Portulaca
Grow
Moss rose
Portulaca are a beacon to butterflies with their brightly coloured flowers on low growing, sun-loving plants that make great ground cover and add a splash of colour around the edges of containers and hanging baskets. Easy to grow and well worth sowing for the masses of double flowers that are crowded with petals in shades of cream, orange, pink, red, rose, yellow and white. Great for growing on the edge of veg beds, along pathways and in containers.
In a nutshell
- Sun
- Well-drained soil
- Long flowering season
- Low growing with bright flowers
- Attracts butterflies
Companions
Plant with tomatoes
Sow & plant
Sow
Sow indoors in seed raising compost in punnets or trays 6-8 weeks before you want to plant out. Alternatively, sow seed outdoors after soil warms and all risk of frost has passed. Cultivate soil so that it is loose and free from lumps, firm soil gently and then sow seed on the surface – don’t bother covering seeds, just lightly press down on them to ensure good contact with soil.
Plant
When your seedlings are about a finger’s length in height and the weather has settled and is reliably warm and sunny, plant seedlings at an average spacing of about two hand’s length apart (40cm). I usually dot them around the vegetable garden on the fringes where its sunny and soil is drier. Keep an eye out for slugs.
Harvest or pick
Keep picking flowers to prolong blooming.
Portulaca can self-seed freely given the right conditions.
