Unusual flowers find home in Eufaula

By Anastasia Harbuck

Published: October 7, 2008

When Rufus Cordell bought four little Mexican petunia plants at an Albany, Ga., flea market, he had no idea the beautiful purple blossoms would eventually cover his front yard.

“I hadn’t ever seen or heard of them before,” he said.

Now anyone driving up Clayton Highway can see Cordell’s gorgeous flowers. They’ve spread all along the roadside near his house on Highway 30.

“At one time they were taller than the mailbox!” he chuckled.

The Mexican petunia blossoms resemble ordinary petunia blooms, but their leaves are straight and spiky. Cordell’s daughter, Becky, says the leaves are similar to those of the cane plant and that the plant grows in the same way cane does by producing several stems from one underground root.

What makes these plants unusual, however, is how they blossom. Beginning in March, the plants will bloom in the early morning. By 2 p.m., however, all the blossoms will drop off only to be replaced by new blossoms the next morning. The plant’s bloom cycle is a testament to the Mexican petunia’s resilience. Cordell explains that the little plants are extremely hardy and thrive in southeast Alabama’s climate.

He nourishes his flowers with a mixture of nitrogen sodium fertilizer and chicken fertilizer. The petunias repeat their daily bloom cycle until the first frost, Cordell says, at which time he cuts the dead stalks down with his lawnmower. By next March, however, the little plants will be ready to bloom again. Cordell is offering the petunias to anyone who wishes to grow them. Contact Cordell at 687-7466.