I think it's a little early, Rita. I don't see any coming up in my bed yet (zone 5b) either, but I'm sure there will be a lot by the end of May. You're one zone warmer, so maybe you'll see some by the end of April.
Do you plant Portulacas?
Thanks. I didn't have them before so wasn't sure when they might self sprout. I am planning on planting some in a spot were I didn't have them before so will need to at least buy some no matter what.
I still don't see any signs of seedlings. Meantime I bought two flats of Sun Dial Mix Portulacas today so I can plant them in a spot I didn't have them last year. They have flower heads but no blooms on them yet so I am not getting the usual instant gratification of blooming annuals I usually get. Guess I just have to wait.
I hadn't seen any sign of seedlings either, Rita, but I just checked, and sure enough, there are a few small starts poking up. I'll bet you'll have some soon.
They aren't usually good at showing early when it's still on the cool side. My in situ sowed seeds tended to not show until the cool temps gave way to consistant warm temps. I think for northern growers that buying plants is probably the right move if you don't have long drawn out summers like we do down south. My growing season starts a bit earlier and is pretty extended on many things. My Crystal Palace lobelia and Linaria were also early summer starters who then hung out till the first hard frost.
I went and got down on my knees and really, really looked in the areas that I had the portulacas planted last year. Not a hint of a seedling. This is never going to work, even if some show up I can't wait until August for plants to get large enough to bloom. The reason I go with annuals is to have bloom all season and I need it to start in May. So I will end up buying more portulacas.
Meanwhile, today I planted the two flats I bought yesterday. They are going to look really really nice as I have an area about two foot wide by 11 foot long that is in front of another gardenbed and I planted that area all with portulacas. Will give me color all year until frost.
The rest of them I put out in my front yard around some upright sedum plants. I think it will look really great blooming there.
Mine never reseeded and I let plenty go to seed. I did collect seed and sowed it where I wanted it outside once it warmed up. You'd think with all the seed they produce and scatter when the pods bust that they would but I've never had it happen even with mild winters.
Did you ever find seedlings, Rita? Here are my volunteers from last year.
No. I never got seedlings. Good thing I bought flats of new plants and planted them. I do just love the flowers. They are so pretty.
I found a few pots of solid pink color at a nursery about 20 plus miles from here and put them into pots. They have done amazing. I'm going to leave them in those pots over the winter and see what happens next spring, if they'll reseed themselves. What do I have to lose? In the meantime, I'll search the internet for less expensive seed pkt. of the solid color. If all else fails, I break down and pay Stoke's price. (MAYBE!) At that price, they better d*** grow!
Gosh, I can't believe this old thread from 2010 is here on page one still.
I still love Portulacas and intend to plant them again in the area I had them in last summer which is the mid section of the bottom terrace of my terraces garden. They bloomed all summer there and of course never seem to need any special care. I love the vivid colors of the flowers all mixed together.
Meredith79, it's been two years, so I don't know if you're still trying, but I had the same problem last year. My portulaca sprouted but sat there at 1/2 inch. Didn't move. Someone from Dave's Garden advised me to be careful about watering, because they like dry conditions. This year I didn't plant until the weather was warm. And I moved the flat indoors when we had one of our many, many rains. I think the advice is good. They're doing well.
LAS
I planted Portulacas again this year same place as I had them last year. We have have a lot of rain so it is good they are in a spot with great drainage. Such pretty little things.
I have been growing portulaca from seeds in an old cracked, bird bath that doesn't hold water for last 2 years. This year I bought a small bag of coir and used it and those portulaca's have been so slow growing. Don't like the coir..will not use it again, as it dries out too quickly. Maybe I was supposed to add the coir with other potting mix? Couln't read all the fine print on the bag. I thought it was supposed to be used like soil..Guess I should research it better on the internet. I sprinkled the portulaca seeds with a tad of sugar as they are so fine..would do that again but I think I've only had one bloom so far..
I saw somebody's pictures of a beautiful apricot color portulaca that I plan to order those seeds next year. I always buy the double flowered ones..variety of colors and they usually do really well. Guess it was the coir and I watered them every day or every other day because of the dryness of the coir.
Jill, I think I read that you use coir..what's your secret to using it?
I had trouble using a bag of coir as a seed starting mix. I read online, including on DG, that some brands of coir are too salty and you need to rinse it several times before using it.
Here is a DG discussion about seedlings in coir:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1127572/
It IS about seedlings, though, not transplants.
This message was edited Jul 6, 2012 10:57 AM
I too used coir this year, from several sources and with mixed results. In some cases things grew OK, but I'm used to mass market fert added mixes, so didn't fertilize enough. In other cases, the seedlings seemed stunted, and the roots looked almost burned. I liked the ease of use, as I start my seeds in a city window and it was much neater to just add water to the blocks, but if I have to rinse and rinse, it's not worth the trouble.
I have a few portulacas from nursery 6- packs this year. Perfect timing I guess, as we've had record highs and not so much water lately. They've only been in a couple of weeks, but seem happy-- good soil, excellent drainage, and dry conditions.
My mother has pots of moss rose for probably the past 20 years and I don't think she has actually bought any in all that time. I collected seeds the first few years and scattered them into all her pots... they have continued to reseed since then. She just makes sure to water and ferterlize all the pots well starting in the spring. There are always a few that come up... it sometimes takes a month or two into the season to get them going but they eventually always appear as long as she keeps the pots watered. She also plants other things in the pots but has to carefully watch to make sure she does not disturb any that have started growing.... they are so teeny tiny when they start it is easy to miss them and kill them.
I'm a little late coming to this discussion, but I've got something to add about slow growing / non blooming portulacas from seed. Portulaca is very sensitive to day length, which can make it tricky to start from seed in the North.
Here's some info from a PanAm seed grower fact sheet for the Margarita variety:
Photoperiod
Portulaca is sensitive to short days, even during the plug stage. When daylength is shorter than critical,
plants can rosette (stop growing without flowering). Once plants rosette, they will not recover even when
given long day treatment. To prevent plants from rosetting, sow seed when the natural daylength is longer than 11 hours for Margarita. If sowing earlier than suggested here, provide long day conditions (daylength extension to
12 to 13 hours) during all phases of production until critical natural daylength is achieved.
I hope this helps anyone starting portulacas from seed, which I do myself - I love them!
I'm hoping to add a few this year myself.
I grow under T5 lights, have them on 14-16 hours a day. I know that's not the same as daylight, but will they?
Pam
