Other Names:  Paraguay Nightshade, Lycianthes rantonnetii

Description:

An exceptional plant in tree form, offering intense violet-blue flowers with bright yellow centers from spring until fall; great for an indoor container

Features & Attributes

Blue Potato Bush (tree form) features showy lightly-scented violet round flowers with blue overtones and yellow eyes along the branches from late spring to mid fall. Its oval leaves remain green in color throughout the year.

This is an evergreen houseplant with a strong central leader and an upright spreading habit of growth. This plant may benefit from an occasional pruning to look its best.

Planting & Growing

When grown indoors, Blue Potato Bush (tree form) can be expected to grow to be about 6 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 4 feet. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years. This houseplant will do well in a location that gets either direct or indirect sunlight, although it will usually require a more brightly-lit environment than what artificial indoor lighting alone can provide. It prefers to grow in average to moist soil. The surface of the soil shouldn't be allowed to dry out completely, and so you should expect to water this plant once and possibly even twice each week. Be aware that your particular watering schedule may vary depending on its location in the room, the pot size, plant size and other conditions; if in doubt, ask one of our experts in the store for advice. It is not particular as to soil type or pH; an average potting soil should work just fine. Be warned that parts of this plant are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so special care should be exercised if growing it around children and pets.

There are many factors that will affect the ultimate height, spread and overall performance of a plant when grown indoors; among them, the size of the pot it's growing in, the amount of light it receives, watering frequency, the pruning regimen and repotting schedule. Use the information described here as a guideline only; individual performance can and will vary. Please contact the store to speak with one of our experts if you are interested in further details concerning recommendations on pot size, watering, pruning, repotting, etc.

-- THIS IS A HOUSEPLANT AND IS NOT MEANT TO SURVIVE THE WINTER OUTDOORS IN OUR CLIMATE --