Guest Blog post by Rachel Shaw
Wild Petunia (Ruellia
humilis) is a charming and tough native blooming now in my yard. The
delicate pale purple flowers last only about a day, but are constantly
replenished. Wild Petunia, like many common names, is a bit misleading; they
are no relative of cultivated petunias, though the flowers do have some
similarity in appearance.
Like half the plants in my front yard, my Ruellia were dug up on short notice this
spring to be transplanted back following replacement of a broken sewer line.
The Ruellia took this disruption in
stride. They weren’t fussy about the poor quality clay soil brought up by the
dig, and didn’t seem to need much in the way of supplemental water following
transplant.
Previously they had coexisted happily in amongst the Closed
Gentian, and with a somewhat more upright appearance in the moister, richer
soil. Now in the more sparsely planted and drier yard, they have stretched
themselves out, with a look that is more that of a ground cover. Note to the
horticulture trade: promote Wild Petunia instead of Periwinkle!
About the Author
Rachel Shaw focuses on vegetable gardening and growing
native plants in her small yard in Rockville, Maryland. She blogs at http://hummingbirdway.blogspot.com/.
Check back here on the 10th of each month for the next installment in this guest blog series on Mid-Atlantic native plants.
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We are growing and selling Ruellia humilis at Herring Run Nursery in Baltimore for the first time this year, and we are excited to see how well it does.
ReplyDeleteThat's great! I hope it is popular.
ReplyDeleteOn the surface it would appear to be a possible periwinkle ground cover replacement?
ReplyDeleteWell, I suppose it might be a bit of a stretch to claim it as replacement for periwinkle. Periwinkle likes more shade, and also is evergreen, so that can make it attractive, depending on what people are looking for. Periwinkle is also aggressive and hard to get rid of. Ruellia has that very attractive deep blue-lavender color like periwinkle, and also seems to have a spreading habit, at least under the conditions I described in my post, so that is what made me think of the comparison between the two.
ReplyDeleteI think Packera aurea, golden groundsel, would be a great replacement for periwinkle. It is aggressive, beautiful, native, and semi-evergreen. http://www.abnativeplants.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantdetail&plant_id=155
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar with golden grounsel; sounds like it has some good traits. How tall does it get?
ReplyDelete