Moss rose (double mix)

Moss rose (double mix) - Portulaca grandiflora.
An annual creeping, highly branched plant 10 cm high.
The shoots are juicy, fleshy, light green, sometimes with a reddish tint. The leaves are fleshy, almost cylindrical, small, glabrous.
The flowers are single, double, apical, 4-6 cm in diameter, of various shades. The flowers open only on clear, sunny days. Blooms from June until frost.
The plant is heat-loving, drought-resistant, very light-loving, and does not bloom at the slightest shade. It does not tolerate any fertilizers and grows on dry, sandy and even rocky soil with minimal watering.
Seeds are sown for seedlings in February-March superficially, covered with glass or film, and kept in the light. Shoots appear in 7-14 days. Dive into pots with a diameter of 5-6 cm.
Grow seedlings with very moderate watering. After the end of frost, they are planted at a distance of 15-20 cm on rocky hills and flower beds on the southern slopes.
Planted in flowerpots, containers, boxes on balconies and loggias, on top of retaining walls.

* Moss rose (which is successfully grown in Estonia) is one of the few ornamental plants for poor soils.
This is an annual herbaceous plant only 10-15 cm high. The flowers are single, large (up to 6 cm), numerous.
They can be simple or double, outwardly similar to miniature peonies or small roses, silky, brightly colored: white, cream, pink, yellow, orange, red, crimson, etc. There are flowers with an eye, with stripes, with a border, with strokes of a different color. They are located at the ends of highly branched, juicy, creeping along the ground light green or reddish stems.
Moss rose has cute small, needle-shaped, juicy leaves, similar to the leaves of sedum.
In cloudy weather, the flowers of the Moss rose close. Only double varieties are free of this drawback. 
Portulaca grandiflora is used for planting in flowerbeds, borders, as border plants, as carpet flowerbeds.
It is ideal for rockeries, for planting in containers, in low vases and pots, as well as in balcony boxes.
Moss rose is propagated by seeds. They are round, silvery-gray with a metallic sheen, very small, about 0.5 mm in diameter. The fruit is a multi-seeded capsule.
Purslane blooms 2.5-3 months after the emergence of seedlings. Therefore, it must be grown through seedlings. 
Moss rose blooms from the end of June until frost. In the second half of March, it is time to sow purslane for seedlings, first in seedling containers with subsequent picking. As a seedling soil, use a mixture of purchased soaked peat briquettes and washed river sand in a ratio of 4:1 with the addition of 1 tbsp. of dolomite flour per bucket of the mixture.
Sow small Portulaca grandiflora seeds randomly over the surface of the ground, trying to spread them out evenly with a wooden toothpick.
There is another way to sow very small seeds - sowing on the snow.
To do this, do not fill the container completely with prepared soil, but leave 1 cm from the top, fill the remaining volume with fresh snow and evenly spread the seeds on it. They are clearly visible on a white background. The snow, having melted, draws the seeds into the soil to the optimal depth.
For friendly germination, Moss rose seeds need light, so do not sprinkle the sown seeds on top. The container is placed in a new inflated plastic bag and placed in a light, but not sunlit place. The best temperature for seed germination is about +25°C.
Then the bags are removed 1–2 times a day for ventilation and turned inside out to prevent drops of condensation from falling onto the soil surface, and they are also regularly sprayed, preventing the seeds and the top layer of soil from drying out.
The shoots appear unevenly: after 5-15 days. When full shoots appear, the bag is removed completely, and the container with seedlings is moved closer to the glass to a cooler sunlit windowsill. It is even better if it is possible to additionally illuminate the shoots at first. To avoid damage by "black leg" and lodging of seedlings from over-watering, the crops in the container are not watered from above, but with a medical syringe deep into the soil. For the same purpose, you can sprinkle the soil around small plants with dry fine calcined sand or ash.
When 1-2 true leaves appear, seedlings are dived into small (about 5 cm in diameter) pots with the same soil as for sowing, 1-3 pieces.
Water the seedlings with a pink solution of potassium permanganate and shade for 2-3 days. After picking, the seedlings become stronger and can be watered as usual, from above on the soil surface, but moderately, without over-moistening.
A week after picking, the seedlings are fed for the first time with a complex mineral fertilizer with microelements. In the future, additional feeding is carried out every 7-10 days, alternating solutions of mineral fertilizers with humates, and liquid organomineral fertilizers are also used. If the seedlings develop slowly, look weak, it is very useful to spray them with a solution of microelements or a growth stimulator.
At the end of April, the seedlings are placed in an unheated film greenhouse, where they undergo preliminary hardening. In case of cold weather, they are additionally covered with agrotextiles.
Portulaca grandiflora is very light- and heat-loving, drought-resistant, does not tolerate frost. You can get abundant and beautifully flowering plants only in constantly illuminated areas, on dry, sandy loam soils (without freshly applied organic fertilizers).
Plant the seedlings in the ground in late May - early June, when the threat of frost has passed. Choose a high, dry, sunny place. Add 1 tablespoon of complex mineral fertilizer with microelements and 1 glass of ash per square meter during digging. Prepare the soil in advance and water it with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Plants are planted in the ground at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other. After planting, water the plants at the root with a humate solution for faster rooting and mulch with peat or dry soil to reduce moisture evaporation.