It is always interesting to see what different people like! I love Mexican Petunias and have been babying a plant I got from an aunt last year. What I keep pulling up is a plant called "Mexecali Rose" - my mother started years ago and they come up everywhere - especially where you don't want them! Mimidi - I love herbs too and keep adding new things every year. Rather than use Round-up (ugh) why not pot the plants up in cans and have a plant sale!

I could not afford the pots. I am talking LOTS of Mexican Petunias. I will gladly give them away if someone wants them.

I do love them. I just have far too many. They are very invasive. Anyone living near Dothan who would like some send me an e-mail and I will be glad to give you some. Right now I have worlds of them dug up and I am going to throw them away.

I'm doing the same with both Ruellia brittonica(Mexican petunia) and Crocosmia 'Fire of Eden'. Lovely plants with nice foliage but gosh, give 'em an inch and they take the yard.

oops. I had the same problem. A friend gave me one as a gift. Oh, the gift that just keeps on giving. RoundUP.

OK, I've been warned - I will keep a close eye on that Mexican Petunia. Nigella, I agree on the Crocosmia - I have two big patches of it and plan to move some to an area where it can do whatever it wants to!! Its a beautiful day, the sun is shining and I am at work - Bah Humbug! Diane

I saw Mexican petunias growing in Panama City several years ago in the fall. I thought that was the most beautiful flower. I wanted one so bad. I went to Houston to visit an aunt and she tolk me outside to see her flowers. There it was-- the Mexican petunia blooming in her backyard. I asked her where she found it. She told me her daughter got cuttings in Panama City the year before while she was at the beach. I begged for some cuttings. I brought them home and babied and pampered them. I was so proud of those little plants. IF I HAD ONLY KNOWN.

I have learned to plant them away from the house in a place where you don't care if they take over and you can hit them with a lawn mover or weed eater.

They are so beautiful. I love purple and the little purple flowers are a pure joy to see. BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

I can't stand to throw all of them away so I am planting some on the vacant property across from my house. I can enjoy then at a distance.

I hope they will soon be band as invasive plants.

About like kudzu.

Funny. I must have poor soil or something, because mine haven't really spread all that much. Of course, I don't feed my plants like I should, and I've been moving things around a lot, so maybe they just haven't had a chance to get established.

After we begin to get consistently 80 degree daytime temps, spray them with RoundUp BRUSH killer concentrate. Be sure to buy BRUSH killer and be sure to add a few drops of liquid soap to the spray mixture. Soap helps the spray coat and adhere to the leaves.

Why is it that many plants that you want to grow and be beautiful just struggle and die, and the ones that you don't want, just take over? I'll tell you. Plants are like children and will misbehave and show out at the least opportune moment. But try to get a child (or plant) to show off a talent, and they turn into shy little creatures. With this in mind, all you have to do to totally kill the unwanted plant is to convince it of how much you LOVE it and WANT it to grow. Almost instant death is virtually assured! Now I know that you are wondering just how to show a Mexican Petunia that you love it. This is easy! Make sure to provide plenty of salsa, chips, and Dos Equis cervesa at its feet. Speak slowy, in your best Speedy Gonzales voice, saying things like Buenos Dias Amigo, Hasta manana, or especially, Mi casa es su casa. DO NOT say 'Hasta la vista baby'. The Mexican Petunia will instantly know that you mean to kill it, just like California's govenor does in the movies, whereupon, the M.P. will start growing vigorously. If all of this fails, use Brush Killer Round-up.

My thanks to you about the Brush Roundup tip.

Eken you are funny and what you say is true.

TSmith, they are coming up all in my roses. I guess I will need to paint the Brush Roundup on them? I dare not spray it near the roses for fear of killing the roses. Oh, darn. They are probably going to engage the rose roots and kill them anyway. What is there to lose?

I bought my Brush Roundup now to get to work on those petunias. I will try it out on some nut grass too.

Actually, from what I've seen there are different kinds of Mexican Petunias. My sister has some that are very invasive - they have little seed pods and when water hits them they pop open (audibly) and seeds shoot out everywhere. Hers are about 2.5 feet tall. We have some Mexican Petunias that don't have seeds that pop open and only spread through their root system - definitely not nearly as invasive, and can get 5 ft. tall. This spring we bought some dwarf Mexican Petunias. It's low and close to the ground and the leaves only get about 6 or 8 inches long. These dwarfs spread through their roots, and is called Katie. There is a dwarf white one called Bonita, but I've never seen it. These dwarfs are on the Texas A&M list as a Texas Super Star - at least, that is what the tag said. I haven't looked yet to check that out. I definitely don't want the kind with popping seeds, but love the ones we have growing in our backyard.

Patsy I bought a pink dwarf MP that seeds. I have tried to do away with that plant too. I am still finding litte ones from seed.

hey to all who have the mexican petunia problem. i have the solution. pull them up stick them in a box and send them to me. i will plant them in my yard here in ohio, cut them down in fall and root them in water, repot them and store them in my sunroom for winter, to plant in the spring. this seems the best way to rid yourself of those darn pesky mexican petunias. i love all of them purple blue white pink short or tall.
funny how different people like different things huh? when i lived in fl i had tons of them and brought just a small handful back to ohio and i now realise i should have brought as many as i could carry as i cannot get them here. and i need ALLOT of them. so just box em up and ship them to me and the ones left behind will get scared and quit growing (you have to make sure you tell them you are shipping them up north where they will freeze to death in winter) problem solved.
email me at metoo44646@yahoo.com and i will give you the address to ship them to.

I finally got rid of mine Patman. I ordered some plants a few months ago and I was sent a extra plant as a gift. A MEXICAN PETUNIA!! I decided to plant it at our fish pond. It can grow like crazy there.

Mimidi, if the Brush Round UP works on nut grass, please post your results. I am desperate to find something that will eleminate nut grass.

I finally got rid of mine. We dug them out as best we could and then we used Round-UP in hot dry weather. Two weeks later, we used Round up again and then we watched next spring for any as they started to come up and we repeated the process. We have not had any since early 2006. None have come up so far this year.

i have planted some and had no problems with them spreading...i must have the "good" one... :)

Roundup didn't work for me, and neiter did the mix it your self round up at triple strength!!!!

I'm digging/hacking it out.. What a mess the roots have woven a mat.. The stuff would work great for erosion control.

I am sorry the Roundup didn't work. I am having a time killing some Black and Blue Salvia with Roundup. It has so many runners it keep coming back. I have about decided to start digging too.

The roundup did do a good job on the MP. I have a one or two around the house but nothing I can dig up.

If you have a stubborn plant and nothing else works, try Pramitol 25E. It's a "bare earth" herbicide and will kill just about *everything*. Nothing will grow where you use it for a year or two. Just be very careful with it.

I know this is an old thread but hope fully someone will respond. Moved into a house where someone had planted this in the backyard. Looks like they meant for it to help with erosion control since it's a big issue in said back yard. However it has gotten out of control and spread to the part where I have good grass. I have put in some retaining walls and want to install new grass in all the areas that need it. Don't want to do this until I get rid of the mexican petunia. Will not use roundup (or other harmful chemicals). Suggestions for this other than digging? I mean I will dig in the areas where there isn't grass but it is fairly thick in my grass and I would have to dig the grass up as well.

mimidi: Don't waste your Roundup on nut grass. It will kill the top of the plant, but not the little nuts at the ends of the roots which will grow into new plants. Nut grass is a sedge and the only thing that will be effective against it is sedge killer. There are several brands that work well, so look at your local farm or garden store for a herbicide that says on the label that it kills sedge. You may have to spray a couple of times to get it all, but stay on it till it's gone.

find round up,silver container w/ black label 365 about $50.00 at Home Depot. use 2,3, times daily and in a week the plant will die. worked for me, about 15 feet x 8 feet of dead ones now. no problem with near by plants....

I find that just one spraying with RoundUp 365 will usually kill just about anything if the ground is soaked well with it. If that doesn't kill it all in a week or two, then I'd spray again. Just remember that nothing will grow in that soil for a year. (Hence the 365 in the name.) Our back fence neighbor has a jungle with English ivy, Virginia creeper, and other obnoxious invasives. I spray a 4' barrier of RU 365 along the fence line every year and it has helped maintain my sanity and peace in the neighborhood.