Ruellia

This is ruellia. I've also heard it called Mexican Petunia. It's perennial, drought-tolerant, heat-tolerant, and essentially foolproof. My old friend Lisa P. gave me several little pieces of ruellia...oh, I don't know...maybe 12 or 13 years ago.
This is the perfect plant for me because my gardening philosophy is that if something doesn't want to live in my yard, I don't want it to live here either. If a plant requires a lot of special attention just to survive, it is not for me. Ruellia hangs out and thrives without any attention from me other than occasional admiration and gets along just fine with whatever water falls from the sky or the sprinkler.
Earlier this spring I thought my ruellia were looking a little bit scraggly and leggy so I cut them all down to basically just above ground level. There were no leaves left at that point, just stems. As you can see they've come back just fine and even bloomed this week.
I like ruellia's spiky green leaves and sweet purple flowers. (It also comes with white, pink, or red flowers. I just have the purple. Purple is the best color.) I like that ruellia re-seeds itself and spreads out in the flower bed where I've planted it. (I don't love that ruellia also seeds itself into the seams in my driveway and sidewalks but whatever. It's a small price to pay.)
I love knowing that later this summer, when everything in my yard is wilting from the heat, ruellia will be full and flowering and gorgeous.
At that point I, of course, will be admiring ruellia from inside the house. Where the air-conditioning is.