Can you take a closer picture of the leaves?

I'll drive over right now. House down the street.

Heh. Knock on their door and ask them! Now we all want to know. :)

Knocked on door but she doesn't remember the name. She said I can have as many as I want because they multiply. Purple blooms.

I thought it was the tree, those are tall Mexican petunias and they do MULTIPLY

Thank you!!

They can get out of control if you do not stay on top of it and in some places , even then. I would not plant them.

they're good in a tight corner, pot, or hell strip

Minus all the others- they will be moved, do you think I can grow them along this wall with the red sister cordylines? I have 2 Lime light hydrangeas under the window. They are the only thing in the ground over here.

East facing full sun.

These multiply from runners once established AND they are seed spitters. Darm pods snap and throw the buggers. I got hit in the eye once. I have never let go of that resentment. I am not that anal a gardener so they got away from me pretty quick when I wasn't looking, I also spread them around while I still liked them and they were not quite established yet and going every which way, so I made sure the infestation was complete. Is there a barrier around where you are planting it. You might think of that. Oh the runners break off in segments when you pull on them so one has to watch out to get ALL of them. It makes it difficult because the runners also branch . You think you have all of it but then the branched runner sprouts a new plant.. Small segments branch. Mine were in most day sun. ALL the worst parts. It missed out on early morning and late afternoon. They did alright in half day and part shade too. They will grow anywhere. They might not bloom as much but enough to proliferate.

i'd go for barriers any place possible it would be difficult to keep them up against that wall they'd be out in the middle of the bed the first year

Will this help? With mulch also.

I really love them for this spot and really love working in the yard.

I have them in a "hell strip" (the area between a sidewalk & street; it gets hotter'n...)

They do thrive & spread at warp speed, but they bloom all summer until a hard frost kills them back for the winter, they require no care, & the bees, our pollinators, love them.

I do have to keep on top of them to keep them from overwhelming the other plants.

I wouldn't put them in the same flowerbed as your beautiful red & lime green plants; they'll just swallow them whole.

If I wanted to keep them in pots, I'd get big big pots;

really, it's best to use them where they can riot without hurting anybody!

If I get really big pots, cut off the bottoms and plant in the ground ? To keep the roots from spreading. Do you think this will help control them?

"Most of his yard became a record of my bad choices..."

This sentence had me rolling - love it! lol

Why not ask that neighbor how they control it there? It's obviously not a new planting and they have other things planted in the same bed.

I once had it in my yard and it turned up 20 feet over in my veggie garden. That was the end of it. It took a long time and some Roundup, but I did manage to get rid of it.

i was kinda wishin' i lived behind you...

the runners are not even half of the problem, it is, as Mara said, the seed spitting. I hate this plant with a passion and rue the day I planted ruellia. I pull it almost every single day year round. I can not get rid of it anywhere. My brothers neighbor planted it and now every single house in his neighborhood has this plant. It should be on the noxious weed list. NOTHING will keep it from spreading. Nothing.

I think it took about three years before I noticed seedlings coming up in places not even close to where I planted it.

'Why not ask that neighbor how they control it there?'

Wouldn't that be just entirely too easy, too sensible, too straightforward???

LOL!

I'm going to ask her on Saturday. Really getting scared about them now. my neighbors yard is beautifully kept and I would hate to ruin it.

Now I'm thinking dwarf Oleander!! It looks similar. Well the leaves do anyway. It grows upright like I want. Any suggestions?

Clearly the plant isn't that virulent or it'd be all over the yard. The seed spitting you describe is a mechanical dispersion which is normally used for plants which don't compete very well. And there's not hardly anything in the known universe which can compete with grass (except other types of grass).

We had Mexican Petunias at my last house, and had no trouble controlling them. They were in 2 different beds that were sectioned off with the metal landscaping strips. We had St. Augustine grass on the other side of the bed and I never found them in the grass or in beds in other parts of the yard...and even if I had found them in other beds, they're so pretty I probably wouldn't mind. In the beds with them were boxwoods and a couple of other types of shrubs, and they just grew around the shrubs. They were such easy plants, I really liked them!

The seed spitting you describe is a mechanical dispersion which is normally used for plants which don't compete very well.

Don't think this applies to all ruellia. The Texas native wild petunia (r. nudiflora) also pops its seeds and is a very tough competitor in sun or shade.... wish this were not the case in some parts of our yard.

Might also be some differences on this between the dwarf (Katy, Blue Shade,...) and standard size Mexican petunias. We only have dwarfs, but have been told they are considerably less aggressive than some of the standard sizes.

We had both the dwarfs and standard size in our beds. The dwarfs actually took over more than the standard, but it could be they had just been planted more heavily to begin with.

I'm anxious to know how your neighbor controls it. There's a Starbucks near me that opened about 3-4 years ago. The flowerbed by the drive-thru had this and several other plants in it. Now, this has taken everything else over. I planted the shorter version in my yard despite similar warnings. It was a tough fight to kill it all, but I managed with a lot of Round-up.

I have a feeling that it acts different in different soil situations.

Different soils could account for the different experiences. But even where it's the same, other minor differences in location (moisture, light,...) can also change spreading behavior a lot. We've certainly seen this with nandina.

Not much of a concern with our dwarf Mexican petunias because they are bounded by concrete on three sides, by stone on the fourth, and can only 'spit' into the pool.

You might have a point there that I would concur with, because most of where I had them planted was in half or less day sun and the stolen stretched out and spread very quickly and in full day sun, they might have shorter lengths and grow in thicker stands. They also branched outwards in the part shade and their bloom was very short.

Yes Bostedo, Concrete as a soil does hinder their growth.

Mine were also surrounded by concrete. I don't know if they went over the concrete or under, but they started showing up on the other side. That's when I knew I was in trouble.

Have you had a chance to ask your neighbor yet?

Not yet. I did take another look today while out for a walk. Seems I mixed 2 yards up in my photos thinking they were the same plants. The first pics I posted are not Mexican petunias. They look like oleander possibly no bloom now that I've had a closer look. The pic I sent in the comments are the Mexican petunias and they are taking over her front yard. They are growing everywhere! I think I could somewhat control them if I took all possible precautions but I'm really terrified about it. I'm wanting something similar and I've been searching for days now. The only thing iv found is Joe Pye weed but it too is invasive. Really not wanting the oleander in that spot.

I have two different neighbors that just planted Mexican petunias in their front beds. I walk by their houses daily, and I'm going to watch them and see how much they take over! I do love them, but think I may have gotten lucky with the soil at my my last house that they didn't take over the yard, lol.

Those things are monsters, took me 6 months to get rid of some on a house I was remodeling.

Every week I'd see more shoots pop up. Every week.

They're pretty, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't plant them unless the only thing they could "infect" was the lawn. (In which case, the mower will take care of them, albeit imperfectly)

Lots of people have had bad experiences with these, but mine are on the south side of my house and get full sun and heat in the summer. They are surrounded by concrete, so if any end up in the grass, they get mowed along with the grass. It's the only thing I could find that doesn't require any maintenance. I don't garden any longer so I had to have something that could be on its own. It works for me!

Clair, beautiful! That proves there is a place for every plant.

It may be the bright sun, but they look like they might be the pink ones. I've found that the pink Mex. petunias don't travel by rhizomes so are easier to manage, plus they bloom very nicely all summer. However, they do scatter seeds. They came up in my yard because my neighbor planted them. I've let them stay and haven't found the seeding out to be a problem. I just pull the few that come up.

Several years ago I read that there was a new variety of the tall purple Mex. petunia, developed in Florida, and like the pink one didn't spread by their roots. I've been watching for it, but haven't heard or seen any more about it.

Those are pretty! I decided against them but might try in the future. I did find the tall Mex at Houston garden center. Tag said from Florida but that's all the info they had on them. Can't find anyone there who knows anything about ANY plant they sell so didn't get them.

dwarf white, choked out the canna, dwarf pink, took over the entire bed, I will never get rid of them and I pull them all the time. They grow in the cracks, in the gutters-how did the seeds get up there??, in pots, in the street, in the alley, found one growing out of a bromeliad, I have found them in the pond plants, sprouting in the chicken coop, they are all just as invasive and horrible. If you want tall pink, dwarf pink, dwarf white, tall purple let me know, you can come dig up however many thousands you want. The dwarfs may not spread by rhizomes but they make bigger and bigger clumps that are impossible to remove all of, so they grow back, then they spit seeds everywhere, I've been hit by seeds from plants 4' or more away from me. AAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! I hate this plant, spent Wednesday pulling it out of the alstromeria bed and trying to get it out of a clump of bamboo.

Well Tally, that just about says it all ... LOL

Tally, please tell us how you really feel!

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