genetics

ken

You can't. If you've seen this it is because 2 or more have been planted together. Because of the way they grow from the base up you often can't tell there is more than 1 plant until they bloom.

but sometimes ... a flower might fade after openning.. if the flower lasts more than one day .. making it appear.. to have multiple colors... and that would be genetics ... otherwise.. .what dow said

ken

I get them in 6 pack starts from the local hardware store and it sure seems to me like it's all one plant I'm putting in the ground.

It's more than fading, they come out pink, red, yellow, white, orange.....all on the same plant.

Moss Rose (Portulaca grandiflora) and Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) are heat-loving, drought-tolerant, vibrant-blooming succulents. Both varieties can produce multicolored blooms from the same plant; in colors as varied as orange, pink, purple, fuchia, coral, lavender, yellow, and white.

Both plant varieties can also be found to produce flowers of one, uniform color.

Okay, I'll cede to someone who knows what's what. It's not always the internet blogger for sure. :-)

rhizo_1..........that portulaca cake sounds like something I would have fun growing just for the heck of it....then divide.....it would be so pretty

Carol

I haven't gotten 2 different colors on one plant but I have seen the plant revert back to original color.

I was convinced that one portulaca plant I had was 5 colours. It successfully self sowed all over the garden from the one single pot. I left the dead plant for 6 months due to illness and then pulled the "single dead dry in tact plant" from the pot and discarded it to the mulch heap.

I was disappointed to discover each self sown plant was a single colour. Googled to find the issue and found this thread.

I went back to the dead plant and found that it was indeed 5 plants with trunk and roots so closely intertwined that I had only "seen" one root mass when I transplanted it after purchase, and when I pulled the dead "plant".

If you want multi-coloured flowers in the one pot? plant multiple portulaca plants.

I am experiencing the same situation. I literally started out with just one small clipping in which bloomed an orange flower. It continued to spread and after 6 months, randomly it started to sprout pink flowers. Today I noticed that it spread outside of the pot that it is planted in and for the first time, after having the plant for almost an entire year now, it has bloomed it's very first yellow flower. I read that it is possible for this plant to sprout different colored flowers depending on the amount of sunlight that it receives, also the lack of, enough of or the abundance of nutrients that it is receiving from the soil, and then depending on the weather (or season) that it is experiencing at the time....all play a part in what color flower is produced from the plant. DO NOT QUOTE ME, AS I AM NOT CERTAIN OF THIS INFORMATION BEING TRUE.... BUT THIS IS WHAT I HAVE FOUND ON THE INTERNET AS TO WHY THIS PLANT WOULD PRODUCE MORE THAN ONE COLOR FLOWER!

I am experiencing the same situation. I literally started out with just one small clipping in which bloomed an orange flower. It continued to spread and after 6 months, randomly it started to sprout pink flowers. Today I noticed that it spread outside of the pot that it is planted in and for the first time, after having the plant for almost an entire year now, it has bloomed it's very first yellow flower. I read that it is possible for this plant to sprout different colored flowers depending on the amount of sunlight that it receives, also the lack of, enough of or the abundance of nutrients that it is receiving from the soil, and then depending on the weather (or season) that it is experiencing at the time....all play a part in what color flower is produced from the plant. DO NOT QUOTE ME, AS I AM NOT CERTAIN OF THIS INFORMATION BEING TRUE.... BUT THIS IS WHAT I HAVE FOUND ON THE INTERNET AS TO WHY THIS PLANT WOULD PRODUCE MORE THAN ONE COLOR FLOWER!