Ruellia humilis (Wild Petunia)

Size: 1-2’ tall / 1-2’ wide

Sun: Full Sun - Part Shade

Soil: Dry-Medium, Well-Drained 

Bloom Time: Early - Late Summer

Deer Resistance: 2/5

Wild Petunia is a low-growing, adaptable perennial that mixes well with other taller perennials. It prefers drier, sandier sites in full sun to partial shade and is often found growing in soils over limestone. With that said, it can handle richer soils as well, so long as they are well-draining. Due to its shorter stature, it's a great plant to mix with taller, leggier perennials. Its flowers are somewhat sparse, however it blooms for most of the summer and into the fall. 

Wild Petunia flowers attract pollinators, especially bees, and the plant serves as a larval host plant for Buckeye Butterflies and the Wild Petunia Seed Borer moth. Fresh new growth may be browsed by herbivores, but if this plant is able to get established, this shouldn't causing lasting damage. In my experience, rabbits tend to leave it alone, but deer and groundhogs will eat it when there is little else to eat.