Tradescantia pallidaPurple Heart

Tradescantia pallida, Purple Heart, produces the deepest and most reliable purple foliage available in a low ground cover: fleshy lance-shaped leaves on trailing purple stems, holding colour all year in full sun and carrying small pale pink three-petalled flowers through the warm months.

It is the standard colour contrast in hot-climate mass planting, used against grey gravel, silver foliage or the gold of a clipped duranta, and it strikes so readily from cuttings that a large area can be planted from a small order.

Specifications

• Height0.2 to 0.4 metres
• Width0.6 to 1 metre, trailing and spreading
• Native toEastern Mexico
• FoliageFleshy, lance-shaped, deep purple leaves on trailing purple stems; evergreen in warm climates
• Growth rateFast

Conditions

• SoilTolerates most soils including poor and sandy ground; needs reasonable drainage
• LightFull sun for the deepest purple; tolerates partial shade with greener leaves
• WaterLow; drought-tolerant once established
• ClimateThrives in tropical, subtropical and warm arid regions; frost sensitive but reshoots from the base

Additional Features

• FlowersSmall pale pink three-petalled flowers through the warm months
• UsesIdeal for mass ground cover and colour contrast, median strips, spill over retaining walls, planters and interior displays
• SpacingPlant 0.3 to 0.4 metres apart for a closed cover in one season
• Low MaintenanceShear back when the growth becomes leggy; strikes readily from cuttings for infill
• Pest ResistanceGenerally resilient
• Drought ToleranceHolds colour and cover on minimal irrigation in high heat
• VersatilityUsed as a ground cover, a planter spill or an interior foliage plant
• ToxicityThe sap can irritate skin on contact; wear gloves when cutting back

Purple Heart is the cheapest and most reliable block of purple in hot-climate landscaping, and it holds that colour all year.