Plant description
Portulaca oleracea ‘Sun Jewels’ is a semi succulent annual to perennial groundcovering plant with bright flowers. It is a easy care plant if grown in a well drained soil,and is troubled by few pests or diseases. It is a very heat and sun tolerant plant. They come in a range of irridescent warm colours from spring to autumn, peaking in summer. It is drought tolerant once established. This variety of portulaca has been bred for the flowers to stay open longer than the usual garden portulaca. It is a good garden plant, and is also great for containers and hanging baskets, as it will spill over the sides of the pot. it needs a full sun position.
Culniary usage
(taken from Wikipedia)
Although purslane is considered a weed in the United States, it may be eaten as a leaf vegetable. It has a slightly sour and salty taste and is eaten throughout much of Europe, the middle east, Asia, and Mexico. The stems, leaves and flower buds are all edible. Purslane may be used fresh as a salad, stir-fried, or cooked as spinach is, and because of its mucilaginous quality it also is suitable for soups and stews. Australian Aborigines use the seeds to make seedcakes. Greeks, who call it andrakla or glystrida, use the leaves and the stems with feta cheese, tomato, onion, garlic, oregano, and olive oil, add it in salads, boil it or add to casseroled chicken. In Turkey, besides being used in salads and in baked pastries, it is cooked as a vegetable similar to spinach. In Albania it is also is used as a vegetable similar to spinach, mostly simmered and served in olive oil dressing, or mixed with other ingredients as a filling for dough layers of byrek. In the south of Portugal (Alentejo), “baldroegas” are used as a soup ingredient. In Pakistan, it is known as ‘Qulfa’ and cooked as in stews along with lentils like spinach or in a mixed green stew.
Propagation is by tip cuttings.
Additional plant information
Flowers
Flower colour:Â orange, yellow, red
Flowering season:Â spring summer autumn
Plant size
Maximum height:Â 0.2 metres
Minimum height:Â not specified
Maximum width:Â 0.3 metres
Minimum width:Â not specified
Sunlight, frost & salt tolerance
This plant will tolerate full sunlight.
Medium frost tolerance.
Plant is salt tolerant.
Fauna attracting?
Yes. Attracts: Bees, insects, butterflies.
Climate
This plant species will grow in the following climates: cool, temperate, subtropical, tropical, arid.
Soil types & conditions
Loam:Â dry, moist, well-drained.
Clay:Â dry, well-drained.
Sand:Â dry, moist, well-drained.
Soil pH:Â 5.5-7.0
Miscellaneous information
Planting season:Â Spring or any if potted.
Types of fertiliser:Â Good general purpose fertiliser.
