How to grow Moss Rose (Portulaca Grandiflora)

Moss Rose or Portulaca Grandiflora is a perennial low-rise flowering plant which is ideal for small containers, ground covers and bordering. It comes in a variety of colors - pink, red, yellow, light pink, white etc. Pink is my favorite and is most readily seen in North Indian gardens. The best thing about the plant is that it flowers in abundance. If you are a flower lover, it would not disappoint you for a single day in its blooming period. It can grow upto around 8-10 inches in height. I particularly like to grow it in ground - around the base of big plants/trees or at the borders of the containers housing some other foliage plants.

Grown in a container with Yucca

I have a lot of childhood memories associated with this plant as it is the first flowering plant I grew as a kid. I remember the days when I used to sit around the plant waiting for buds to open in the morning. Some friend told me its called "Bichu Buti" (I really don't know if it is really called so because we were just kids at that time) but no one recognizes it with that name at the place I currently live in. Here the localites call it "Nau-bajia" (because the flowers open up around 9 AM).

Propagation

Grown in a shallow base container

It can be propagated using seeds but I would recommend to grow it using stem cuttings. Using stem cuttings, the success rate is nearly 100% and you can start getting flowers even the next day (in case they already have buds). 

I have tried growing using seeds, however the germination rate was low (I have never got much luck growing the plants with tiny seeds). Moreover, you need to wait for around 2 months in to see flowers. Instead if you use 4-5 cuttings in a small container, it would be full with foliage and flowers in a month or two.

Propagation using cuttings is so easy and simple that you can involve your kids too. My daughter really liked working with me on this. With the cuttings, you can never go wrong. Last year I took around 15-20 cuttings from my neighbor's garden - she actually just pulled a handful of the plants from ground. No matter whether it is pulled, cut or broken, it would still root - even without rooting hormone. Its perfectly alright to divide a single large cutting into multiple small sized cuttings to get multiple plants. Just dig tiny holes in the soil and stick the cutting in there and water it. In the span of month, the plants started producing around 15-30 flowers daily and it did so until the winters came.

Blooming Season

Moss rose is a perennial in India. It flowers profusely from spring till the start of winters. In winters, when sun does not show up, it would just go dormant; you can leave it there for the next season - it would not bloom but still would have green foliage. Once the spring hits, it would again start new growth and flowering. 

During dormancy, I like to keep my moss rose in a container so that I can use the same in spring. If you wish, you can grow it as an annual; however saving a few plants for next season is worth it.

Sunlight Requirements

The flowers would not open in low light. The blooms open as soon as the sun hits in the morning and would close in the evening. The flowers remain only for a single day but that's not a worry because there would be a lot of new buds waiting for the next day.

Water Requirements

Moss rose is drought tolerant. It does not require much water if grown in ground. It's quite hot here these days and I just water it once daily because mine are in shallow base containers.

Portulaca Grandiflora versus Portulaca Oleracea (Purslane)

Moss rose is sometimes confused with Purslane which has similar and equally beautiful flowers. They both are  low growing spreading plants and come in a variety of colors. You can tell the difference by looking at the leaves. Portulaca Grandiflora has needle shaped leaves whereas Purslane has flat leaves. Portulaca Grandiflora usually come in double flowers and Purslane in single.

Portulaca Grandiflora

Portulaca Oleracea