Ruellia Species, Limestone Petunia, Smooth Ruellia, Wild Petunia

Short version: it's pretty and/but spreads by re-seeding.
The specific epithet "repens" means something like "noisy" for when the...Read More seed capsule explodes and broadcasts the seed. Young leaves have a sandpapery texture on the underside. Its roots are hard to get up.

Beautiful blue/purple flower. Also called Smooth Petunia, it's native to my state of Indiana. It's range extends south from Pennsylvani...Read Morea, Michigan, and Nebraska to Florida and Texas (NatureServe 2010). It's considered threatened in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

"Habitats include moist to mesic open woodlands, woodland edges, areas along woodland paths, thickets, and thinly wooded slopes along rivers. In woodlands where there is an absence of fire or other disturbance, the population of this plant may decline because of excessive shade, particularly when those woodlands have become dominated by Sugar Maple and various Honeysuckle shrubs." http://eol.org/pages/468927/details

Difficult to find at nurseries. I found it at a native plant sale in my area.

One word: invasive!

I bought from a small nursery what I thought was similar to cranesbill. Not so much. I don't thin...Read Morek the birds have carried it but it is now nearly in every bed I have, including a front bed.

It didn't bloom the first year & bloomed a little this year. Not worth the work for me, for sure. Unfortunately, it breaks off of the root when trying to pull up...so each one has to be dug up. I'm going to have to protect it's neighbors & try some round up on them. But if you want coverage...it'll give it to you. Mine is/was 2.5-3' tall & in full sun.

A cheerful little wildflower that seems perfectly at home in full sun or in light shade. Seems to tolerate a range of conditions and whil...Read Moree there aren't always lots of blooms, it's dependable and cast iron here in west KY.

The ones I found were even growing up through needles underneath some very old pine trees.