You don't have to, but you can. You just have to be careful because the new little buds are so close to the dying ones. Personally, I do it because the plants look cleaner sooner! So I'm just beating them to what they're going to do anyway. Happy gardening! Maureen

Hi Maureen

Thanks Maureen for your imput! I see your point about the proximately of the old flower and the new bud. If I don't deadhead them do you think it will impair its flowering?

Dale

I think you can leave them alone if that's your preference. The plant chucks the dead foliage pretty quickly. I'll deadhead mine occasionally only because they're right by my front door and if I'm just standing there... Maureen

Hi all,

I deadhead mine too. I also save the seed pods for the next year. Very easy to do with these. They reseed great! Just wait until the part where the petals were turns really black and pluck them off. Good Luck!!

Hello everyone,

If you don't deadhead portulaca, is there a possibility that it will come back next year? I read somewhere that once they establish themselves they can reseed and come back? I grew some from seed this year and they've just started blooming - so pretty! Wish they were perenninals.

Anyone had any experience with portulaca coming back particularly in zone6?

Thanks,
Amna

Howdy,
I remove the ripe seed pods and scatter the seeds back into the planter. Each year I get a nice new batch of plants. You also can just let the seeds fall on their own. They should do as well in your zone 6 as it does in my zone 7.

Amna,

They do overwinter here in Maine (Zone 5) too.

My neighbor turned me on to Portulaca, and her's reseeds. I will find out this year, but I am collecting seed just in case, too.

Sounds good to me!
Thanks again!
Dale

I love popping open the seed pods when dried and collecting all the seeds inside. They resemble poppy seeds. It's fun!

Portulaca is an annual and won't overwinter.
It will reseed...no need to save seeds just let what falls on the ground be. I also suspect the seeds have to be stratified to grow.
Linda C

No they do not require stratification.

I look forward to next years Portulaca!

I have had portulaca for years. They not only survive the winter but self seed too. Because of this I have so many of them that they are very crowded in solid 'mats' in their pots and never bloom anymore. I like the little green plants but is there a way I can get them to bloom again? I love to watch them open in the sun and close at night.

Thanks
Terri

Just thin em up..!! leaving only the younger plants, start giving them a general purpose liquid fertilizer, until they start blooming again...

here are mine:

{{gwi:11505}}

Cheers~

Izhar

Oops! I found this thread just after I had deadheaded my Portulaca. I'm afraid I snipped off the dead buds. Have I ruined my plants?

No, you haven't ruined them, they'll recover and develop new growing tips.

Whew! Thanks for so quickly letting me know there's hope! This is my first year to do Portulaca, and I absolutely love them. I paired them with bright yellow Marigolds and a spikey grass in the center. They really make a statement in the outside planters here at the office.

I have portulaca in my deck boxes. SEVERAL years ago, I bought one six pack of some singles that were sold as a "tropical sunset" blend. I love the colors: magentas, oranges, yellows, etc. They faithfully reseeded into one box for years. Last fall, I cleaned out all the dead plants after frost, put them in a bag, and in the spring, sprinkled the "trash" in my other boxes. Every box has plants in them and are gorgeous. Couldn't ask for anything easier than that!

A new friend just introduced me to Portulaca. She has them in pots all over the place and finds it very relaxing to deadhead them. I think I'll pick them up this weekend, the Tequila Mix. The colors will go nicely with the "Corona Gold" of my house (as my DD calls it).

This is all wonderful information but it would be helpful to know the zone that you are in when commenting.

i doubt a poster from 9 years ago .. will reply.. lol .. ken

I believe that they are self cleaning and should reseed for next year.

One would need some very small nippers, good eyesight & a steady hand to deadhead the spent bloom/forming seed pod from among the newly forming buds at the tips of Portulaca plants. The shriveled old petals are easy to pull off, but this is not deadheading.

Amna, I'm in Zone 6 and I planted portulacas in a half submerged wheelbarrow last year in a new bed. This year that entire wheelbarrow is crammed with portulacas seedlings plus there are a bunch outside the wheelbarrow, outside the bed, pretty much anywhere within a 5 foot radius!

UPDATE:

Same container:

It has taken awhile but the bed of portulacas is now starting to fill in:

Show us your portulacas of 2018.

In my area I have not deadheaded the moss roses, and very few grew back from seed in following years. I suspect that if I collected the seeds, and planted them in a prepared bed the following spring, I would have far more. Things can work out differently depending on the location.

Some animal ate all my portulacas. I'm just venting here. Nothing's ever eaten them before. And it's inside my fenced-in garden. I have little stem stumps now. What a year for animal damage.

Most times when I deadhead my portulaca the flower comes off leaving a pod - I presume this is a seed pod or is it a flower forming?

i planted them 20 years ago ... and there are still a few around .. reseeding every year ...

especially since my mulch went away ...

the seed does need soil contact.. so i you have good mulch ... you may never see them ...

and the babe seedlings are pretty odd looking .... and unless you are thinking about them.. you might destroy them all before you realize what they are ...

plus .. and this might be key.. i think of them as warm soil plants ... which mean they sprout very late ... by which time.. you may have already buried them in that fresh mulch you put down because you just couldnt stand another day stuck in the house since winter ended ...

seed pod vs flower bud.. who knows without a pic ... or.. compare yourself on an images page ... perhaps you will know.. if they start drying and turning brown

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=portulaca+seed+pods&t=ffcm&iax=images&ia=images

change the search term to flower buds ...

ken