PORTULACA 



HAVE found that it is almost impossible to coax the 

 tiny Portulaca seeds to germinate when Spring sown. 



In a well-known garden of a friend at Pride's 

 Crossing, Massachusetts, while thousands of these 

 tiny black seeds have been regularly sown every Spring, these 

 shy little plants that so love the sun have persistently refused 

 year after year to give even a suggestion to indicate that a seed 

 had ever been sown. 



To this garden I brought from my garden several seed flats 

 of these dear little portulaca plants, and we tucked them away 

 in many sunny places ; this was in August, and they continued to 

 bloom and seeded. 



In my garden, after the portulaca has bloomed and gone to 

 seed, thousands of these tiny seeds lodge and hide themselves in 

 protected crevices and chinks and grooves and hollows, there to 

 remain safe and snug all through the long, cold Winter, only to 

 gaily greet me again the following Summer. And what a joy 

 it is to have them surprise us almost everywhere with their 

 many bright sun-turned faces ! 



When sowing portulaca seed I always mix one teaspoonful 

 of seed with a pint of fine sand. Of course the seed must be 

 thoroughly mixed with the sand before it is sown. 



Portulaca plants when not crowded will spread to fifteen 

 inches, and it is said that each plant produces more than five 

 hundred seeds. Portulaca may be safely and easily transplanted 



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