Image - Wikimedia / Haplochromis
La portulaca umbraticola It is a plant with great ornamental value, which only increases when you realize how easy it is to maintain. It produces very cheerful flowers during the summer, with a yellow color that attracts a lot of attention. Also, it is easy to multiply.
The only drawback is that its life cycle lasts only one year; that is, we can only enjoy it for a few months. But it's worth it 😉. Discover it.
Origin and characteristics
Image - Wikimedia / Forest & Kim Starr
Our protagonist is a succulent plant with an annual cycle whose scientific name is portulaca umbraticola. It is popularly known as portulaca, purslane, silk flower, or love for a while. Native to the southern United States to northern South America, reaches a height of 11 to 28cm. Its leaves are alternate, flattened, 1,2 to 2,7 cm long by 0,3 to 1,3 cm wide.
The flowers sprout from terminal stems, they measure between 3,7 and 4,9mm, and they are yellow, orange, or red. The fruit is a 4-5mm diameter capsule that contains small seeds, 0,8 to 1mm in diameter.
What are their cares?
Image - Wikimedia / Reinaldo Aguilar
If you want to have a copy, take care of it in the following way 🙂:
- Location: it must be outside, in full sun.
- Earth:
- Pot: universal growing substrate mixed with perlite in equal parts.
- Garden: grows in well-drained soils. If yours is not like that, make a 50cm x 50cm hole and mix the earth with perlite, volcanic clay or a similar substrate in equal parts.
- Irrigation: it has to be watered 2 or 3 times a week in summer, a little less the rest.
- Multiplication: by seeds in spring. Sow in a seedbed (pot, tray with holes, or whatever you have on hand) and place outside, in the sun.
- Rusticity: it does not resist cold or frost.
What did you think of portulaca umbraticola?