Tag: portulaca

Posted on

A Zillion Zinnias

Zinnia bouquet

One of my earliest memories involves my grandmother’s “zillion” zinnias. She had rows of zinnias in her vegetable garden, large zinnias overflowing an old tire near the back door, and zinnias around the mailbox–placed there to welcome the rural mail carrier each day.

Who can resist these beauties?  The colorful masses, so easy to grow, have long been a favorite of mine.

Zinnias on the farm
Zinnias on the farm

Sitting by the window on a dreary gray winter’s day, the seed catalog and its colorful photos of zinnias makes one yearn for spring.  After ordering the various vegetables I always included at least one pack of zinnias in my order.  I usually ordered one of the large packs of seeds,  promising giant zinnia blooms.

Fringed zinnia and bud
Fringed zinnia and bud

Zinnias prefer full sun, but can take a bit of shade. They would rather be dry than wet and are prone to mildew. For that reason I water them as I do roses, from the bottom.  Don’t let water stand on their leaves overnight if you can help it.  Early morning watering is best. They benefit from regular feeding, but will bloom freely without it.  Any good soil will do, as they will tolerate a wide range.

The zinnias begin to bloom
The zinnias begin to bloom

As with many flowering annuals, deadheading (removing the first bud or bloom) will cause the plant to branch out. Though it will naturally do this on its own, you can hurry the process along and get a fuller plant if you deadhead early.  A bit of sacrifice early on will reward you with many more blooming branches.

Zinnias under-planted with portulaca
Zinnias under-planted with portulaca

Bouquets of these gorgeous zinnias last longer than many other plants. Change the water every couple of days and if your room isn’t too warm, you could get at least a week out of each bouquet, possibly longer.

Zinnia bouquet
Zinnia bouquet

Be sure to leave a few blooms to mature on your plant.  Zinnias are prolific seed producers.  Gather the dead heads in the fall and store them in a paper sack over the winter.  Avoid plastic bags as they can retain moisture, which can rot the seeds.  Enjoy!

© Wade Kingston

Posted on

Portulaca Proud

The portulaca is blooming again–and boy, is it a stunner.
Portulaca in bloom
Portulaca in bloom

I have used portulaca all the traditional ways—concrete pots, flower beds, and as an under-planting for larger flowering plants like zinnias. Once I stuck a handful of plants into the hollowed-out portion of an old stump. That ended up looking particularly nice.

I recall as a youngster getting a broken piece of “rose moss” and sticking it into a plastic ice cream bucket.  I piled some dirt around it and hung it from the clothes line. After a few days of watering it began to bloom and soon filled the bucket.  It never ceased to amaze me that it lived and thrived and it didn’t even have roots when I stuck it in the pot.  That’s how easy portulaca is to grow.  It’s practically indestructible.

Sometimes called rose moss
Lovely portulaca, or rose moss

Rose moss is very drought tolerant, requires no special fertilizer, and is rarely affected by insects.  The seed is tiny, so you might want to mix it with sand before sowing it.  Or just do as I do and borrow a clump of live plants from a friend or neighbor.  Stick them in the dirt and stand back.

Each rose moss bloom, which won’t open on a cloudy day, lasts just one day, but is replaced each day by more and more blooms until they form a veritable carpet of rainbow colors. Once you’ve grown a pot full of these daily bloomers you are set for life.  They produce thousands of tiny seeds in their pods, and end up self-sowing themselves. They’ll come back up in the same pot every year.  The plants are tiny and reddish-colored when they first emerge after the frosts are over.

Get a pot started. You’ll be greeted each sunny morning with a fresh burst of color.

© Wade Kingston