When we return to our desert home in August, the only small and inexpensive flowering plants available in local stores are impatiens, vincas, and moss roses! Nothing else can stand the heat.
We saved a 2" moss rose cutting in a glass of water and kept cutting it back and rooting the segments until we got a fat little plant. Every now and then it produces one or two flowers:
The flowers only last a day, but they are bright!
The petunias seem to like having them around, too.
We transferred the petunia seedlings from potting mix to the liquid nutrient solution on November 20 and they were in full bloom from Thanksgiving Day until past Christmas. This is my first time growing them hydroponically, so we don't know how long this will keep up, but they have many buds at present. Some of the branches that got too long rooted in water and are flowering, too. Next to basil, I am thinking that petunias are the easiest-to-grow plant we know.
UPDATE: The moss roses have finally taken off. We are now getting four or five new blossoms every day. They are all red, as they come from just one small cutting that I saved to root, but I have a nice seed packet ready to try next fall when we return from our summer trip.
Portulaca plants take about 70 days to mature from seeds, and this one took about the same amount of time to start blooming after propogation by stem cuttings, but that is because I subjected it to quite a bit of neglect while it was sitting in water growing new plantlets. I started with one really small stem and kept cutting it back and starting it over. It was in a passive container for several months. It does much better in the AeroGarden. Apparently, both Portulaca and Purslane need a bit more aeration than some other plants we've tested.
The leaves looks yummy, but do not taste near as good as our Golden Purslane. They are said to be edible, but we don't eat them, although if they keep producing this much foliage I may try a handful in the next pot of beans. The flowers are an inch across.
