida presently carry “Mayan Purple” and “Mayan White.” By 2014, the breeder, Rosanna Freyre, hopes to have the cultivars more widely accessible. This may involve cooperating with a North Carolina mail order business and a Georgia company with statewide distribution.
Another possibility is “Katie.” Due to its lovely blossoms and simplicity of maintenance, Texas A&M University has named this less aggressive, dwarf Ruellia a Texas Superstar.
‘Katie’ has blooms that are purple, pink, or white and grows to a height of about 6 inches. However, because it is fertile and spreads through seed, researchers from the University of Florida and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Services do not advise using it.