At first I thought it was just matter of moving the plant to a sunnier spot.
No matter what, Ruellia nudiflora refused to bloom. So I did some research:
FULL ARTICLE:
I found out that this particular species of plant has both chasmogamous and cleistogamous flowers.
Of course they do! Duh....why didn't I know this already. (just joking)
To put this in plain English, this little Ruellia has a secret: when grown under happy conditions, it decides to burst forth in lovely purple flowers (open-pollinated/chasmogamous flowers).
But when grown under STRESSFUL conditions, it decides to self-pollinate inside the seed capsule with no need for external flowers (cleistogamous, non-opening flowers...BORING!).
Since it seems to do this ALL the time in MY GARDEN, Ms. Ruellia nudiflora has declared to the world that living in my garden is somehow stressful!
This common little weed thinks my garden is...
STRESSFUL?!?
I'm so hurt and so confused.
I've given all my plants a helping hand each time they've needed it.
I try not to monkey around with their environment.
I dream about giving them a happy home....
...and plenty of proper light.
I thought we were a big, happy family.
My other Ruellias are happy. This is Katie Ruellia. She looks happy. Doesn't she?
This is Ruellia brittoniana 'Chi chi'. Is she happy? I think so. I'm so filled with self-doubt that I'm no longer sure of anything.
This is Ruellia 'Blue Shades'. It's not totally happy since it just got transplanted. But at least it's blooming.
I don't know the name of this Ruellia, but it pops up everywhere and seems to think my garden is a wonderful place.
This shade-loving Ruellia will have purple flowers later in the season...as long as it remains...happy.
As of this morning I'm happy to report that one of the many Ruellia nudifloras in my garden has finally bloomed.
I guess my garden is now a happy place...even to Ms. R. nudiflora.
Thank-you, Ms. Ruellia.
I'm no longer filled with self-doubt.
*************
That's it for today. Hope you have a happy garden &
thanks for stopping by.
David/:0)
NOTE: The museum images are from my visits to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the
Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont.
Ha! Well I'm glad that that one plant is finally starting to feel welcome in your garden (or at least all those other happy plants are putting enough peer pressure on her) so that you are no longer spending all your time in self-doubt ;)
ReplyDeleteBeing happy is a choice and I'm glad the plant has decided to be happy in your garden.
ReplyDeleteWeed research? I am actually trying to find this plant to add to my garden while my neighbors are busy pulling it out.
Such a funny post! I do relate to the feeling of, "WHAT?!!! After all I've done for you....??" in gardening. How beautiful these Ruellias are. Thanks for sharing all the floral glory!
ReplyDeleteThink that it was 'stressful' looking at the other 'barren' garden next door .. lol
ReplyDeleteRueilla not happy in your garden?
ReplyDeleteJoin the club..
I got many that are not happy and stressful...
(yeah.. I'm going to drink some wine now)
Cheers...
I have loads of ruellia humilis but lose my tall white flowered form ruellia every winter so I've quit planting it. Sometimes we just love our plants to death. We serve them filet mignon when all they want is a damn hot dog. It would be handy if they'd let us know ahead of time what they want. :o)
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting what you say about unhappy conditions and self fertilization. I have violets that do that and also a small native mallow. For the violets I think the stress is Texas heat because they bloomed profusely in the spring but then started their own little program. As to ruellia they seem to love the heat and always bloom non-stop in my garden.
ReplyDeleteThe unnamed Ruellia looks like the one on the north side of my house. It could be caroliniensis but I'm not sure. You probably got yours from me!
ReplyDelete