Moss Rose - Portulaca grandiflora Plant Profile
Facts on the Drought-Tolerant Succulent From the Purslane Family
May 12, 2009
Originally from South America, the Moss Rose (Portulaca grandiflora) is a cousin to the common weed, purslane. Which explains why the moss rose is completely at home in poor-soil areas where other beautiful blooming plants would otherwise perish.
Dry curb sides, abandoned lots, parking strips, and rock gardens are all situations where portulaca thrives. Although they do well in neglected soil, the moss rose livens up hanging baskets, banks, and garden edgings.
Portulaca has narrow, fleshy leaves that are up to an inch long. Low-growing and mat-forming, they act as a bright-green succulent background for the pure colors of their blooms.
The brilliant red, yellow, peach, white, orange, and rose flowers bring the areas they’re planted in to life. Moss roses are available in single or double-flowered varieties.
These annuals are easy keepers and don’t need much water once established although they need an even amount unlike other succulent species or cacti. They make ideal plants for gardens or yards in water-starved areas that benefit from drought-tolerant plants.
Meet the Moss Rose
- AKA: Rose Moss, Purslane
- Family: Portulacaceae
- Origination: South America
- Habit: Re-seeding annual
- Zones: All zones.
- Height: Grows to 6” inches tall.
- Spread: Trails to about 1 ½’ feet wide.
- Garden Specifics: Moss rose likes full sun and the heat as well as poor soil.
- Blooming Time: Blooms form late spring until frost. Colors are vivid and include, peach, red, pink, rose, white, yellow, and orange
- Propagation: Seeds
Tips for Planting
Moss roses can be planted as seedlings or from seed. If they’re started from seed, they need to have a chilling period for a week in the refrigerator. When the seeds are planted, they should be totally covered as they only sprout in total darkness.
This annual will re-seed by itself; however, the plants don’t always come true from cultivar seeds. It’s generally advised to either buy new seeds every year and start over or purchase more seedlings form a local nursery. When the moss roses become leggy in the late summer, cut them back a few inches to get another burst of blooms in the fall.
At the end of the growing season, which is around late fall for the moss rose, they are best removed and either replanted with new seedlings or seeds the next season or they may actually re-seed on their own. Self seeding can’t be relied upon, however, because often portulaca doesn’t come back true from seed.
In the warmest climates, gardeners are often tempted to leave them growing where they are and just cut them back: however this rarely works out to the gardener’s satisfaction. These annuals tend to look weedy in this situation even if they do manage to stay alive.
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