PlantFiles: Moss Rose, Rose Moss
Portulaca grandiflora

One of the easiest plants I have grown in Las Vegas! Loves heat and can tolerate my once a week watering schedule growing from a container on my balcony. It receives west/southern exposure on sun and blooms profusely attracting bees in the morning before it gets too hot. I treat it as an annual but it will come back if left over winter. If growing in an irrigated area, it can be left to naturalize and re-seed. The next years growth becomes weedier looking with less infrequent blooms. I prefer to pull the moss rose out for fall and winter to plant pansies/sweet allysum for cool season color in the winter gardening season.

I am new to the Black Hills of South Dakota and found my previous home owner had planted "something" in her rose bed. I hoed and hoed this prolific weed until I was weary and admitted defeat, and now the moss rose are blooming and brilliant beneath the roses at rest, between bloom cycles.
This was one of those experiences that teach me something when I finally give up.
In South Dakota the moss rose will definitely be an annual, but "persistent" has new meaning here.

Great plant that thrives under direct sunlight. I planted them both at my preschool (I'm a teacher) in plastic containers with potting soil and also at my house directly in the ground with hard clay dirt. While it seemed to really flourish in the pots, they also do pretty well in the crummy soil as long as there is a lot of light. Obviously they do better with little water.

However, when it starts to get colder, the flowers retreat and the plant itself looks less than stellar and turns into a more faded, sickly version of itself. I live in Los Angeles, California where it really doesn't get THAT cold, so it seems to me that these plants strongly need the hot weather to do well. I still love them, though. They add a vibrant punch of color to my xeriscape gardening experiment.

My daughter and I planted these seeds in late april and now we finally have one flower and quite a few buds. The flowers are very pretty and I am looking forward to seeing more blooms over the next few days.

What a refreshing rainbow of colors in mid summer! Most definately reseeds itself, at least here. Silly me, I purchased a couple of pots this spring not realizing it had already started coming up...after a few weeks I had color everywhere!!

First planted this little gem in 2006 in my front, dry, sunny flower bed. It did very well and spread very fast. Found I had to water from underneath or it would ruin the pretty little flowers. I was very surprised to find it coming up all over my flower bed this spring. It has seft seeded itself so much that I will have to thin them out a bit. Love the leaves as much as the flowers.

I recall that this was a plant you could depend upon to self seed in gravel or dry soil. However, the ones I have grown from purchased plants, not seeds, have limped along, and not self seeded. A new acquaintance recently told me a similar tale so I am on a search for the best type to plant either from seeds (most likely) or plants (what will be available.)

An excellent, humble and hardy plant ever ready to cheer you up in the hottest of summers that continues to flower well into October in New Delhi (zone 10 a).

I first used it in an extensive manner in my driveway border bedding this summer for lack of anything else to use in a hurry while landscaping was in progress. It gave a beautiful dense bright magenta and green carpet that overflows and softens the stone edges of the grassy knoll border. Even when the flowers close up in the late afternoons or when it is cloudy, it adds texture and points of color. (Uploading image )

I have also naturalized portulacas it in my meditation garden where it is appropriately growing between rock outcrops which are used for seating. (Uploading image).

I see some gardners have found the spent flowers untidy--if you plant these in masses, the dry flower heads are not so conspicuous and do not require as much attention.

All in all--Portulacca is a friendly tribe indeed!

Love the bright colors. Always a surprise. Grow in pots in the sun, here in Georgia

Love it! Always in bloom and easy to care for. Grows well in the Panhandle of Florida.

Super easy to grow and so colorful. Nice border plant, very drought tolerant. Can also be easily propagated by breaking off pieces and sticking them in moist soil.

I'm sorry to be the first to host a negative on this plant but I find it hard to grow. I have tried it numerous times and each time have failed.

I have always loved these, but never knew until this year that the deer love them too! They have passed over many other things in my garden, but ate both the single-flowered purslane and the double-flowered portulaca right down to the ground. They pulled portulaca plants out of a container, eating some and leaving some just lying there; (hoof marks all around - no doubt it was deer).

Moss roses are hugely popular here in Salt Lake City, where temperatures lately have been up to 105 and the sun is intense (4200 ft altitude with a hole in the ozone right over us). I have a new bunch in a bed by the edge of my driveway; some by the edge, some next to rocks. They get hours and hours of full sun and look fresh and beautiful day after day. They're stunningly resilient; the lawn guy threw two heavy bags of soil amendment on top of a couple of them yesterday and today they're standing up unscathed (they were at the edge of a rock, which gave them a little room, and had mulch to sink into, but they were lying down flat). I do mulch them because it gets so hot here and is very dry and the soil is clay--it bakes fast. It's rather alkaline, too, and these plants thrive in it. And those exquisite blossoms are such a gift.

When I first planted this, I wasn't familiar with its water needs and almost killed it, thinking it was hardier than it is. Once I got past that it needed more than I was giving it, it started blooming and growing like crazy. I have one area in the ground that gets full sun, and is not on drip, so I water once in the morning and once at dusk. Right after the a.m watering the blooms open for a few hours, and are gorgeous. Same with the potted one, which is now starting to drape down the sides of the pot. I will be planting more of these all around my house! Love them!!

I was never a portulaca fan because I thought the succulent spiny foliage looked odd mixed with the rest of my garden. But someone bought me some so I planted it. I still don't like the foliage but the flowers are pretty. Although they sometimes bend their heads so that the flowers are hard to see. that is why it is best (very low growing and flowers hand downward) for haning baskets/pots or rock gardens or perhaps borders. What I wound up liking about this plant is the range of colors and their brilliance and variation. Many are splashed and streaked with different colors and sometimes you see colors very unique to portulacas in a mix. One "elusive" flower color that you can't find everywhere and that I found in my mix was a salmon one. Very pretty. It even had some magenta and yellow striping on the backs and tips of the petals. Though I still probably wouldn't plan to grow it myself I may save some of the salmon seeds to plants just because I love (salmon) that color. Also in my mix seems to be a very vivid magenta and a blush white/rose/cream color with rose markings. The mix is pretty together but since i love salmon and it is ahard to find color that's the one I like the best. I may have 'sundial mix' .... I hear portulaca is drought tolerant but in NJ this is rarely a need/problem. It would probably be a blessed advantage in a dry place and where you didn't want to water your annuals every day! BTW put it in a place where you don't brush by it very often. Since the stems are succulent and hang they break very easily. :)

These are tough little annuals. I grew them in containers during a hot, dry summer when a severe infestation of grasshoppers devoured just about everything else. Their fleshy, succulent stems allow them to store water, so they don't need as much attention as leafy plants. Grasshoppers also ignore them because they're hard to chew. The blooms were colourful and really brightened up my patio.

In the ground, I found they self-seeded and produced some new plants the following year. I've also grown them in a container, surrounding a clump of purple fountain grass. It was a winning combination!

I love these little flowers. One of the first things we planted this year. I have mine in pots on my front porch. Makes me feel like I really can grow something! They are beautiful and such a happy looking flower. My porch is east facing and gets a good amount of morning sun. When in a pot they do need a drink of water daily in my neck of the woods.

I tried to grow these one time on a rock-wall that I had just built of loose boulders with a back-fill of a clay-like soil. I was trying differnt plants to see what might hold the soil, as it would wash between the rocks in a heavy rain. They did very well at first, but started to decline. I think they need a little more moisture now and then in a very dry climate. These where planted in the hottest part of the yard with a direct southern exposure, and too far for the hose to reach, so they got Very little water. I thought they might do well if they were anything like the wild purslane which growes as a small weed in town between cracks in the sidewalks. And boy does that little weed grow in any nook and cranny it finds! It looks like moss rose as far as the leaves, but the flowers are tiny little yellow things you can barely see. As far as someone asking about what it tastes like, because the birds like it so much, I do know the wild form is supposed to be edible, but I don't know about moss rose. Anyway, they are really pretty and for me, worth trying again

We have this growing in a sandy island in our parking lot (ugh, apartments) and it is doing great! It's so nice having some color out there, and having a plant that doesn't interfere with being able to see if there are kids when pulling in or out of the parking lot.

Around May of this year, I had turned the soil (very sandy) since maintenance had taken out a dead evergreen bush, and these came up as volunteers. I really have no idea where they came from, but a local nursery sells them for $6 for a large pot. I'm very pleased that these came from seemingly nowhere, and will work hard to keep them coming back.

I just love this plant! Mine are planted in a raised bed that stays constantly moist and has part sun and part shade. They have exploded into an aray of colors. I do collect some of the seeds to share with friends, however most fall to the ground. In 2 years with no special treatment, they have returned and spread to cover my beds. They make great ground cover for the clematis. If you break off a stem, just put it in water and re-plant. Most enjoyable in the mornings.

I love this plant! It seems to be the only thing I can grow, because my thumb has never turned the right shade of green, but it grows beautifully in Fort Worth, Texas. Only thing seems to be that the birds are eating it! I've never seen birds act like this before, maybe because I have cats, but even still... its a beautiful flowering plant loved by all, including the birds. :)

I live outside St. Louis and these do very well. I had a small area of mixed colors last year in a front bed. This year I have them all over in a back bed. I did not plant any in the back. I am just digging them up and planting them where I want them. I let them bloom (so I know what color they are) and then transplant. They do very well in this area, and in pots.

This is one of my favorite plants. I wasn't sure how they would do at first so I put them in containers, but now that they are doing so well, even when i don't get to watering them, i have been takeing cuttings and just sticking them right in the beds outside and now I have them hanging in containers as well as growing amongst my taller shrubs and daisys. I have noticed that they bloom much more after deadheading but they do just fine either way. also my sisterinlaw cant keep anything alive and i made up a pot of these and they are thriveing at her house.

I don't think I could enjoy a summer season without the lovely flowers of Moss Rose. One or more critters (possum/rabbit/squirrel/deer?) have discovered that the plant tastes good, and they chomp it to the base, sometime pull the plant completely up. Hmmm, wonder what it tastes like?

These are wonderful flowers for people who love the look of "baby roses" but don't have the patience, time, or green thumb needed to grow most roses. They are infinately easy to care for--leave them in the sunshine and water them ONLY when it has not rained for a week or so (depending on where you live and how dry it is, of course... this plant enjoys dry soil and only likes what water it needs to live). If you're having a rain storm, you may want to move portulacas under a covered area, or they won't be happy.

I can see from all of the comments and pictures that I'm not the only one who loves this beauty. I saw it in the nursery last year and had to have it. Only when I got home did I notice that it was an annual [my thought having been, if it only blooms one year, why bother?]. All was forgiven months later, when it was still blooming as much as when I first brought it home. A little water now and then was all it asked of me, and that's only because I live where it gets over 100 F. I never had to remove the old blooms [as someone had mentioned was important]; the new ones would just push them out of way as they expanded like little popcorn kernals. My only regret was that I gave up on them as they started dying back. From what I've read here, they probably would have returned this year, if I'd only been patient.

I often miss the open flowers of the moss rose during the week 'though I go out in the morning and look for them. They sleep late and then go back to bed early in the warmth of summer. But when I do get to see them, I am reminded how fruitful and sunny their blooms are. Peppermint is my favorite, but we have several mixes of colors - and they are all quite welcome in our garden.

Easy to collect seeds from, easy to sow from seeds. Great for containers or hanging baskets. Sow generously.

i love the bright colors, the paper thin delicacy of the petals and the neat little bowl and lid where the seeds mature. it also is very easy to grow. i threw down some seeds i had collected into the cracks at the end of the driveway, at the end of the summer. just to see what happened. i would just spray them with some water every now and again. they were sprouting and flourishing withing 2 weeks. definately a plant that likes to be neglected and survives in the worst of circumstances.

As you can see by my name, this is my favorite. So much so that my greenhouse and gardens are named MossRose. There is no better plant for hot, dry areas. Readily self-seeds in my zone 5a, unless the winter is very severe. I do start some early in the greenhouse but those sown in the garden usually out perform those started early. A hot weather plant for sure.

have had these growing in a container for 2 years now. I live in zone 7 and when frost starts I cover the container with leaves and put close to house. In late spring they come back. This year I had some come up in 3 different containers and all 3 separate colors. Seemed like first year it was mixed? They are easy to grow and very pretty.

These plants are fast-growing and spreading. In most types, flowers open only on sunny days and close in midafternoon. They are also drought tolerant.

Re-seeding, and returning older plants from hardy roots. Propagated easily by cuttings or seeds. Bright mixed colors all summer, opening morning and closing mid afternoon on sunny days. May stay open all day on cloudy days.

This is my first year gardening, therefore, take my experience with this plant with caution. It is makes a beautiful deep pink frame around my raised bed (which is made of stone). It cascades over the stones and looks very pretty. I am disabled and the only negative (and this can be a big one for those whose time is limited in the garden),they come with about four tiny little buds in the centre of each stem. Another flower opens after the first one dies. Remove the dead flower immediately, if not it turns to dark brown mush (aagh!!) and be careful not to cut off the other buds. As I said in the beginning if you can spend a lot of time deadheading with great care, this is a super border flower.

Easy care and profusion of blooms. I use this little fellow to fill in low corner areas in my garden. Very easy to care for and easy to grow.

You can't go wrong with these. They bloom profusely and in a delightful spectrum of colors.

These are wonderful little plants. I live in an apartment setting so I don't have the luxury of having a large garden. They seem to do well & bloom beautifully in container gardens. They are very hardy & also *quite* forgiving. They come in a variety of colors and are very attractive. I have one that was given to me when I moved (almost 3 years ago) that is still going strong in a planter in my bathroom. I really enjoy these little plants.