Two years ago, I tried to identify this weedy (but pretty plant) growing in my front yard, and I never really gave up trying to find out what it was, but there are only so many photos of purple flowers I can look at before I lose interest.

At the time of the original post, a regular reader and friend said she had something similar to it, and hers was a “Ruellia Brittoniana Katie Purple” … and so I spent a lot of time looking at different varieties of Ruellia. I have yet to find any varieties that look exactly like the ones in my yard. There are so many varieties! But I am prepared to declare the weedy (but pretty) plants trying to take over my yard some variety of Ruellia, and this one in particular is a very close match. Everything matches up except the leaves on mine have a bit of a ruffle to them, but that could be because the conditions in Texas when I took that photo were excessively harsh and drought-like. I haven’t looked at them closely lately, but the ones invading the bed in front of the house don’t seem to be as ruffled this year.

So at long last, the unknown plant will now be known as Ruellia Nudiflora … Violet Wild Petunia. They also get to continue invading my yard. Even though they aren’t fabulous for walking around on barefoot, and whenever water gets on the seed pods they propel the seeds out so explosively it hurts to get hit by them, they ARE pretty, and they grow well with no care at all. I think this summer I’ll gather some of the seeds and try to get them started in the far end of the back yard. There are worse weeds to have than wild petunias, and these things do seem to choke out all other weeds (as well as carpet grass, unfortunately).