I live in the Texas panhandle. Last year, I had 2 half-whiskey barrels full of white, red and white striped, lavender, dark purple, dark purple and white striped, light pink, dark pink and red Petunias which grew like crazy in the barrels. By late September, they were looking pretty leggy, dried up and sad. I pulled all of the dead plants up by mid-October. In April this year, I planted all my other big planters with beautiful uniquely shaped and striped Petunias from Sutherlands...not the same ones you get at Home Depot or Lowes. Well, the Sutherland Petunias grew like crazy and multiplied over and over. I still wasn't sure what to do with the whiskey barrels that I had those old previous year Petunias growing in so I just left them empty. In late May or early June, I start seeing little plant leaves popping up out of the bare potting soil. I thought...hmmm....could be weeds, but maybe not, I will just let them grow and see. SO glad I did. Both barrels begin to totally fill up with flowers from last year's Petunia seeds. What made it nice was the fact that I had brand NEW Petunias which were just getting started and spreading like wildfire in the barrels, while the Petunias I had planted 2 months before in other planters were getting leggy, but still filling and running over my huge containers with flowers. Thus, while the other (the ones I planted in April this year) ones were getting tired, I had new ones full of new flowers from last year's Petunia seeds in my barrels. Sooo, the point is, which has been my own personal experience, yes, even if you pull the OLD Petunia plants out, there should be new ones sprrouting in their place...but just in early summer, not early spring. Maybe it's the climate here in the panhandle (freezes and snows here in winter..gets in the single digits here sometimes). I had lived on the Gulf Coast previously, and I always pulled the old Petunias up in late fall, and I always thought those little sprouts coming back in early summer were weeds. They were new Petunia sproutlings all along. So patience...give the so-called weed time to grow for awhile.

I've always had great results from WSown 'tunias, too. Laura Bush has reseeded so much that I see it being added to my "reseeds TOO MUCH" list. I've never tried impatiens. Seems to me, because they're such heat lovers, they might not look like much until too late for my liking. I don't know this to be true, just speculation on my part. I tried a few impatiens under lights last year. Even with lights and bottom heat, they took forever and a day to sprout and grow. But because they were done early inside, I had blooming impatiens in late May I think. My space under lights is very limited and mostly occupied by coleus which I overwinter as cuttings. Last year I only had two flats of cells of seeds started inside. All my other seeds were WSown. Karen

I haven't tried the white ones, gatormom, but I have tried the lavender dwarf ones (Katie, I think it is) and that one popped up all around my yard. I don't think it spread beyond my back yard boundaries, though, unlike the "typical" taller one. That's why I was so happy to find the sterile tall ones. I'm really sorry if I sounded snippy before, but I have tried to share this wonderful news about a truly carefree plant on numerous occasions, not just this one post, and those who have tried it know what I mean, and those who have had trouble with the invasive one don't believe me. What can I say. Their loss, I think, because it is such a beautiful, tough, carefree, drought-resistant and totally non-invasive plant. I'm sure happy I have it. Florah, I have mine planted with various things, including yellow lantana (Gold Mound is pretty bright), bush daisies, red pentas, coreopsis, lavender trailing lantana, and coneflowers. They look really good with coleus, too. Actually, I think they are pretty with almost everything. Marcia

Hi Steve. Ruellia simplex and Ruellia brittoniana are the same species, synonyms. R. simplex is what it's going by now. There's a dwarf cultivar of R. simplex called 'Katie' that only gets about a foot tall. I looked and saw Katie available online sold as plants. There are dwarf Ruellia simplex seeds for sale online also, but they aren't Katie seeds. They're supposed to be hardy in zone 8 and warmer, so good luck.