Mexican Petunia :: Love-Hate

To say Ruellia brittoniana Mexican Petunia is one sturdy plant would be greatly understating its abilities to endure our Florida climate.

That's an easy thing to love.

The luscious, almost flourescent, shade of purple it sports means it fits in well and complements just about any other plant and color in a Florida-Friendly garden setting.

That's an easy thing to love.

It grows quickly (very quickly) and fills in large spaces faster than the speed of light. Okay, maybe not that fast... but, trust me... quickly. When you're working with big areas that might be an easy thing to love.
The wispy ends of tall, stemmy stalks hold the buds that open each day and close before the sun goes down.

A predictable quality that is fun to observe and ... yes,

easy to love.

In my garden it gets out of hand, in short order, when left to itself for any length of time.

Like all summer.

Straying out and over its bounds and choking out whatever plants dare to get in the way. There really is a row of red flash caladiums under there.

Not so easy to love.

I've been a voice of reason for the past few years whenever asked about this vigorous grower. Always advising against the purchase of it unless, that is, you buy Rick Brown's sterile version from Riverview Flower Farms at Home Depot.

The sterile variety won't produce seeds. Even so, you should be aware, it has a clumping habit that will spread... and spread with an aggressive rapidly growing, healthy root system.

If that doesn't happen fast enough for you pull out any stem, with a few roots in tact, poke it in the ground, and you will soon have more plants for free.

Mexican petunia really is a lovely visual respite in the early morning as the first beams of sunlight stream through the branches above.

A profuse bloomer it is ~~ the more exposure to sunny conditions ~~ the better. That's easy to love.

The site where these are growing was one of the first beds created in the back gardens just over ten years ago. Back then Mexican petunia was perfect there.
I was asking it to fill in the mostly sunny end of the bed before the ligustrum tree became a tree.

There are actually two other locations this pretty trumpet-shaped flower is sited on our property. I did that. On purpose. Not sure what I was thinking.

Mexican petunia naturally attracts every variety of butterfly and bees crawl down inside almost disappearing while collecting pollen and nectar. It is one of the places hummers visit with regularity.

That's really easy to love.

This summer, with the big drake elm removed, increased sunlight provided even better conditions, which encouraged aggressive rapid spreading and more prolific blooming than we've seen in years. Hate the spreading: Love the blooms.

Maybe this gardener just needs to get out there and take charge. With a little bit of pruning and pulling up strays by the roots I just might have to admit a turn towards love for this very popular and showy purple bloomer.

That Was Then; This Is Now

What a Difference a Few Months Can Make!
Well, here we are in the middle of summer and boy is it a scorcher. While the plant life at Hoe & Shovel is growing like a jungle I thought this might be a good time to highlight some updates to plantings/projects featured in previous posts. So if you like that sort of thing, hang around for a few minutes to see how long hours of sunshine, some rain (finally), and lots of summer humidity are the elements that make a zone 10 garden thrive.

That Was Then (April 2008)

The above photo first appeared in an April post (here for the back story) explaining how this north side of the garden was all grass until it was decided the veggie garden would work well over here. Once the veggie garden was started (not visible in the photo) ... well, let's just say I couldn't be spending so much time over there without having some pretty plants to keep me company too. Digging the curvy bed out around the fencing to join the front bed seemed to be the best way to take care of that dilemma.

This Is Now.

Bush daisy found next to the fire bush in this planting.

I can tell you that without a doubt these curves will be wider in the fall. As soon as it cools down the shovel will be at work again to enlarge this area. There just isn't enough room here ... for the fire spike(forefront) and bush daisies are overpowering the border of amaryllis and day lilies. The fire spike is supposed to let loose with its red blooms late summer/early fall. It is a first here so I can only hope it will not disappoint. The big green leafy plant is sufficient enough for now. I discovered it's easily propogated with cuttings too. If it does bloom I'll be planting more of it in the fall using the plants I've started from cuttings .A view of the same bed from another angle.

A closer look (above) at how the side bed blends with the front bed around the fencing. The impatiens in the center of the white caladiums is a volunteer. Impatiens tend to behave like weeds around here popping up everywhere. Many times I actually pluck them and throw them in the compost (gasp) because they show up in unwanted places. I left this one because it turned out to be purplish pink but seeing it front and center in a photo makes it seem a little out of place.

Can I just give a shout out to the Illustris & Midnight Taro... also a first at Hoe & Shovel and planted back in April? It is just so fun to see it towering above the white June Bride and Jackie Suthers caladiums. Also in this bed ... an hibiscus (behind the midnight taro), lantana (not blooming now) crawling out either side, a Brunfelsia pauciflora in the corner(also not blooming now), all bordered by variegated liriope.

That Was Then (March 2008)

Around we go to the back garden (above). This is the closest planting bed to the back pool patio. The above photo was first featured in a post referencing the mexican petunia (behind the iron gates in background) and the variegated schefflera. It was time for a severe trimming of both back in March. The original post can be read in full here.

This planting bed is about 35' in length and 20' at its widest point over to the archway that connects it to another bed. The entire bed is anchored by a single-trunk Ligustrum japonicum (or japanese privet) on the far end (not visible due to height of it) and a drake elm on the closer end (in the foreground but not visible in this photo). Picture the long side of the bed running parallel to the pool .

This Is Now.







You can see the mexican petunia;Ruellia brittoniana towering at 5-6 feet tall again. I like to pretend the black iron gates are containing it. But alas... it is not to be contained in anyone's imagination or reality. An invasive species in this zone it is beginning to make me weary trying to keep it from taking over. It's been trimmed (not its heighth but its breadth) and shooters continually pulled up everywhere since the growing season started. The butterflies do love it so that is its one huge redeeming quality.


I would not recommend planting Mexican Petunia to anyone in this area and south of me. Except under one condition and that is if nothing else is growing nearby and you do not mind it turning into a rather large hedge. It starts out so purple and lovely but now after 6 (years) flourishing seasons, it seems as if it is out to get me... chasing me down at every turn... and all the trimming I'm doing to tame it is making it want to grow even better. HA! It is a good thing I keep my pruners in hand at all times.But the typical gardener would not be able to manage its unruly habits and THIS A-typical gardener is weary of doing it.












This Is Now ( a little bit tighter shot)

By the way... there are four container plants visible in the above photo. Can you figure out where they are? Stay tuned for a future post featuring the containers placed in and around Hoe & Shovel.

And Finally...

That Was Then (March 2008)
Staying in the back garden there are several more planted beds. This one (above--in the background) is situated at an angle in the S E corner of the garden. There is a grassy pathway behind this bed and then about 20 more feet of property planted out beyond it but SE corner suffices for this description. The original explanation of this expansion project that was done over the period of a couple of years (read: continuous digging) can be read here.


This Is Now.


I hope you've enjoyed the partial tour and update of Hoe & Shovel. It really does seem like everything is billowing over its borders this time of year. The heat is turned up to extreme as it is all over the country it seems. Only here you have to imagine the nights don't cool down much... never cooler than about 75 degrees but more like 80. I think the plants are growing by moonlight, too.

Hope you are all enjoying your gardens, too. Meems

Before and After: Mexican Petunia

Blogger's Note July 2008: There is an edit/update to this post here. It appears that this post receives many google hits with folks inquiring about mexican petunia. You will want to read the follow-up if you are curious about mexican petunia habits.

Who doesn't enjoy watching the transformation of people, gardens, homes - whatever the case may be?

Hoe and Shovel has been steadily gardening through the winter months. Typically nothing dies here (due to freezing, at least) - including the weeds -BIG sigh- so we are constant gardeners. As I looked through my photos for 2008 I came across several I haven't posted yet which has turned this post into a 'before and after' series. I've also gotten some questions from readers about the care of certain plants and shrubs grown in my garden which I will try to answer along the way. Again, my answers aren't based on any formal training - only what I've discovered while getting my hands in the dirt over the years.

Photo from May 2007 featuring Mexican Petunia in the center of a backyard flower bed. If you look closely you can see the 4-5 foot stalks are being held up by decorative fencing placed strategically to keep them upright. Otherwise they would curve toward the ground. Everywhere a stalk touches the ground it will root and develop more plants. This is good only if you could remove every other desired vegetation from your garden and harvest this perennial for lots of money. Unfortunately harvests of Mexican Petunia is not big business so it must be snipped and pulled up on a regular basis.

Mexican Petunia, Ruellia Brittoniana isn’t even a cousin (as far as I know) to the two common classes of grandiflora and multiflora petunias. The Mexican Petunia flowers enthusiastically on vertical semi-woody stalks that grow 3-4 feet in height typically. As an evergreen perennial displaying trumpet shaped blossoms at the tips, it is easily grown in most southern gardens and virtually free from disease or pests. I have found it to be happy throughout the hottest seasons here. It grows best in full sun with moist soil but also maintain their flowering habits (in my experience) in part shade. Once they are established they will adapt/tolerate drought conditions which we experienced last summer and continue to hold to those conditions at this point in our year.

I’ve seen many an admiring butterfly swarming the blue/purple flowers when in full bloom which makes for quite a showy garden spot.

So with all the accolades they should be highly recommended in Zones 8-10 where they are hardy. Except for one slight problem. Mexican Petunia has been listed on the invasive plant list for all of Florida. I can certainly see that if one does not stay persistent in keeping the runners clipped these otherwise hardy growers could easily make a weekend gardener more frustrated than pleased.

I've planted Mexican Petunia in two separate beds. One at the back side of the garden where there is plenty of room for plants to randomly meander more than in the contained beds. The other is featured here in the photo above. This bed is just beyond the screened lanai and more visible on first notice.

In the second week of February I trimmed the Mexican Petunia (shown above) to 2 feet --cutting back a good 3 feet of green growth and then pulled up every runner beyond its borders. It was severe and even though in past years I managed to only trimmed it about a foot I felt it was due for a good pruning. I did the same to the other planting in my back bed.

Variegated Schefflera
Now that the Mexican petunia is nice and tidy, what do you think about that variegated schefflera? What started out as an accent and a border to a short pathway across the bed has become a focal point I'm not particularly pleased to have. Typically I only trim it to keep it from looking spindly. In Florida the variegated Schefflera is used in landscaping as a hedge or row. I'm not fond of it used in this way when the stalky base of the plant is visible. But I am fond of it for its colored foliage used as an accent in a grouping of other plants. So I always plant it in places where the eye sees the top of the foliage in mass which makes more of a subtle statement rather than asking it to carry off a center stage performance planted individually.


My answer was to severely cut back the branches which eliminated almost all the foliage. If I had not been this strict it would have returned as a focal point in a few short weeks. As a side note: I was tempted for a moment not to trim it at all just from my observance of the yellow cloudless sulphurs making the underside of the leaves their resting place. I reasoned the Schefflera is planted in numerous other places in my garden so I was counting on them to find those if they hadn't already.


This is a closer photo taken just yesterday of the same area 5 weeks later. That (poor) Schefflera is just now starting to bud new growth on its stalky branches. There are four mature plants closely planted in a 3 x 3 space as an example to my theory of mass planting verses a line or row. This design makes the difference between a "scraggly-something's-missing-feel" or a full bushy appearance.

My theory is rather than trying to spread your landscaping thin-- focus on one area and put all your dollars into that area to create a lush planting. When one area is complete - move on to the next as finances are available. In Florida all too often folks get discouraged by the many oppositions to gardening in the heat and humidity once they've planted. By starting out slowly and making certain you like what you are doing, you will end up with a garden you love and one that appears finished rather than the sprawled out -sort of here and there plantings often seen here.

Well, I have to say in this case the before photos are lots more fun than the after photos. Patience is the virtue employed this month as I wait for my garden to fill out from their winter make over. I know too well actually, it won't be very long until the nights will turn warmer than you thought possible which in turn makes every plant and flower shout loudly for constant attention to keep them kempt and tidy.

Next in the 'before and after series' we'll look at some additions to Hoe & Shovel.