Ragin’ Cajun Red Mexican Petunia (Ruellia Elegans) – 1 Gallon Pot

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 7b-11  Find Your Zone

Plant Type:  Perennial, Annual in zones north of 7b

Flower Color:  Brilliant Scarlet Red

Flower Size:  1″

Flowering Period:  Late Spring to Frost!

Flower Type:  Single

Fragrant Flowers:  No

Foliage Color:  Deep Green

Fragrant Foliage:  No

Berries:  No

Berry Color:  No

Attracts:  Butterflies, Hummingbirds, Beneficial Pollinators, Visual Attention, 

Resistances:  Disease, Heat, Humidity, Insect, Rabbit

The most cold hardy Ruellia we’ve come across and super heat hardy, ‘Ragin’ Cajun’ Mexican Petunia is a reliable perennial as far north as USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7b where winter low temperatures can go down to 5 degrees F. Beginning in mid to late spring and continuing all the way to frost, it produces eye-catching brilliant red 4-petaled nectar-rich flowers that are sure to capture the attention of butterflies and hummingbirds as well. Attractive, soft-green semi-fuzzy foliage adds to the overall appeal. Ragin’ Cajun has formed a patch in our gardens that is about 2 feet tall and 4 feet wide over a few years. With a rich soil that stays consistently moist the clump may grow larger than that but never becomes invasive at all. Winner of the “FlameProof Award” at Dallas Arboretum, Ragin’ Cajun is a fine choice for a season long color in garden beds or pots.

Growing 18 to 24 inches tall and spreading to 3 feet or more over time, the Ragin Cajun Mexican Petunia is ideal for use as a specimen in smaller garden spaces or in groupings or as a border where space allows. It is excellent for use as a solo or combined with other moisture and sun-loving plants in containers that can be left outdoors year round in zones 8 to 11 or overwintered indoors in colder zones. A fine addition to butterfly gardens, pollinator gardens, bog gardens, perennial gardens, cottage gardens, and pink theme gardens.

Suggested Spacing: 2 feet apart for mass plantings or solid border;  6 feet or more for space between plants

Note:  For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8a, where this Mexican Petunia variety is not reliably winter hardy outdoors in containers, pots can be moved indoors during winter and placed back outside when temperatures warm up in spring.

Ragin’ Cajun Mexican Petunia is every easy to grow in a consistently moist soil of average to high fertility and full sun to part shade. We suggest at least 5 hours of direct sunlight for best flowering. We’ve grown it in full sun to part shade and it does equally as well. Too much shade though and flowering will be diminished. 

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