Late this afternoon I stopped by a local curb market and wandered through their large display of annuals, tropicals, and hanging baskets before buying a watermelon, a cantaloupe, a few tomatoes, and a bunch of bananas. This, in itself, was a pleasant, quiet escape from the garden centers of the big-box retailers, which are normally thronged with customers--a situation that discourages one from contemplating what he/she is viewing. There were just a few shoppers--no screeching babies, no mindless cell phone blabbers. You get the picture. Lucky me. I found the couple of New Guinea impatiens and the 'Rage of Atlanta' I had been thinking about picking up at one of our local Lowe's, Wal-Mart, or Home Depot garden centers. I was glad to be supporting a local small business instead of a commercial behemoth.

Now, around to my question. Is anyone familar with a tall, multiple-stemmed, purple-flowered semi-tropical perennial with dark green, narrow lanceolate leaves and dark stems? The saleswoman said it's related to the "Mexican petunia." If memory serves me correctly, its numerous flowers were funnel-form. I hate cell phones and, thus, had nothing with which to snap its photograph. However, I'll wager a bet that someone will know exactly what this plant is. If so, do you also know whether it's winter hardy in USDA Zone 7B? I noticed that their _Musa zebrina_ plants were labeled as being perennial in Zone 7b, but I'm doubtful of that. However, I am aware that the Rojo banana, or 'zebrina,' is perennial in the South Carolina Low Country. They also were claiming that portulaca should act perennially in Zone 7B. That's something else I doubt. Does anyone have a light to beam on this?