One of my dad's favorite flowers was the portulaca. He grew it in rock gardens and planter beds. Until this past spring, I had forgotten how beautiful this flower is.
After I had dug out a large, winter-damaged barberry bush from my full sun rock garden, I went to my favorite local greenhouse. And, there they were...flats of portulaca, the Sundial Mix. I knew I had found my rock garden replacement.
The only amending I did to the relatively good soil was peat moss.
The drought-tolerant portulaca took off, creating a blanket of low growing, succulent green leaves and bright, almost translucent, cup-shaped flowers.
When I was a child, my dad showed me how to collect the seeds by breaking open the dried seed heads. Since it is an annual, I'll be collecting seeds for next year, to grow my own starts to increase the amount of moss rose in the rock garden...YES, it IS that pretty!
A batch of sherbert how yummy. Save those seeds. I will do the same =^..^=
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely wonderful. I just love portulaca
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your weekend.
Lots of luv,
Ita
My German uncle loved the moss roses so very much. He had a tiny balcony at his apartment high up and each year they bloomed in the flower boxes...his one gardening joy. I love them so much and they are very faithful in reseeding. Thank you for this post...it tugged at my heartstrings.
ReplyDeleteLove Miss Peach (who is growing then in an old wheelbarrow)
I love Portulaca very much. I have more than 50 colours verities. But I'm searching for hybrid portulaca single petal and multi Petal verities. My what's app 9043299562. My name is vinayagam. And I'm from Chennai.
ReplyDelete