Mexican Petunia

Look what's blooming in the garden! I happened to notice the first flowers in the patch of Mexican Petunia growing under my bedroom window as I was leaving for work yesterday and had to stop and take a couple of pictures.

Until I moved into this house, I never really appreciated the Mexican Petunia. Sure, it's pretty. Its little purple trumpet-shaped flowers have a texture like crinkled tissue paper, and the dark green leaves always look nice and cool on hot summer days. However, the flowers, while pretty, aren't particularly showy. They tend to get lost in the abundance of foliage, and there's a lot of foliage in which to get lost. I sort of considered them a "whatever" plant, the kind you stick in a spot because you don't really know what else to put there, a placeholder until something better comes to mind. Over the last couple of years, though, I've gained a new admiration for this cheery little workhorse.

Although it has a rather limited range from zone 11 to 8a, within that range Mexican Petunia, or Ruellia brittoniana, is a tough little plant and if you want butterflies and hummingbirds in your garden, it's definitely one to try. Mexican Petunia will bloom from early summer until first frost and the nectar drinkers just love it. It can be invasive in optimal conditions - gardeners in the warmer areas along the Gulf Coast might do well to avoid it - but in my hot and dry location it stays pretty much where it's wanted.

It's a reliable performer along the side of the house nearest the driveway and doesn't seem to mind the mostly shady location. Most references say to keep it moist, but I've been able to keep it happy by running my soaker hoses along that wall to the front gardens. Whenever I water the front beds, the Mexican Petunia gets a bit as well. When it does get out of bounds, I just mow it. The plants of the species varieties grow to about three to four feet high, but there are some more compact versions available on the market as well.