BARLERIA REPENS POST

 Barleria repens is one of me favorite plants in our garden.  The first, nine years ago,  was just like the photo at left.  It came from the LMM Plantation, by division.  As time went by I noticed its self sown characteristics.

It has never shown diseases of any kind or insect damage. Barleria is drought tolerant and will grow as you can see in the photos with little support.  If you are into hedges, without the pruning and trimming hassles of many, I would recommend it.

Below the technical information from wildifeohawaii.com.
 
Scientific Name: Barleria repens
Common Names: Coral Creeper, Red Barleria, Creeping Barleria, Small Bush Violet

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial, Evergreen
Growth Habit: Subshrub, Vine, Herb/Forb
Hawaii Native Status: Introduced. This naturalized ornamental garden plant is native to South Africa.
Flower Color: Light red to coral, Salmon to lavender-pink, Pinkish purple
Height: 6 inches to 6 1/2 feet (15 cm to 2 m) tall
Description: The flowers are tubular and have 5 round, spreading, unequally-sized lobes and light purple anthers. The flowers are followed by club-shaped seed capsules that explode open when dry, ejecting the seeds a fair distance from the parent plant. The leaves are smaller than the showy flowers and are shiny, green, smooth-edged, and oval in shape. This variable and adaptable plant can grow as low, rounded plants when young, as a spreading groundcover in open, sunny locations, as a tall, rambling vine amongst other plants, or even as an epiphyte on other plants like palm trees. These attractive, but weedy plants are fast-growing and can spread quickly by seed or rooting stems.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Scrophulariales
Family: Acanthaceae – Acanthus family
Genus: Barleria L. – Philippine violet
Species: Barleria repens Nees

1. Barleria repens 'Purple Prince' - Excellent ground cover or low shrub for full sun or semi shade. Medium grower. Glossy green leaves with
royal purple flowers. Can be easily pruned to form a low hedge. Prune lightly after flowering. Feed with slow release 3:1:5 chemical or organic fertiliser and water regularly for best results.