Ruellia 'Black Beauty'

Ruellia 'Black Beauty' is undoubtedly one of the most exciting and asked about plants in rock gardening circles. It only took a decade of searching to finally acquire it in 2010. Ruellia 'Black Beauty' first appeared in the 1990s in the Maryland garden of the late Alexej (Sasha) Borkovec as a probable hybrid of Ruellia ciliosa. In the garden, the winter deciduous Ruellia 'Black Beauty' makes a 10" tall x 18" wide clump of dark black thumb-shaped leaves. Starting for us in mid-June and continuing through August, the clumps are topped with 2" mauvy lavender flowers...what a stunner! Cuttings are nearly impossible to find due to the excess flowering and we've never seen a garden seedling. We grow Ruellia 'Black Beauty' in the full sun rock garden for best foliage color.