PlantFiles: Blue Potato Bush, Paraguay Nightshade, Blue Lycianthes
Lycianthes rantonnetii 'Royal Robe'

I have potted up two of these plants and plan to keep them outside for the summer.

I am in Las vegas and have a VERY harsh winter and a VERy hot summer. It died back in the winter to absolutely nothing and frankly, I was too lazy to pull it out thinking it was dead. This spring, it was the first to sprout and it'sa doing well already with flowers almost immediately. I love the colour of the blooms and am thrilled that it has come back.

Bought this plant yesterday afternoon at WalMart, Garden Grove, California - was a little concerned since most of their plants had extremely dry soil. I watered mine as soon as I got home. Last night I freaked out when all the flowers were gone!! This morning they're all open again and beautiful. Whew!!
Now that I've read all your comments, I hope I can control it's size.

This morning I found this plant at Lowes in Palm Spring, CA. I'm looking forward to trying it here. Very pretty coloring.

I read that all parts of this plant are poisonous if ingested. I didn't know that when I bought it but my cats and it have lived happily together all summer.

I live in San Diego,CA and have 5 of these plants. They adapt to the climate here in Southern California as if they are native here. They grow very fast and love the 360 days of sunshine here a year. When planted here they spread like a weed very quickly. They are a very enchanting plant. I love em.

I planted 3 of these plants (quart size) last spring. They grew to a little more than 3 feet tall. All of them have already begun to put on new growth as of Feb. 5, 2006. I plan to move two of them to a more sunny area. This plant seems to bloom better with a little more sun than shade at least in Summerville, SC.

i live in the california valley and the blue potatoe vine (shrub) dies back in the winter its best if you protect it from freezing.
it loves full sun. i had one at my old home and it is now like a small tree..you have to keep the suckers pruned or it becomes a bush..you can cut small flowering limbs and put in a vase.mine is now about 8 or 9 feet tall.also it was trained and staked because the main trunk is not thick enough to support it..i love its blooms , and i plan to put another one on the opposite side of my apt. yard.

My DH bought me this plant for Mother's day last year. It was in a gallon pot. I transplanted to a 14" container and it grew to about 3 ft. It has overwintered in the garage and still has flowers!

This beautiful bush bloomed all year in phoenix but better in the spring and summer. I trained it as a vine but it reached over 12 feet untill pruned, looking more like a tree. Very forgiving when not watered regularly. Nancy

I found this plant at the Lowes Home Improvement in Winston-Salem, N.C. on university pkwy.

I found this plant today at Wal-Mart in Stillwater, OK.

I grew this plant in my front yard a few summers ago. It bloomed vigorously all summer with small but noticable violet-blue flowers. The bush was about 5-6 foot high and about the same in width. We (Atlanta, Ga. ) area had a particularly cold winter that year and it was killed back to the groung level and did not reappear next year. I have been trying to fine it since. I have checked most of my local nurseries and mail order sources to no avail, however. I would appreciate anyone telling me where I might find this plant.