I look for the Florida Friendly label all the time, and have had very good luck with plants carrying it. Tampa Verbain, milkweed, and other flowers, native and non-native, are among the Florida Friendly labeled plants that have done very well for me.

Marcia

Well I don't know about being non-invasive. I don't think they spread "too much" (though a little) by underground runners, but the flowers do fly off, seed, and new plants appear across the yard.

I have a patch growing that I shear down to about two feet tall a few times a year. The patch is surrounding a tacoma (yellow trumpet type) bush that I trained as a small tree (about six feet tall now). It is a very, very pleasing site.

Boy, I really do need to get a digital camera and start taking pictures.

wert9wert, did you buy the Florida Friendly brand? That's the only one I've seen that features the non-invasive plants. Their ruellia is sterile, and can't seed.

Marcia

Marcia,

Do you find that they actually get 5-6' tall?

Melissa

Mine have never gotten that tall, Melissa. I would say 3 to 4 feet is more like it. How about yours, D'Ann?

Marcia

these are the ruellia my mom grows. three feet. they DO spread, very very slightly and slowly, by runners. they've been growing for 3 years now. totally drought-resistant. blooms all hot season. i agree with marcia -- great plants.

with yellow lantana at the bottom, they'd be beautiful.

The purple showers in my yard have gotten to about 6 feet tall. I hacked them down recently only so that they would fill in on the bottom a little more. Their branches tend lean to the ground I don't believe they rooted though. I can check tomorrow. I will also check the tag....I bought mine at HD less then 2 years ago. They have definitely reseeded. I love the plant though. It blooms all the time and then cover the ground with purple flowers. I uproot any strays and replant where I want them. I've seen people have them so thick they look like a bush and thats what i want so for now I love the strays.

Don't get me wrong. Home Depot has at times had the OLD fertile ruellias there, but the ones bearing the Florida Friendly label are sterile. I have never had even one single seedling pop up anywhere in my entire yard, over a course of eight years growing them in several beds, sun and shade.

Ill, the clumps DO thicken up like iris or daylilies will do, but I don't think of that as spreading by runners. They will just slowly form a thicker clump than what you started with, usually. Yellow lantana sounds like a perfect partner!

I've done all I can to reassure folks that these are great plants to have in the garden, but I don't think I'm making much headway, so I reckon the handful of us who know the sterile ones are winners will just have them to ourselves, pretty much.

D'Ann, post some piccies for us when you can. I'd like to see yours!

Marcia

Marcia, The American Legion planted the front of their place with the ones you are talking about and I looked at their's close up and could find no runners or sprouts. They have been in for about 9 months facing west and still look as good as when they were planted! They do keep them trimmed down to about 3 ft.
They are easey to propagate with stems put in water. I keep saying I'm going to get some when they trim them back but never have.

Yes , Maricia
3 -4 feet max

I just wrote down the info flowerlady gave about her
new camera. Need to go shopping !

I am a playing in the dirt person... not someone who
wants to spend a weekend reading an instruction book.

I still use disposable cameras LOL !

D`Ann

Thanks for that endorsement, Wanda, and I'm glad to know they root easily. I'll save my next batch of clippings for that purpose.

D'Ann, one good thing about most digital cameras is that you don't have to know the fancy tricks to get started. Usually, the automatic setting will let you just point and shoot, and get really nice pictures. This means you can start having fun right away and learn about the other bells and whistles as you go.

Good luck!

Marcia

OK so I did check my tag and it does say non-invasive and florida friendly. They have spread to other parts of the same flower bed but have not been popping up all over my yard. Actually one did pop up in another bed but its not bad. I also took clippings and just stuck them in the ground and they seem to have rooted quite well with no further treatment....just cut and stick. Hope this helps.

Mine have never even spread in the same bed, but I suppose that is possible. Thanks for the input. I will say that I have had seedlings from some folks a couple of houses down pop up in this yard before I even planted the sterile ones, so sometimes visitors can come from other places. But for my money, even if they occasionally produce a few new plants (which they never have for me) in the same bed, they would be well worth it. They are fantastic!

Marcia

You know the people down the block from me have alot of purple showers...it is possible the one stray in the other bed came from there....I doubt it though because it is in my backyard right across from the main plants. I dont mind stray plants though....I am trying to get rid of lawn so even if they go somewhere I dont like I just transplant.....I love when I go to HD and think of how much money I have saved because I have stray plants.

I feel the same, nytrini. I love plants that make MORE plants, usually. There ARE exceptions that are unhealthy for our ecology, but a few extra plants in the garden...I say bring 'em on!

I was thinking about the possiblity of it being from a neighbor's yard because I found some before I got mine, and also because I have those stupid raintrees popping up in my front yard AND my fenced in backyard, and the nearest tree is across the street and halfway down the block. So those seeds do travel, whether it be birds or wind. But there's really no way to tell.

I just know we complained about ruellia being invasive, so they made us a better one, and I'm happy now.

Marcia

Okay.....

D`Ann`s opinion coming at ya :)

I agree with Marcia , I bet they are coming from your neighbors yard.

When you ladies eventually get to my house you will see that there arn`t any gardeners around me.

That is why mine stays put ! LOL !

So , I feel I am in a good position ( experience ) wise with this plant.

But I am fighting the Brazilian pepper , old world climbing fern, poison ivy.

Did I say there wern`t any gardeners around me :(

I have been trying to rid my yard of this awful plant for months. I live in S. Florida. Yes, Home Depot sells the stuff as "drought resistant" and "Florida Friendly". Florida Friendly? NO WAY! Drought resistant? Totally. They should include in their notes on this plant: Also resistant to the following: RoundUp, Vinegar, weed screen, All Vegetation Kill, table salt, bags of rock salt, 2 broken hoes, and months of work to try to eradicate this horrible plant from yard. Shame on any nursery that sells this stuff without warning of its extremely invasive nature. Our local extension office has asked Home Depot not to sell it and their requests have fallen on deaf ears.
Plant something else! This stuff will spread into all your other plants, grass, tree roots, and I doubt you will ever be able to get rid of it unless you remove the WHOLE area (oh, I forgot to mention - plan to dig a foot to three feet deep - maybe even more) and quarantine! By the way, if you plan to remove the stuff, I think it gets mad at you and grows back with avengeance. I will keep trying everything and let you know what (if anything) works to kill this ruellia infestation in our yard. If you don't hear back from me, I've had no luck and I am probably plucking rhizomes out of the yard.
If you don't have this in your yard, consider yourself LUCKY. The experts are listing this plant as invasive for a reason. It is the WORST plant I have ever had in our yard. Maybe I will post pictures later of my mess...
PS - don't waste your money on Home Depot's "All Vegetation Kill." It actually seems to fertilize the stuff and makes it grow overnight. Not that I have any reason other than this plant to knock Home Depot on the internet, but if THEIR OWN "All Vegetation Kill" doesn't even do any damage at all to this plant, then how is it that they even dare sell the plant to the average consumer?

Kristi,
I think if you go back and read through this thread you'll see that the point of it was that there are some Ruellia that are very invasive and some that are sterile and not invasive, even in south Florida. I can tell from the tone of your post that you've had a very bad time with them - I feel the same way about asparagus fern!

Hi
Here's my two cents lol Have been growing these since the mid eighties. I'm sure I got the original start from HD.
Don't belive I've ever had a seed sprout but they certainly have spread within the areas. Had no luck at all with both the dwarf or the white or pink types. I find that where they are shaded they will climb getting 8 feet but ver spindly .Take away the support and they collapse.
Have bed to the east of the house that is totally neglected and they survive there but don't flower well . I just checked yesterday and only two plants have rooted outside the bed. There it was obvious that the plant had fell over and rooted at the node.
One other obsevation .Two years ago I planted some Blanket flower among one bed . They are crowding out the MP.
First time I've seen anything phase them lol. Maybe the drought?? All in all certainly not the most invasive plants IME lol
There must be several different kinds as I see them offered as water plants and that is one place mine won't grow?? gary

Kristi, just getting the plants from Home Depot doesn't mean they are the sterile ones, either. They sell both kinds. You have to be extra careful to get only the ones specifically labeled sterile. They will NOT seed. Period. They can't.

The plant will spread (slowly, like daylilies, for instance) from short underground runners and will thicken up in the clump. Left for enough years, it could fill a whole bed. But it will not spread all over your yard. Ever. And that's pretty much that, in my opinion.

The reason they developed it was because the ORIGINAL type was so VERY invasive. This one isn't. I just bought five more for another bed at my house because they are so tough, so pretty, and so easy. And they stay where I put them. Believe it or not, your choice. I'm sort of tired of taking the time to explain it over and over.

Sorry if that sounds impatient, but I'm finding people seem believe what they want to.

Marcia

Marcia,
I am glad you posted this information on sterile Ruellia. I saw them in many yards in Central Florida and want them in mine.

Does anybody have other suggestions for companion plants besides yellow lantana? The yellow lantana I saw looked washed out. I would prefer a deeper warmer yellow.

I have these planted with yellow bush daisies and the short trailing purple lantana and I really like the look. I have not found these to be invasive at all and have never found them anywhere except where I planted them. Mine are about 4-5 feet tall and bloom all the time. Very carefree.
~Betsy

I planted the dwarf white sterile ruellias and have had good luck with them . I got my original plant as a cutting from a friend . They do not creep or self seed at all . They can get leggy and then get trimmed back . All the cuttings root easily . They are great bloomers and add a nice touch of white mixed in the flower beds . I highly recommend these .

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

I appreciate this information Marcia, I'll be looking for them on my next trip to HD. I like these little guys but don't like their aggressive need to socialize with every other plant in the yard, I'm constantly pulling them out of someone else's pot.

Suzanne

I'll be looking for bush daisies and gold mound lantana. Thanks for the advice, Betsy and Marcia.

Can anyone please post a pic of what a seedling looks like? lol.

I have been growing cuttings in little pots for 3 weeks now and are afraid to plant them because of all of this invasive talk!

Anyone know if there is a way I can tell if mine are sterile? Would they have produced seedlings by now? They are constantly creating flowers, so if anyone can let me know plz!

I really want to plant these outside, but only if mine are sterile.

Thanks!!! Jen :)

Thanks for this post!!! I just found the "Florida friendly" Mexican Petunia at HD and am returning the invasive ones I bought at Lowe's last month!! I didn't know they were invasive when I bought them, or I wouldn't have bought them in the first place. THANKS!!! Christy :)