When Walters Gardens visited The Flower Factory, a unique retail nursery in Stoughton, Wisconsin, a few summers ago, they were struck by the fantastic true royal purple flowers and clean foliage of ‘Purple Rooster’. It was flying off the benches there, selling on impulse, as it had been for about twenty years. Upon inquiring with the owners, David and Nancy Nedveck, they learned that David had selected this purple flowering plant from a batch of M. didyma seedlings and named it ‘Purple Rooster’ after his love for roosters. To his knowledge, they are the only retailer that has ever sold this fantastic variety since David selected and named it so long ago. We brought home a few to try for ourselves and were equally impressed with its performance. Large, true royal purple flowers were produced over most of the summer on clean, mildew-free plants that never required staking despite their three foot height.