If the idea of watering your garden plants often is not your cup of tea, you should consider drought-tolerant plants.
I’m not just talking about plants that can withstand a week without rain. I’m also thinking that “drought” means nobody remembered to water the plants for a day or so…or three. Ask the staff at your local nursery or home improvement garden center for drought tolerant plants – that’s the usual lingo used.
Portulaca, Moss Rose, Rose Moss
My all-time favorite plant that absolutely thrives on almost total neglect is the annual flower portulaca, which also goes by the name of moss rose, and sometimes by rose moss. I remember first seeing this flower in my grandmother’s garden when I was a little girl, and have loved it ever since.
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| White double-flower portulaca with pink supertunias (in a pot on our patio) |
I plant this every year in my garden and containers. It blooms all Summer into Fall (as long as there is warm sunshine), it spreads with more and more blooms as the Summer progresses, and it thrives in poorer soils. No need to fertilize this plant, and it isn’t bothered by any serious pests either.
Let me repeat: no need to fertilize this plant at all. In fact, if you do fertilize it? You might kill it. Seriously.
OK, didn’t mean to scare you, but a little fertilizer will encourage more green leaves than blooms. A lot of fertilizer will indeed kill the plants.
We have a strip of garden in front of our low-walled garden beds that gets super-hot in the Summer being next to our sidewalk going up to our front door. Portulaca has been the perfect solution for this spot.
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| Portulaca, newly planted & watered in June 2012 (in front of the low garden wall) |
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| Here’s the portulaca just one month later, July 2012 |
The plants receive water whenever we run our lawn sprinklers or when it rains. Portulaca is a succulent, which means that it stores water in its leaves and stems to use when it gets a bit thirsty. Because portulaca’s root system is very shallow, too much water could actually drown the roots thus killing the plant.
Speaking of rain – Portulaca will close up during rain or during cloudy days, and sometimes at night too. This occurs more with the single-petal version than it does with the double-flower version.
Annual…but sort of a perennial too!
Another great thing about portulaca is that it nicely reseeds itself, but not invasively. For example, in this picture below, you can see our single-flowered portulaca which I planted in June with some of the double-flowered seedlings that sprouted up from last year’s planting. We love this!
Spot the seedlings!
It is easy to spot newly sprouted seedlings for two reasons. First, these seedlings don’t begin to sprout until mid-June, so you can happily weed away in the Spring without worrying that you might be pulling up any valuable (that’s what I think of these little guys) new plants. Secondly, when the seedlings do show up, you can tell them apart from other weeds right away because their tiny leaves immediately resemble their full-grown versions.
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| A closer look at the portulaca planted in front of our low garden wall |
Single or Double? Try both!
The single-version portulaca plant is more of a groundcover, growing out (horizontally) rather than up (vertically). The height is a mere few inches, but the spread can be easily 14 inches or more.
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| Yellow Portulaca, single petal flowers |
The double-version (sometimes called semi-double) portulaca grows a bit more vertically, and the flowers resemble tiny roses with their double petals which appear to be very full and fluffy.
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| Lemon Portulaca, double flower variety (in a pot on our patio) |
Both types come in a gorgeous array of Summer colors, and there are even some new hybrids that have veining within the flower petals too, such as the Peppermint Portulaca varieties.
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| Peppermint Portulaca (in a pot on our patio) |
Portulaca is the perfect choice for rock gardens, hot and dry spots, hanging baskets and containers. It thrives on neglect, and you’ll look like a professional gardener as the plants keep on blooming all Summer long into the Fall season!
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| Our garden strip of portulaca, looking from left to right |
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| The same garden strip of portulaca, this time shot from right to left |
Have your tried portulaca? Do you love it? Any preference on the single or double varieties?
August 22, 2013 update: To see even more examples of our Portulaca plants, click on the image below:
~Laura
Please note: As with many garden plants like azaleas, daylilies and begonias just to name a few, portulaca can be toxic to dogs and cats if swallowed. Please research your plants for toxicity if you have furry family members who enjoy being outside with you. The ASPCA has a great list here.
Anonymous says
July 10, 2012 at 2:57 amNeglect I can do! But do the bunnies like this? They are my biggest problem of keeping things growing after my neglect. I would love to try this if they didn’t bother it.
Laura/Pet Scribbles says
July 10, 2012 at 5:58 pmWe have seen bunnies around, and they don’t seem to bother our portulaca. We do have a pesky chipmunk, however, who insists on eating the flowers whenever he can. So we actually use a product called “Repels-All” and sprinkle it around all of our gardens. It is a natural product that keeps critters away with its scent. Bonide, the company that makes it, also has a formula for rabbits here: http://www.bonide.com/products/category.php?category_id=7
I hope this helps! Rabbits are cute, but NOT when they are ruining our gardens!
Laura/Pet Scribbles says
July 10, 2012 at 5:59 pmTake the link and copy & paste it into your browser, as I see it isn’t ‘clickable’ above.
http://www.bonide.com/products/category.php?category_id=7
Johnnie says
July 9, 2012 at 11:09 pmA beautiful plant that thrives on neglect? Yes please.
Laura/Pet Scribbles says
July 9, 2012 at 11:44 pmLOL That was exactly my initial response too, Johnnie!
T*V*T says
July 11, 2012 at 12:20 amUnfortunately, the single flower plant reminds me too much of a horrendous weed I can’t get rid of, purslane, so I don’t know if I could like them. The double flower one is pretty though.
Laura/Pet Scribbles says
July 11, 2012 at 12:42 amYes, I’ve heard of the wild form of Portulaca, which as you said is Purslane and can be invasive in some areas of the country. Dealing with any plant (weed or not!) that becomes invasive is a giant pain in the gardener’s behind!
Janette Johanson says
July 12, 2012 at 2:35 amI wonder if this is the same stuff I bought for my backyard around my tree- It looks so similar and I’m embarrassed to say that it has all died- probably the Texas heat, over watering or something. They are beautiful though! thank you for sharing on Show Us Your find! I hope I can try these again next spring.
Laura/Pet Scribbles says
July 12, 2012 at 1:30 pmOh no Janette! LOL You’ll have to try again maybe next year! 🙂 Thanks for letting me share on SUYF too!
gail@My Repurposed Life says
July 13, 2012 at 11:09 pmI love these flowers, but I have a shady flower garden.
Great tips! thanks for sharing!
gail
Laura/Pet Scribbles says
July 15, 2012 at 5:18 pmThanks for stopping by Gail! I can’t wait to start my shady flower garden on one side of our house. I bet yours is lovely!
Carrie says
August 30, 2012 at 5:34 pmThrives on neglect? Sign me up! My poor plants are wishing someone else had taken them home right about now. Thanks for linking up to last month’s Refresh My Nest and I hope you’ll stop by tomorrow for the Best of Summer party!
Laura / The Shed blog, by Pet Scribbles says
September 5, 2012 at 6:24 pmLOL Thanks for making me laugh out loud, Carrie! Thanks as well for the invitation to your Best of Summer blog link party too. I can’t believe it is September already!
Mary Ann Whitehead Overson says
June 24, 2013 at 3:50 pmWhen we first moved in to our home in Sandy, Utah, I had the darndest time getting anything to grow in our south-facing flower bed, rght next to the cement “porch” in front of our house. I found Portulaca at our local garden shop, and gave it a shot. My mom was horrified when she saw it: “it’s a noxious weed, and you’ll never get rid of it!” Well, of course I didn’t listen to her, and enjoyed the neverending bloom for the next five years, which, by the way, never took over my garden. I’m not sure what she was referring to, but it obviously wasn’t my moss roses. They stopped coming up upthe sixth year. I had amended the soil enough at that point to put in lemon thyme, rock flowers, and ornamental oat grass, and for color I would buy violets every year. I went back to my moss roses this year – they’re so beatiful, and EVERYONE comments on their beauty when they come to my home. Thank you for sharing your story! (& letting me tell much mine!)
Laura / The Shed by Pet Scribbles says
June 26, 2013 at 12:26 pmThanks so much for your story, Mary Ann! I was told similar things, that it’s a weed and will pop up everywhere. But to me, each time it DOES pop up somewhere new, I’m thrilled! 🙂 So far this year, because of all the rain, the portulaca hasn’t yet fully taken off and spread. But once it does, I look forward to the show…and the compliments from the neighbors too! I’d love to see pictures, so feel free to post them to my Facebook page (link is in the sidebar on the right!)
Laura Rhodes says
July 13, 2013 at 6:46 amLove your Portulaca blog post! I’m a newcomer to this flower and was introduced to them only recently and have fallen in love with them! I invite you to check out my post which includes my Portulacas and a link to your blog post! Blessings, Laura R.
http://rhodeskitchencreations.blogspot.com/2013/06/common-summer-flowers-from-rhodes-house.html
Laura / The Shed by Pet Scribbles says
August 7, 2013 at 5:51 pmThanks so much for linking back to my post here on Portulaca, Laura! I hope your readers find the info helpful! It’s such a pretty plant and I’m glad you are enjoying them in your own garden now with your other flowers!
Willow says
July 24, 2013 at 10:20 pmI’m going to try this in my gutter gardens. Nothing has grown successfully there. I’m starting to think that gutter gardens look best on Pintarest. I thought maybe this plant would survive there. Just found some 50% off today…so Portulacas it is!
Laura / The Shed by Pet Scribbles says
August 7, 2013 at 5:47 pmHope the Portulaca grows well for you! Let me know – and I’d love to see a picture of your gutter garden too!
Jane Doe says
September 20, 2013 at 1:37 amHi Laura,
I love the endless colors of Portulaca, especially double petal variety.I’m thinking of planting a variety of mixed colors in hanging baskets. Do you think it’s hardy enough to grow in desert heat of Arizona? Do they come back after the frost?
Laura / The Shed by Pet Scribbles says
September 22, 2013 at 10:25 pmI think your local nursery professionals will know best, in terms of whether or not portulaca comes back after frost in Arizona. My guess would be “yes” because it self-seeds easily. 🙂
Dolly says
August 1, 2014 at 1:18 amHi Laura, I really love these plants, can they survive indoors during the winter months?,they are so beautiful I hate to see them die off
Laura Kuhlmann says
August 1, 2014 at 11:58 amThanks Dolly! I haven’t personally tried to grow portulaca indoors, mainly because our Winter sun here in southern New Jersey (US) isn’t that strong. From what I’ve read online, for portulaca to grow indoors, it needs to be placed on a very sunny windowsill that remains bright most of the day. It’s worth a try! 🙂