Wild Petunia

Wild petunia is an herbaceous perennial with purple trumpet flowers in summer. The 2″ flowers last for a day, opening at dawn and dropping by afternoon. Exploding seed capsules propel the seeds out from the parent plant. Often found growing with lawn grasses, it reseeds readily and can withstand mowing. In fact it’s a good selection for a rain garden or native woodland.

Although the flowers are similar, Wild Petunia shares nothing but a name with the potted petunias used as bedding plants. The invasive Mexican petunia is a related species, but the leaf shape is different.