Portulaca Grandiflora – Moss Rose
Portulacas are small beautiful low growing ground covering plants native to South America. These are very common succulent flowering plants and fairly easy to grow. Commonly known by many other names such as rose moss, eleven o’clock, Mexican rose, sun rose, rock rose, purslane, moss-rose purslane, etc. The family Portulacaceae contains around 100 species. Different species have variations in the flowering patterns some have, semi-double to fully double layers that resemble miniature roses. Flowers come in many bright colors such as orange, red, yellow, deep lavender, cream, white, and pink. Some varieties even give variegated colored flowers. P. Oleracea and some other hybrid varieties have flat fleshy leaves.
These are excellent for high heat areas and also drought-tolerant. They thrive in good sunlight and keeping them outdoor at a spot getting six to eight hours of full sun helps in spreading quicker and also promotes flowering. The flowers are known to close-up at night and also during cloudy or rainy days.
Portulacas can survive long drought periods, but flowering is better with regular watering. They can also tolerate any kind of soil but sandy and well-drained soil work best, thus they are commonly used for xeriscaping, which is the process of landscaping or gardening that reduces or eliminates the need for supplemental water from irrigation.
Due to the bright colored flowers, they tend to attract butterflies to the gardens and can be easily propagated from broken pieces of stem. They are sometimes harvested from the wild for their edible seeds and leaves. While purslane is nutritious to humans, some varieties of the plant contain soluble calcium oxalates which might be toxic for both dogs and cats. Thus care should be taken to make sure the pets don’t end up ingesting them.
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The Green Machines 