Wanted to find out what the name of this plant is. Was told it was from the south (US). We are growing it indoors. It has purpleish red stems, starts with dark purplish long leave that then become green. It is suppose to have a purple flower but we have not seen that yet.
I've only seen Mexican Petunia as "clumps" never upright. But I suppose there could be a variety I don't know about.
I have both, this one gets about 3 ft tall. It also blooms constantly and is invasive here in Louisiana. I am forever pulling it up,as when it gets to tall it will lay over and root where ever it touches. It is such a good grower, we have trouble selling it at our annual plant sale. All our yearly buyers have it.
I have three types of Mexican Petunia....the short clumping kind, the tall 3-5 foot version and the trailing kind. It does look similar to the tall ones. Ruellia brittoniana (Mexican Petunia) If this is your plant, it is not getting enough sunlight to bloom and fill out. During the summer put it outside in full sun. Down here it can stand a little afternoon shade in our heat but in the Northeast full sun should be good for it. You can always move it inside for winter.
No, the leaves were not fuzzy. It did have a couple of blooms on it when I bought it but they fell off before I got it home and they were just like the regular MP.s but smaller. Now I just have to wait to see if it comes back in the spring. The photos on the GardenStew Plants page are of both the clumping and the standing ones. Mine out front average 4 feet tall, one or two of the first year stems will only make it to 3 feet tho. They aren't invasive here as they are other areas, the only water they get is rain so I think that keeps them from getting out of hand.
Thank you Thank you all....I was not quite sure where to start and prior efforts to identify on the internet were not going well. Thank you.
I think this plant is also called Ruellia Tweediana. I had this plant when I was 6 years old. It gave long thin seed pods, which would explode in water (see video link below). Really made for hours of fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHYiQuVXobY As a practical joke, I often told gullible people to keep it (the seed pod) under their tongue to enjoy it's taste - Whereupon it would explode in their mouths! Here is another very informative video of this plant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NopSR-yoUY
And yet again... learned something new here. Going to have to keep my eye out for one of these tall ones.
This string actually inspired me to get this plant again! However I was only able to obtain it's seeds. So I have planted them, so now lets just wait and see what will happen next.
