purslane...

hi all,
i bought a ton of purslane in all colors in late spring and up to just a few weeks ago...i love this plant....last year, they all bloomed unti the first cool weather and died in the first freeze...

in recent days, they all seemed to have quit blooming heavily...any suggestions as to why? i thought they always bloomed thru most of the hot weather?

do they bloom in cycles? if i am patient, can i expect to see them again? or should i deadhead old blooms or pinch off some growth?

i'm really disappointed because i lined my back fence with them in all colors to decorate for a party we're having in late august...did i make a bad decision?

should i try miracle grow?

thanks in advance...

I think you will see them again. One plant puts out hundreds of thousands of seeds and they remain viable for decades. I have a 30 x 40 garden in which any area not shaded by vegetable crops is taken over by purslane. Some people do not like it but its worked for me as a mulch to keep down (eradicate almost) grasses which are hard to remove. The purslane we either eat or make into compost.

Interesting to watch it grow on the sides of double dug beds. It thrives in the dry soil on the side of the bed but doesn't intrude much into the bed and the slightest shade cuts it back to almost nothing.

Great for poultry too. High in Omega 3,

My experience with purslane is that a good haircut will often result in new growth with nice blooms. It doesn't respond particularly well to fertilization because it typically flourishes in the wild in poor soil.

oh goodie, i was hoping you'd say that...
it was just weird that they all stopped blooming within a few days of each other, even though i bought them at different nurseries and at different times of the season...

i'm going to give them the ol' snip snip and see if that brings them back to life!

thanks y'all

ps- if anyone else comes along and reads this post, please post your experience with purslane too...thanks!

We have a lot of deer that love to munch on my purslane and right now they have eaten it down to the nub. lol If we ever get rain maybe the deer will look elsewhere for munchies and my purslane will come back out and look pretty during the fall. Mine reseeds and comes back on its own every year. I have white, pink, and yellow. I love the stuff. ;)
I also love Moss Rose and have some of that in a pretty ruffled yellow.
Lin

I'm new to gardening and discovered these guys last year...awesome plant...you can't mess them up...then this year, i discovered these beauties too: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/67558/ and i bought some in every color they had...they are almost fluorescent/dayglow in the sunshine - they are spectacular in hanging baskets along my fence with the regular purslane in between...

i hope they all start blooming again before the party...who needs balloons and streamers when you have mother nature's works of art?

Purslane can take over a garden so consider the furture before planting it:

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7461.html