Purslane - planting seeds and caring for flowering carpet in the open ground and on the windowsill

Purslane is a photophilous flower, usually grown in an annual culture. The best place to land is open, warm and sunny. This low plant, so beloved by landscape designers and summer residents, will create a flowering carpet on the ground with proper care. It is able to bloom from June to the very frosts. This succulent is grown on flowerbeds, borders, southern balconies and slopes of the Alpine hills, and, of course, on windows in the summer season.

Features of growing in balcony flower pots and in open ground

Purslane came to Europe, and then to Russia from the countries of South and North America. In warmer climates, with mild winters, purslane often become weeds, propagating self-seeding. The name portulac comes from the Latin portula - which means "gate". This is due to the fact that the seed box opens in this way: gate leaves, only very small.

Purslane seed box opens as a collar, which gave the name to the plant

Purslane are popularly called a rug, because it really rarely grows above 15 centimeters in height, preferring to spread along the surface of the earth. Purslane grows well in a room only in very bright light, preferring southern windows and direct sunlight. It can grow in the winter in a room, but with a lack of light it stretches out and does not bloom, so it is necessary to use additional illumination, best of all with special fitolamps.

Purslane is often called a rug for its ability to densely spread along the ground

This is an annual plant with a spindle-shaped and branched root. The stem is brown, branched, fleshy. The leaves are small, in shape resembling a flattened egg, fleshy. Blooms in June with small flowers appearing in the branches of the stem. Each flower is kept open for only 1 day, then dies.

Purslane is used as a side dish for meat and fish dishes, frying or stewing young stems with the addition of vegetable oil, garlic, vinegar or fried onions. It is a healthy vegetable, easy to grow and rich in trace elements.

Purslane is eaten both raw and stewed or boiled

But most often, purslane is bred as an ornamental plant. In areas it is planted on sunny Alpine hills, as bright spots in the flowerbed.

Purslane in the flower bed goes very well with decorative foliage plants

In apartment-type houses, Purslane is an excellent solution for hot and southern balconies, where ordinary plants burn from excess sun and heat. It is better for them to admire close, and thanks to strongly branched stems it is planted in hanging baskets.

Purslane is often planted in balcony boxes

Annual or perennial - which is better

Large-flowered purslane is most often grown in an annual culture; it is a decorative flower with a wide variety of shades of flowers. They can be white, red, scarlet, yellow, orange, simple and terry.

There are also perennial varieties of purslane, but in the open ground due to the cold and snowy winters they can be grown in our conditions only as annuals. Ampel varieties of Purslane are most often considered perennials, they can be grown in hanging pots, and in the winter they can be brought into a warm room - an apartment or a house, limiting food from September to March and keeping the soil moist. In the spring, such a plant begins to intensely feed and cuttings or simply cut, stimulating the growth of new shoots or rooting cuttings to obtain new bushes.

In places with a warm winter, where the temperature does not drop below +10, the purslane hibernates itself.

Garden Purslane often grows like a weed, but is very useful in the diet.

Purslane garden - the stem length is up to 60 cm, the flowers are small, yellow, not of value. It is rich in vitamins A, C, E, PP, contains carbohydrates, proteins, carotene. It quenches thirst, has a positive effect on mood. For therapeutic purposes, it is used to lower cholesterol and blood sugar, with insomnia and liver diseases. Young leaves and shoots are eaten, eating them fresh, boiled or canning them. Very often it is the vegetable garden purslane that grows like a weed, propagating by self-sowing.

Air marshmallows and other varieties of purslane

A wide variety of decorative varieties is presented on the market - there are those that require maximum light and those that can bloom in the shade, annual and perennial, with simple flowers and terry, and even a mixture of varieties, for those who can not decide. Here is a description of the most common varieties, but breeders are constantly breeding new ones.

• Long summer is an improved version of terry purslane, characterized by a longer and more abundant flowering. Plant height up to 15 cm, blooms only on clear and sunny days, dissolving flowers of the most varied colors, reaching a diameter of 5 cm.
• A merry round dance is a terry purslane, whose flowers bloom even on cloudy days. Flower with a diameter of up to 5 cm, various colors. Suitable for ampel growing, borders, balcony boxes.
• The coral reef is an annual purslane up to 15 cm high. The diameter of the semi-double flowers is 4 cm; the color is coral. It can grow even on the most meager and poorer land, on sandy or rocky soils with minimal watering.
• Cream F1 - an annual variety of purslane with double flowers of cream color. Very beautiful, with strong growth energy, grows better on poor and sandy soils. Indispensable in ampel culture.
• Cherry is a terry purslane that blooms only in sunny weather. Plant height 12 cm, spreads well, flowers up to 5 cm in diameter, cherry color. Very photophilous, does not bloom even at the slightest shading. Prefers to grow on sandy and dry sandy soils.
• Pink terry - purslane height up to 10 cm, stems grow up to 30 cm, branches well, forming a dense rug. Flowers up to 5 cm in diameter, terry. Well suited for balconies, potting.
• Solar Princess - a mixture of seeds from the agricultural company Gavrish - includes terry, semi-double and simple varieties of various colors, can grow in a sunny, but damp and cool climate. It grows well on poor and stony soils, even without top dressing. Planted in flowerpots, on curbs, alpine slides.
• Terry orange - blossoms flowers even in cloudy weather. The plant is low, only 10-15 cm, flower diameter up to 5 cm bright orange. Terry. Resistant to pests and diseases. Can be used for potting, on sunny balconies in drawers.
• Scheherazade is a large-flowered purslane, non-terry, with a flower diameter of up to 4 cm. It opens only on sunny days. Blooms in July. Suitable for growing in containers, pots.
• Happy Traels F1 - yellow, orange, pink or red-white striped double flowers, up to 23 cm high, forms a rug up to 45 cm in diameter. It is better to plant on flowerbeds, slides, in containers.
• Lucky event - large-flowered, two-color, terry. The color of the petals is white-pink, the stem is light green, up to 25 cm high. It looks very nice in balcony drawers, flower beds, flower beds, but it blooms only in sunny weather.
• Pink haze - the flowers are original, double and semi-double, pale pink, very reminiscent of roses. It grows well in width, forming a spot about 40 cm in diameter. It grows well on sandy, rocky and poor soils with minimal watering. A very good option for ampel landings.
• Tequila Cherry F1 and Tequila White F1 - hybrids with strong growth energy grow rapidly, forming a rug up to 40 cm in diameter. They grow even in humid climates, on the poorest soils with virtually no watering. Terry flowers, up to 5 cm.
• Purslane Sunny is an annual plant, up to 10 cm high. The flowers are yellow, up to 4 cm in diameter, open only in sunny weather. It is undemanding to the soil. It is advisable to land on the southern slopes of stony hills.
• Air marshmallow - an annual plant that grows in height by only 10 cm, spreads well. Terry flowers of various colors: pink, orange, red, white, lilac, with a diameter of 4 to 6 cm. Can grow on ordinary garden soil, in flowerbeds, on balconies, in flowerpots.
• Sunglo is a perennial purslane with the largest flowers that do not close even in cloudy weather.

Photo gallery: varieties of flowering purslane

A large selection of varieties allows you to choose exactly the one that the gardener likes both in terms of size of flowers and color. Although the decorative purslane loves the sun, there are varieties that bloom in partial shade.

How to propagate a purslane

Decorative purslane can be propagated by seeds and cuttings. In regions where winters are warm and summers are long, purslane can produce full-fledged seeds and spring itself.

Garden Purslane propagates by self-sowing; you can do nothing on purpose.

Propagation of terry varieties by cuttings

Beautiful hybrid varieties of purslane cannot be propagated by seeds, since they will not transmit maternal genes, therefore such a purslane is propagated by cuttings:

1. A cut of a branch of a branch, 10-15 cm long, is cut from the plant.
2. Slightly dry the slice and remove the leaves at a distance of 2-3 cm from it.
3. The cuttings are placed in water or in wet sand.
4. In dry and hot weather, you can cover the stalk with a transparent bag or spray the stalk with water.
5. Put rooted plants in a bright place.

Usually new roots appear within a few weeks. And they are transplanted several pieces in a permanent place or in seedlings.

Sowing seeds for seedlings

To get flowering bushes in June and enjoy their beauty longer, seeds are sown on seedlings in mid-March. Light and heat (22 degrees and above) are very important for young plants.

Soil for seedlings is selected light, preferably without adding peat, which reduces seed germination. Therefore, it is better to use turf and sheet soil with the addition of ¼ of the washed sand.

If there is no way to make your soil, then buy a ready-made mixture for cacti or succulents

Capacity for landing choose wide, with drainage holes. Small expanded clay or gravel, up to 1 cm high, is necessarily poured at the bottom of the pot. This is due to the fact that the purslane tolerates a lack of moisture more easily than its excess, for proper circulation in the container there must be good drainage.

The sequence of actions for growing seedlings:

1. They fill the earth into a tank and moisten it well with rain or melt water. If this is not, then you can use water that has previously settled.
2. Purslane seeds are small, like a poppy seed, they are sown so that the distance between them was 1 cm, slightly pushing into the soil to a depth of 0.5 cm.
3. The pot is covered with a film on top and placed in a warm place, with a temperature not lower than 22 degrees, but better - 30 degrees. It is desirable that the pot stood in the light.
4. When condensation accumulates on the film, you need to ventilate the greenhouse at least 1 time per day.
5. The first shoots of purslane may appear already on the 7th day. Usually the purslane emerges amicably, it is immediately rearranged on a sunny and warm window sill, the film is removed.
6. The grown seedlings with 1-2 real leaves dive into individual pots. The earth can be sprinkled with cotyledon leaves.
7. To grow strong seedlings of purslane, you need to provide it with plenty of sunlight, heat and moisture, otherwise it stretches out. You can illuminate the seedlings in the morning, in the evening, and in cloudy weather - all day.
8. Well-growing seedlings require top dressing at least 1 time per week. At this stage of growth, you can use universal mineral fertilizer.

Video - how to sow purslane with double flowers for seedlings

Although purslane is distinguished by its good seed hardness, there are times when purchased hybrid terry varieties in bags sprout poorly. In order to preserve the plants that are expensive, in the future it is better to propagate them with cuttings.

Sowing directly into the ground

In regions with early spring and long summer, you can plant purslane with seeds directly into the ground:

1. Delicate shoots of purslane may die even with slight frosts, and at +10⁰ air already stop growing, so you should not rush into the landings and be sure to cover them with a film for the night.
2. They dig up a bed for purslane, mix the upper layer of earth with sand and moisten it.
3. The seeds are mixed with sand and scattered over the surface of the soil and lightly pressed.
4. Water regularly as the soil dries (on sunny days, 1-2 times a week).
5. In case of uneven germination, the grown seedlings with 1-2 real leaves dive and plant. The earth can be sprinkled with cotyledon leaves.
6. Feed young sprouts 1 time per week, after a month - 1 time in 14 days.

Planting seedlings in the ground

Grown seedlings are planted in a permanent place after the threat of return frosts. The air temperature at night should be more than 10 degrees heat. In central Russia, this is the end of May and the beginning of June, in the more northern regions - after June 12, and in the south of Russia - in early May.

Be sure to a week before landing in the soil seedlings seedlings hardened and accustomed to the sun. Hardening can be carried out on the balcony, if there is no way to take the seedlings to the garden or cottage.

1. The first time the seedlings are taken out for 15 minutes and placed in a lighted place.
2. Then they bring it back into the house.
3. Gradually increase the time spent in the open air to 5-6 hours.
4. When planting, the distance between plants should be 15-20 cm. The elongated seedlings can be slightly buried in the ground.
   

   Purslane is planted in the ground with steady heat (soil +10)

A good seedling is a plant with 10 formed leaves and buds.

Where and in what soil is it best to plant a flower

Purslane loves the sun. He is not afraid of even the very hot rays of the southern regions. Where other plants burn, purslane blooms with bright colors. Therefore, the best place is the southern slope of the Alpine hills, along paths, borders or in separate flowerbeds on the lawn. If you plant a purslane in the shade, then you can’t wait for the flowers, but the selected flower variety will also have an effect.

Purslane is undemanding to the soil, on well-fertilized soils it grows quickly and occupies a large surface, but flowering can be weak. To properly care, place it on lighter, sandy or even rocky soils where purslane blooms luxuriantly and abundantly..

It is advisable that the purslane does not flood with rainwater.

Purslane care in the open ground

In summer, on hot and sunny days, a purslane must be watered, preferably 1-2 times a week with warm water. Purslane is undemanding to top dressing, but modern varieties respond very well to mineral fertilizers, which can be applied 2-3 times during the summer.

Purslane framing the stones of the path is very beautiful.

The first flowers bloom, after 6-7 weeks from seedlings. Each flower lives only 1 day, then closes and dies.While the bush is still small, this is noticeable, but when the purslane grows to the state of a dense rug, the flowers bloom constantly in large numbers and it seems that they do not fade at all.

The flower blooms for a day, at sunset the bud closes

How to collect seeds

Since a new bud opens every day, the seeds ripen unevenly. Remove the petals from the pollinated flower and observe the seed box. About two weeks after pollination, it will turn brown and open, scattering seeds around it. Do not miss this moment if you want to collect them. In the fall, seed ripening takes longer. Harvested seeds retain germination for 3 years, but before sowing their seeds must lie down for at least 3-4 months.

The collected seeds from terry varieties for the next year can give simple flowers. That is why it is better to propagate them with cuttings, taking the best plants for the winter.

How can you save purslane in winter

As a rule, purslane seeds, especially terry seeds, are not sown in winter. But in the flower beds where the meadow of the purslane flaunted the previous summer, young shoots can be found in spring. Usually from them grow plants with simple (non-double) flowers.

1. At the end of summer, dig up the whole mother plant.
2. For the winter, clean in a bright and cool place (temperature about 15-18 degrees).
3. Water periodically, do not feed, which will allow you to save and propagate your favorite variety in spring.
4. After warming, cuttings of 5-10 cm are cut from it and picking off the lower leaves, they are planted in boxes or pots for rooting.

How to grow purslac in winter

Due to snowy and frosty winters, purslane does not winter in the open ground. Especially valuable specimens can be dug up and transplanted into a pot, you can collect cuttings from the plant at the end of the summer and root them. In winter, such plants are stored in a bright room at a temperature of + 15 ... +18 degrees, but you can put it on the southern windowsill, lighting up the purslane in the evenings, then it will continue to bloom until spring, that is, grow as a perennial.

Especially liked bushes of Purslane can be dug up and taken home

Garden portulak propagates well by self-sowing, so they do not dig a bed with it for the winter.

If the purslane does not bloom

The most common reason for the lack of flowering is the wrong choice of place for planting, with the absence or lack of sunlight. In this case, the purslane will be frail, the stems are thin, and flowering may not occur.

The second reason for the lack of flowering is too fertile land. Purslane is building up green mass, it’s good for him, he eats and therefore does not give flowers. If you plan to grow a plant there constantly, you can add sand and small pebbles before planting and dig it up.

Room purslane (on windows and balconies)

Purslane can be grown not only in the garden, but also in the apartment. It is better to choose beautiful terry varieties that bloom even in cloudy weather (Pink Terry, Orange, Sunglo).

Conditions of detention - table

For potted crops, purslane is best grown as a succulent, acquiring the appropriate soil: loose, breathable and without peat. At the bottom of the pots must be put drainage.

You can grow through seedlings, replanting then in a small container or pot. Moreover, you can plant several bushes at once, and if you take seeds for sowing not just one color, but with a mixture, then the home flower bed will be very bright and varied.

Purslane can be grown on the window, planting several plants at once in one pot

It is important to remember that this is a sunny flower and only the southern windowsill or balcony is suitable for it. If the windows are on other sides of the world, and you want to grow beautiful flowers - be prepared to regularly light up the purslane and additionally look after it.

In the summer months, purslane can be fed once a month for lush flowering, by the fall, top dressing is removed, long stems can be cut, and the pot can be rearranged to a cooler place.

I chick them and leave them cool, in the spring they wake up. In general, you can update the cuttings all year round and keep them growing. Only in winter there is practically no flowering.

A-dav//forum-flower.ru/showthread.php?t=143

In the spring, the bush wakes up and blooms with renewed vigor.

Florist reviews

I once saw him at the neighbors in the country and it was love at first sight. She asked for seeds, sowed once, and now, from year to year, this cute flower sows itself in the same places in the garden. The land in my garden is sandy, the purslane loves this. My mother had clay earth in the garden, the purslane didn’t take root there, and didn’t grow, no matter how much they sowed. I have completely different colors: pink, orange, yellow, red, white. Flowers are simple and semi-double. I never water it on purpose, it rains, it doesn’t feed, I don’t loosen it. Just admire it. In October, I plant several bushes in a pot, and the purslane blooms in my house on the window until spring. Continues to please me. His roots are very small, so any small pot and a bright sunny place on the window will do.

Tanyusha sovechitsa//irecommend.ru/content/ocharovatelnaya-prostota-0

I bought various flower seeds, among them was PORTULAC. Judging by the picture, the flowers should have been large and beautiful. They are sown easily. Just moist soil is sprinkled with seeds and rammed a little. There are a lot of seeds in a bag (pieces 30-40). Therefore, I was sure that at least five, but it would come up. 3 weeks passed, only one came up, and then a little one at all. I watered them with EPIN, but nothing (((Portulak large-flowered Terry mixture "Seeds for Siberia"

kemmirra//irecommend.ru/content/rukhnuli-moi-nadezhdy

I bought the seeds of the "rug" in spring, 3 packs at once. The fabulous flowers are directly pictured in the picture, I think I will sow and return to childhood, I will have a flowerbed like my mother. Sowed, covered with a film, watered with a spray gun. Shoots appeared early, but in the amount of only 5 pieces, although there was a fair amount of seeds. In general, although I took care of the seeds and seedlings, the result was scarce to say a little. I don’t exclude that I came across low-quality seeds, perhaps the store violated storage rules. Especially before that the Russian Garden took seeds, the normal percentage of germination was.

Xanteepa//irecommend.ru/content/neodnoznachnye-chuvstva-3

I planted my rug five years ago. I just stuck a few twigs into the ground, watered it well, and after a few days they took root and started growing). A month later, flowers appeared ... in the spring I found many young sprouts with leaf-needles, the plant gave abundant self-seeding. Now the purslane ... even sprouted on the path, through the cracks in the stones. Purslane units also break out of the site and attack neighbors' yards: D Also, my Purslane units mutate and I have shapes and colors that I didn’t have, for example, striped, speckled or different colors.

Le-no4ka92//irecommend.ru/content/tsvetok-zavoevatel

Purslane is an excellent plant for sunny places: windows, balconies, flower beds, alpine hills. It is low and will not block other plants. It is valued for bright flowers and dense shoots, due to its unpretentiousness it is easy to care for and get seeds, so that next year your site or balcony looks just as beautiful.