I grew this!! They had morning sun only and were in a bed (not a pot). I adore this plant!! I cannot remember where I got them but I suspect it was a nursery (not HD or Lowes). I had many compliments on this flower from visitors. This plant is always in bloom. I never had any to reseed but would have loved it.

If you find this plant I am sure you will love it.

Ronda

Thanks, Ronda. The plant in the picture was bought from HD or Lowes, I believe.

I'd love to mix a pot of the blue and yellow's together!

I'm going to start searching online this weekend and see if there are any nurseries who will ship me some plants. Just to be safe. :)

Oh, and my front porch is perfect for this plant since it only gets morning sun!

Hey, Oakleyok. I recognize that pot. ;)

I usually buy them at Lowe's or Home Depot. Both have carried every spring since I discovered them. I always buy plants about this time every year. Once they come in and sale, they are gone until next year.

The back veranda pot will get some mid-day sun, so I tend to pull it in towards the house once the heat wave hits. This one is sitting just below the front steps which gets almost no sun - as in maybe 30 minutes a day.

I water daily once it gets hot. Keep semi-moist, and do not let it dry out - especially once it get hot (over 80).

My favorite is the blue, but I buy pink too. Sometimes yellow. They don't get bugs.

The first year I purchased, we were in our last home, I planted them in the ground. They did well there also.

Oakleyok

I grew Torenias last year. I planted thwem in the ground, and they bloomed all summer long. They pretty much doubled in size, and I found them and bought one at the nursery Wednesday. The one I bouhgt was pink, but the ones I had last year had "Clown" in the name.. I really liked them because they really bloomed a lot.
kay

Thanks Allison! I don't know how such a pretty plant escaped me since it's a prolific bloomer and in such pretty colors! And easy to take care of. :)

Kay, if I can find enough at the garden center I plan to put them in the ground in an area that only gets spotty morning sun.

I think they're breath taking!

They are aka wishbone plant. I have not seen them in quite a few years.

I have grown torenias for many years. They are one of my favorite annuals, especially because they enjoy part shade and I have a lot of shade.

I used to grow the "Clown" series from seed. But about six years ago, maybe more, I found the Proven Winner 'Summer Wave' series. They are so much superior to Clown that I have never looked back. Packed with flowers all season long, no deadheading or other maintenance except water and liquid fertilizer, no pests or diseases. They are show-stoppers.

Proven Winners is a wholesale grower and you can only buy plants, not seed. Their plants--not just torenia--are in nurseries. They have many other kinds of plants as well and I have had good luck with all of them that I have tried. They do shrubs but I have never tried any of those. Worth looking for at the nursery.

I find these to be good re-seeders. They usually come up in several containers I have in shade on the back deck. They do prefer shade here because our summers are so brutal. They are easy and as Ginny mentioned quite care free.

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Can you tell that I really like them?

They really bloom well too, don't they?
kay

I tried them one year, but it's a struggle for me to keep containers watered. And down here that means almost daily or even twice a day during the summer.

Allison, you've piqued my curiosity. Do you have ESP? How did you know Oakley posted your photo here? ;)

Natal, I told her. lol.

"Proven Winners is a wholesale grower and you can only buy plants, not seed." Are you saying Proven Winners is the name of a Torenia or a nursery? I found one website that sells the plants for $5.00 each.

I'm going to call the nursery I go to and see if they'll be selling them.

Linda, I'm in love!!!! How many plants did you put in each pot?

Oakley, thanks, mystery solved. ;)

Proven Winners is a brand. The plants are basically easy to grow, good bloomers, and disease-free.

Here is a link that might be useful: Proven Winners

Well, I bit the bullet and ordered 12 Proven Winners from the link you provided Natal. 6 purplish blue, 6 yellow. I plan to combine them...beautiful color combo!

Oh dear, I'm embarrassed at the S&H costs, but where I live, this is the only way to guarantee I can get the plants.

I'll still call the nursery and see if they'll be selling them.

I plan on putting them in pots on the front porch, and along the east side of the house which is mostly filtered sun in the mornings, then the rest all shade. Not enough sun to get the 4 o'clocks blooming, so it should be perfect!

It's been a long time since I've been excited about a plant!

Oakley, in photos 5 and 6 they were new plants I had bought - 1 in each pot. All the others re-seeded and I just let them fight it out among themselves. The little peach colored one suddenly appeared behind some plants in one of my front beds. I have no idea where it came from because I hadn't seen one that color before!

Oakley, did you check the retail locator on the site? I know I've seen Proven Winners at Home Depot or Lowe's.

Here is a link that might be useful: Find a retailer

Natal, I called the garden center in the City where we get all of our plants and they'll have the Torenia ready in 3 weeks.

I plan on stocking up. It just dawned on me I have another planter on one side of the porch that gets all shade and I've never planted anything there because of it. Now I'll have a plant!

These plants are sooo "cottagey", IMO. lol DH is going to till up the east side of the house for me where the 4 o'clocks grew so I can do my Torenia bed.

And you know, they're also called "Wishbone Flower" and for the life of me I can't see a wishbone in them!

Our Lowes carries Proven Winners. Not sure where they are shipped from. I prefer to buy from a local nursery, and am pretty sure that's where I found Torenia. As a matter of fact, I used it in mixed containers which got a good bit of sun. Did quite well!

tina

I like to buy from our nursery also, that's why I called them. It's a big nursery which makes it more fun when we go there! lol

There's a Lowe's and a Home Depot a block or so from the nursery but I can't count on them to have what I want. At least I know the flowers are grown locally & the people there know what they're doing. :)

Oh, which reminds me, our nursery has a local TV show on Saturday mornings in the summer which I record and it's very informative.

Many flowers are shipped to Lowes/Home Depot. My point being that if you can find them it is best to purchase plants grown in your locale.

tina

Allison, you've piqued my curiosity. Do you have ESP? How did you know Oakley posted your photo here? ;)

Yeah, I have ESP. ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: porch thread

(smiling) I saw the porch thread, but didn't put 2 & 2 together.

Tina, my favorite nursery is locally-owned, but I love having more options and Lowe's occasionally offers something I'm searching for, or a deal that can't be beat like the 10 agastaches I got for a dollar each last fall.

True Natal and I buy some things from Lowes also (don't find much at Home Depot). But if it's something grown locally, in my climate, I prefer to purchase those, in the hopes that they will be healthy. I've even bought from Ebay, as we discussed recently, but bought from neighboring states. Another plus for Lowes is that shrubs, trees, etc. are guaranteed for a year.

Have you actually bought something that was diseased? I won't buy locally grown tomatoes, because I don't want to risk possible diseases, but have never given that a second thought for any other plants. Those shrub & tree guarantees don't mean anything to me. I figure it's gardener-error if they croak.

I've been growing Torenias in containers and in my flowerbeds for more than 7 years. For me, they are a wonderful substitute for impatients because they require less watering. I find they perform best in my garden in light shade or morning sun/afternoon shade. They re-seed very well, but you won't see the volunteers until the soil warms a little. They are easy to transplant when they are young seedlings and bloom until the days start to cool. The hummingbirds enjoy the blooms so that is a bonus!
I purchased 2 hanging baskets of Torenia at Lowes last week (some varieties are trailing) since I need some colorful containers for Easter and my torenia volunteers won't be up for several more weeks.

Jardine, I planned on using Torenia as a substitute for Impatiens also! Even though I love Impatiens.

Natal, I've bought many a houseplant (and Hydrangea) online before with great success. Especially succulents which are hard to find in garden centers these days. I love a good succulent, they're so easy to care for.

When we go to HD or Lowes, I always come home with another plant. It's hard to resist.

Even our local Walmart has a FANTASTIC garden center now, I'm very impressed. I always go in there before I get groceries and come home with a new flower! lol

Our Wal-mart carries them. Once you have them, you will always have them. They cross-breed, and you will get different shades from the original colors. It's kind of neat to see what you get. They seem to do all right in full sun here if you keep them moist.

My Torenias came in today, all 12 of them!

Proven Winners is the website, I don't think it's the name of the Torenia.

I ordered them from Provenwinners.com

Anyway, these things are huge....well, they're about 6-7", bushy and in full bloom!

5 stars to this online store. I have to admit, shipping was high but well worth it. I wasn't going to risk going to the garden center and buying puny one's. lol.

I've got some in pots already, and will plant some on each side of the sidewalk next to the front porch, then plant a small row on the east side of the house which gets filtered morning sun.

It was like Christmas today!

Here is a link that might be useful: Proven Winners

Just had to add that these are my favorite annual. I do most of my containers with pink double impatiens as the "upright" plant. Then, I have trailing purple torenia (summer wave) and creeping jenny as the trailers. I think it looks great together. Best of all, they flower continuously even in terrible heat AND do not require deadheading. I must say, I'm envious of those of you who get it to reseed. That never happens in my zone. Hope you enjoy your torenia!

Rose, that's a great idea! I'll give it a month or so and see if I need to stick an Impatien in there. Impatiens are what I usually grow in the planters I used for the Torenia.

The one's I have grow in a mound (supposedly) so hopefully I won't have to disturb them.

Love this plant also - had bought it years ago and didn't have any luck with it - too hot and dry. Bought it again a couple years ago and planted it in a shady moist place and it went gangbusters on me - it will be a permanent plant in my garden now - love the fact that it does reseed because it is not readily available at garden centers around here .....

Lynne

Lindakimy, your torenia's are so pretty. I usually pick some up
at the private nurseries each year, but not last year. I have full
sun and they still grew nice for me. Did keep it watered.

Just found these in cell packs at my Home Depot! Not even Proven Winners...just regular nursery type. (Purple and white)

Happy Hunting

I started growing these in containers and in flower beds a couple of years ago. They are hard to find in my area of CA, central valley, so I ordered 2 flats of them this year. They are spectacular and easy in shade in our brutally hot, 100 degree + summers, blooming profusely even in the long spells of temps above 105. They take the heat! And don't seem to need as much water as other plants. I've read they are perennial, so I am going to try overwintering pots this fall, and growing some by cuttings too. They love self watering pots, the kind with a reservoir on the bottom.

I am visiting Kansas City as I write this. I had no idea there was more than one variety. I saw several kinds at a nursery near central market in KC. We only have the blue and white in Ca, as far as I know. What a great plant!

I found Torenia blooming in my garden one day. I did not plant it. I think it grew from birds dropping seeds. I clipped a couple stems to put in a vase. This was in September. They are still blooming in December! And rooting! I love this little flower. I can't wait till Spring to plant them.

I love Torenia - I had it growing successfully ONE year! Couldn't find it another year.