Sunshine Farm and Gardens: Rare and Exceptional Plants
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Rare and Exceptional Plants for the
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Wild Petunia - Ruellia humilis

"Wild Petunia" is the common name for a genus of plants in the Acanthaceae family known as Ruellia. The charming plant pictured below is Ruellia humilis, a very easy to grow, native, flowering perennial. It can be found growing wild in exactly half of the states in the US - //plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RUHU The specific epithet "humilis" refers to the low growing habit of the plant. In that respect, I've used this colorful, long flowering plant as a ground cover. The deer pay no mind to it, and it can take full sun to full shade quite well. I grow Ruellia in average soil but have trialed it in various conditions and the only habitat this plant seems to object to is wet soil.

And as your eyes tell you from looking at the image, the common name "Wild Petunia" is not a stretch of the imagination as are some common names. These flowers really do resemble the annual Petunias that almost every gardener in the world grows for season long color. But unlike the Petunia, Ruellia humilis is a perennial and returns year after year only to be bigger and more robust.

I hear so many gardeners lamenting that there aren't enough really exceptional blue plants for their gardens. Well, lament no more! This is that highly desirable, sought after blue. Ruellia humilis seems to be in bloom almost all Spring, Summer and Autumn and has never been touched by insects or any other type of pests in my garden.

The Kemper Center at the Missouri Botanic Garden http://www.mobot.org/gardinghelp/plantfinder/plant.asp?code=M220 lists it as hardy to zone 4.

As I mentioned above, I've used this plant as a groundcover both in the garden and on a steep roadbank and have seen other gardeners use it in perennial beds and borders with stunning success.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has a great technical article on Ruellia humilis at: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ruhu

 

I've been building a good stock of plants to share with you and now is a good time to plant them.

What you'll receive are large, 2 year old bareroot plants in full, active growth. They'll come to you wrapped in long fibered, unmilled sphagnum moss. This material is antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and a very useful material.

The prices shown below include FREE SHIPPING on bareroot plants out of their 2" pots. If you would like to receive the plants undisturbed, in their pots, please add .95¢ per plant to cover the extra cost of shipping soil and pots.

7   for $ 35.00  delivered ($5.00 ea)
10  for $ 45.00  delivered ($4.50 ea)
15  for $ 60.00  delivered ($4.00 ea)
20  for $ 70.00  delivered ($3.50 ea)
50  for $150.00  delivered ($3.00 ea)

Larger quantities at even lower prices upon request

Ordering couldn't be easier! Just fill out the order form at //www.sunfarm.com/orderform.pdf

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Barry Glick, Sunshine Farm and Gardens
696 Glicks Rd, Renick, WV 24966, USA
Phone: (304) 497-2208
E-mail: barry@sunfarm.com

Last modified February 24, 2009
URL: //www.sunfarm.com/specials/ruellia_humilis.php