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The Mexican petunia is a tender evergreen perennial that forms colonies of stemmy stalks that are distinctly vertical in aspect and hold attractive dark green, leaves oppositely at the nodes. Dwarf ruellia plants never get over 5" tall and the flowers are bunched right in with the leaves on very short stems. Although the blossoms each last only one day, there are usually plenty of buds forming so that there is a succession of new blooms over long periods. The leaves of this ruellia are dark green and very slender. As with the other ruellias, this flower does well under quite a variety of conditions, including full sun to shade, as well as dry to damp. They are rather cold-tender and can sometimes be killed by a very hard freeze, but most of the time they come back from the roots.
Mexican petunia can be grown indoors as a houseplant in bright light. Mexican petunia is a water plant that becomes very aggressive with access to abundant moisture. Survives dry spells once established. When growing Mexican petunia indoors water freely when in active growth but water only when dry in winter.
Zones 8-10
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