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Ruellias not coming back

10 years ago

Hi, I planted 2 purple ruellia plants last year and they have not started growing yet. I've been looking for info on them online and one person said they are usually one of the first to come back in the spring. The stems die and you're supposed to remove them right? The plant starts from scratch every year....in the exact same spot as the old one? I am hoping they will come back.

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Comments (11)

TexasRanger10
10 years ago
Nope, they are late in coming back, real late. Who ever said that must live in a warmer zone where they don't freeze back. Maybe they live in Florida & they mean they are one of the earliest to bloom.
njdevil
Original Author
10 years ago
thank you!!
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Mom has the same problem with ruellia but at least it's only in one flower bed. The problem is that it migrated into their neighbors backyard and every time my parents think they're gotten it out of the flowerbed it just moves back in from next door! I'ts also worked it's way into a massive mexican sunflower from which there's no getting it back out. Between the ruellia, the nutsedge, swamp vine, and florida betony any plant mom gives me now either gets planted in pots and quarenteened until I'm sure nothing else came with it or else the plant gets bare rooted with the roots rinsed out before being added to one of my flower beds. The one time I barerooted a plant without washing the roots I ended up with nutsedge in the front flowerbed! We've actually managed to kill the wedelia growing between mine and my parents houses. Of course we did so by cutting down the large laurel oak it was growing under ( the tree was rotting from the inside out), removing the azaleas it was climbing in, and then ripping it out by hand and burning it. Also had to remove wild blackberries, camphor seedlings, and a small cherry laurel from the same area. Then the entire area was covered with heavy black plastic in the hopes of finally killing both the wedelia and blackberries. The wedelia looks to be dead but the blackberries seem to be trying to grow through the plastic!
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Ack, I had a post and tapped the wrong button and lost it all. Is this flower bed against the west wall of your house? That's the tough part. Plants that can take the extra reflected heat and look good with it - some I have had success with on my west wall, and would contrast nicely with your two plants are Salvia greggii and Rosemary. I haven't tried Engelman daisy, but I think that would be a good choice too, as would Salvia splendens. I have tried Turk's cap next to my west wall and it couldn't take the heat.
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My ruellia homilis is a very tough plant. It has a tremendous will to survive, and is difficult to get rid of ( but why would you want to?). It loves growing out of the rocks lining the beds, and that's where volunteers start 97% of the time. If you pull out small out of bounds seedlings early no problem. The is more whitish tho. A very, very washed out lavender. I can see why you like the R. simplex so much. It's long leaves and dark flowers make it very bold looking. I think the flower color is variable in this species and possibly the whole genus. If I had been culling all the light colored plant my current population would be darker. There are a couple more Ruellia species that are native to Pennsylvania.
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laceyvail 6A, WV
10 years ago
If you have Ruellia humilis, you'll have them everywhere. They shoot their seed.
njdevil
Original Author
10 years ago
Well, a few weeks ago I put down banner material around them and the area they are in. I am tired of landscape material for weeds not working, so I got heavy duty stuff. So I'm assuming the ruellia will only come back in the original locations since the other areas are covered up. If the seeds have gone past the area, I would probably just move them, they are so pretty.
wantonamara Z8 CenTex
10 years ago
My reaction to Ruella not coming back isÃ¢ÂÂ¦. GOOD! They are a huge garden thug here in my neck of the woods. I have been hit in the eye by flying seed. I had to sell my house and move to be rid of them.
njdevil
Original Author
10 years ago
There is absolutely no sign of life, I don't think they are coming back. I can't believe it would take this long (May).
TulsaRose
10 years ago
Most Ruellia species are winter hardy to USDA Zone 8 (marginally hardy in Zone 7 with protection and mulch)

I have Ruellia simplex 'Purple Showers' in a protected, micro-climate that comes back reliably. The new growth has just appeared in the last few days. This cultivar does not produce seed, but spreads by rhizomes.

This photo was taken in June.
njdevil
Original Author
10 years ago
Yep mine looked just like that. Thanks for the info. It's possible our winter was too cold. You remove the dead branches in the winter, right? I broke them off at the base and figured new "shoots" would come up.
TulsaRose
10 years ago
I usually cut them back to the ground in late winter \ early spring. I'm sorry your plants probably didn't make it through the winter. They would be considered a tender perennial or an annual in zone 6.
rusty_blackhaw
10 years ago
An unusually cold winter + Ruellia could well mean no plants this year in zone 6.

If whatever species/hybrid it is is marginal in z. 6, it still might be worth trying again.

I never found Ruellia hybrids to be especially thuggy in the Gulf Coast region, but maybe that was because I was battling other thugs (like Passiflora "Incense", which was capable of submarining under sidewalks to pop up in new places).
gyr_falcon
10 years ago
I love this plant, but am about to give up on it because it has to be confined to a container due to a lack of garden space and its running tendencies. If it didn't get so huge, I'd just let it run. Container growing is fine for year one, then it gets so pot bound that it requires watering every day, even though the base sits in a saucer of water. The real difficulty is that splitting and repotting mean all of the old soil and roots need to be disposed of in the trash. :( I hate the waste. But I can understand your wanting to have this plant growing in your garden, njdevil. There is something special about those flowers.

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