I have pink, purple (more lilac) and scarlet ruellia - pressies from florida and atlanta. Grown in pots for many years. Please wish me luck - gonna try the purple one in the ground in the next week - and see how it overwinters? Keeping bits for security of course. :D
googled it as I don't know that one, Fran - looks lovely - good luck! http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=ruellia&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&sa=N&tab=wi
Well found - the pink and purple one I have is probably the Brittoniana - but the scarlet one is a whole different flower, with the most gorgeous green purple backed leaves. The flower is like ruellia equisetiformis - but the leaf is nothing like it. Lovely bamboo like greenstems (only much shorter)on all three - you know with joints. If I can overwinter the purple I'll send you a bit next spring. I'll see if I have any pictures of the ones I got. Found this one of the purple ruellia and this of the scarlet - as you can see a very different ruellia But the plant I love most that I brought back from Florida was Strobilanthes - sadly the main plant split in heavy rain this year, but I managed to get four cuttings off it, so hopefully I will have more of these glorious leaves. [ 29. September 2006, 11:33 PM: Message edited by: Fran ]
They look fantastic! And the strobilanthes leaves - glorious! Would definitely appreciate a bit of the purple if you get it through..... fingers crossed!
Dendy - I'll send you a bit of the purple in the spring, along with some seeds if they produce again this year (Igave away what I had). And if all four of the strobilanthes cuttings survive, I'll send you one - deal? Royster - The ruellias - can be split or grown from seed. They have a very hard pod that cracks open with a very audible sound. The strobilanthes, has pale blue funnel shaped flowers and I have not been able to get seed from this. It was grown from a cutting, and hopefully the cuttings I have after the plant split will survive.
Fran, that Strobilanthes dyerianus is a fabulous plant. I grew it years ago and started with a small rooted cutting. In no time at all, I had hundreds of them - all raised from cuttings (I had a nursery at the time) and they sold like wildfire. Towards late summer, when it starts producing flower spikes it can deteriorate somewhat, but if they are pinch out, it behaves itself. It seems to make a reasonable 'pot plant', but is prone to RSM so it needs some humidity. It surprised me that such a lush, tropical plant should cope with fairly cool winter temperatures. I used to overwinter my stock plants moderately dry at little more than 3-4C. and although they would look a mess, a repot and severe 'haircut' in spring always brought them back. It's a shame we don't see it about, because it certainly lends itself to pot culture and cuttings are very rapidly brought up to saleable size. That red Ruellia (R. graecizans) is a stunner. I've only ever seen it in the US and on Tenerife. Wonderful colour. Ruellias seems to be very popular in the US, but have never really caught on here. It's a pity because they can be very good 'patio plants'. Maybe you should start propping them and selling them as plugs on e-bay.
Thanks Dave for all the information on Strobilanthes. I've had the plant from a cutting for 7 years, and am glad to hear that the cuttings I took after it split are likely to do well. I have never seen it here, and yes it can look a bit straggly at times, but oh those leaves. Thanks also for the name of the variety of ruellia. The scarlet one is very much my favourite. I have sent seed of some of them to GC members but have not heard how they've done. They so far seem to take splitting well. Maybe we can popularise them here on GC - if I managed to propogate them and send to members who want to try them.
