I received some Portulaca's for my birthday recently. I wondered whether to plant these in the flower bed, or in pots to bring inside during the winter time? Also, indirest or direct sunshine? I live in Austin, Texas which is warm until November, usually! Grrr!

Many thanks!
Shelly Valentine

to NGA

Your first problem will deciding whether your portulaca is an annual or a perennial.

I bought portulaca about five years ago as an annual. It is planted in full sun and re-seeds itself and spreads every year. I love these flowers, the colors are so pretty.

Not a good idea to post your email in a public forum, it's a sure fire way to invite spammers that cruise forums looking for emails. You can edit your post to remove it. Any replies to your post will be posted right here.

Hi & welcome! If you are able to add a pic of your plant, folks can help you decide which Portulaca you have.

Shelly!

We'll help you if you show us a photo.

Austin is hot and portulaca-purslane love sunshine. I've planted mine in pots and in the ground. Sometimes I get some re-seed the next summer in the ground, but so far only one time.

By the way, I removed your email so you don't get spam mail.

Thanks Becky!

Thanks for mentioning it Suzanne!

skrvalenti said:I received some Portulaca's for my birthday recently. I wondered whether to plant these in the flower bed, or in pots to bring inside during the winter time? Also, indirest or direct sunshine? I live in Austin, Texas which is warm until November, usually! Grrr!

Many thanks!
Shelly Valentine

If you bring them inside during the winter they will need a lot of light-- some very powerful grow lights, on all the time, and some warmth, or they will probably not make it through the winter. These plants are sun lovers. They don't like shade. And think about it, the shade in your yard is usually brighter than any room inside your house.

But, if they survive the winter inside your home, once spring arrives, you can bring them back outside and put them in full sun and they will roar back to life again and start growing and blooming. I've had some overwinter and thrive the next year. What eventually kills mine is salt building up in the plant's container because I use tap water and we have hard water. But if you keep taking new cuttings and planting them in fresh soil, you can keep having new plants.