Guy at the plant stand said this was a perrenial...do you recognize it ?
purple foliage
I found it !!!
Didnt know how to spell it :)
Persicaria virginiana purple-leaved tovara
My persicaria is getting ready to bloom! :-) Mine is 'Red Dragon.'
I know he said perennial, and it is probably Persicaria as you say, but could it not be strobianthus - Persian Shield?
http://mgonline.com/persianshield.html
this is an old Victorian favorite, zone 9, and really nice mixed into a perennial border.
Peter
Sure looks like Persian Shield to me. I know it doesn't look like my Persicaria. Mine looks like this:
http://davesgarden.com/pics/poppysue_1020275367_736.jpg
Charlotteda, your plant is not a Persicaria but as pdkrones said above - Strobilanthes dyerianus (Persian Shield) http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/516/index.html. Unfortunately for you (Zone 7a) it is not perennial. There is a thread started regarding how to overwinter the plant -
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/549629/
kbaumle, your Persicaria is the cultivar 'Red Dragon' http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1134/index.html
Darn and drat.....the nursery was insistant....
Well Persian Shield is a perennial, just a tender one so you have to take measures to winter it over. Here in my Zone 9 garden, it dies down every year and comes back, I have mine in pots but planted one in the ground this summer to see how it does.
Here is one in a bed I got a shot of in St Louis, MO on a garden tour.
try plectrantus persian shield --also other cultivars--beautttttiful
It's this one as stated above. :) http://www.floridata.com/ref/S/stro_dye.cfm
It won't be hardy for you but it is easy to root and you can bring some in.
Yep, Persian Shield. Here in the Valley of the Sun, Phoenix I have it planted in a protected area that received NO sun. Its with Creeping Wine Vine, Purple Lily Turf. I thinks its going to survive this location!!!!
I am in the Atlanta Georgia area and I have one that comes back every year. It is protected from the wind by some bigger shrubs. I had about 8 of them but I pulled them all up thinking that they were annuals here. I somehow missed this one and it comes back bigger every spring. It get a lot of sun and not too much water.
I think it is persian shield, but I think maybe plectrantus is plecranthus.