Bring vibrant color and a touch of whimsy to your garden with the Wishbone Flower! This easy-care annual thrives in shade or partial shade, boasting unique trumpet-shaped blooms and colorful foliage. Learn how to grow Wishbone Flowers from seeds or transplants, and discover their surprising namesake feature!
About the Wishbone Flower
No bones about it: This plant makes wishes come true. Look closely at the trumpet-shaped flowers for the plant’s eponymous feature: A pair of stamens unite at the anthers in a way that resembles a wishbone, a part found in chickens, turkeys, and other birds.
Also known as bluewings, Torenia fournieri is a perennial grown as an annual.
“Torenias hail from tropical portions of Asia and Africa and are named after Olof Toren (1718-1753), who traveled in China as a chaplain for the Swedish East India Company in the middle of the 18th century,” explains Gerald Klingaman, an Extension Horticulturist at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
Wishbone flower grows well in shade or semi-shade (even indoors) if adequate moisture is maintained; legginess is a clue that more light is needed. Note that most cultivars are intolerant of sun and high heat. (The greater the amount of light that a wishbone flower can receive and tolerate, the wider the choices available as companion plants in containers; growth habits should be compatible.)
Wishbone flower’s color appears not only in its blooms— its foliage can turn red or bronze in unseasonably cold weather.