Frankly, I have found the weed version more productive than cultivars. The cultivars where anemic and not as tasty. As far as spreading, the seed capsuals are rather obvious and numerous. Said another way, while I do collect the seeds I don't plant puslane too often. It plants itself, and if it is growing where I don't mind I let it grow. My current strain was plucked from a sidewalk crack in Tarpon Springs in 2001 after a freeze. I figured if it could take a freeze I wanted it. Granted the sidewalk might have created a microclime... but it has been a good producer for five years, going on six. I mean I always miss a plant or two and when I am weeding there it is... if a good spot I let it continue, if not.. it's salad or soup. So no, I cannot recommend a cultivar. It does a good job in a pot, or in a pot with a taller plant. Here in Florida it cannot take the hot summer months, but I get a spring, fall and winter crop.

If you want to grow it to eat, why worry about it spreading? That would be like having too many tomatoes, or too much basil wouldn't it?

Certainly better than not having enough, I think.

Plant it in the yard of a relative that you don't like but are forced to visit.

For vigor and intensity of flavor, stick with the wild varieties. I appreciate it most as a living mulch around vegetable plants and fruit trees. This year's odd weather in Northern California has brought a particularly thick and fleshy variety all over the yard. It is holding moisture extremely well on what may prove to be a drought year.

I guess purslane may be weedy in some locations, such as a rock garden in certain climates, but I have not found it to be much of a problem in our zone, and with heavy clay soil.

I have always wondered how it came to be called a weed. It is attractive and edible.

My problem with purslane is that it is so easily shaded out of existence. My hubby has had it occasionally in his garden but it has never created a problem.

I have tried to transplant it to my home garden, but after a year or two it always dies out. It really likes full sun, and is so tiny. :(

Wish I knew how to get rid of it in my garden and also the chickweed. It has taken over the rose garden. I understand that some people do grow it for eating, but not my family.

V.

I really love purslane, either raw or lightly stir-fried.
I agree about the wild types being tastier. I am wondering if purslane is ever perennial in zones 6-7, and if so, which types (other than re-seeding, I mean).
As to the chickweed, vickster, you are really missing out!!
Dice up some of the purslane and chickweed together and use
a good sweet dressing like Catalina, and maybe some bacon
sprinkled on top, and if it doesn't taste yummy, I guess my taste buds need calibrating!! :) Eating your weeds is a lot more fun than digging them up and throwing them away.

We have lots of what I guess people call rose moss, which I think is a types of purslane. It has small vivid pink flowers fleshy stems, leaves that are fleshy, narrower and darker green than the other purslane varietys I've seen. Is this one also good for eating? I've tasted the leaves a couple times here but they seem more bitter than the other purslane I've tried which had more of a sour taste to me.

I don't tend to pull it because it doesn't seem agressive enough to bother my other plants, it doesn't grow tall enough to get in the way, and it is kinda pretty.

Are you talking about Portulaca? We have some that we bought for the lovely flowers and over the years, it has seeded itself in the garden, although the flowers of the offspring are less complex color-wise than the parents.

Purslane is both edible and medicinal. It is used all over the world, and considered a commercial crop in some parts.

Check out the link below. If you have a good photo of purslane, you can upload it to that site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Photos - Purslane

Purslanes with flatish, spatula leaves are edible. I have nibbled the leaves of the portulaca grandiflora and I grow P. Oleracea. I don't know about purslane with shorter, rounder leaves, id est Portulaca suffrutescens or P. Pilosa. I write about edible wild plants and native P. Suffrutescens is one I just don't know about. I asked another wild food expert once exactly that question and he didn't know either.

One summer I decided to use it as a living mulch. I pulled all except those plants growing midway between my crop rows. As I had hoped, it spread to a mat that shaded the soil and helped to keep it moist, while its shallow roots did not compete with my garden rows. It suppressed other weeds and provided a pleasant snack while I thinned or harvested the rows.

I love this idea! We don't have much in the way of naturally occuring purslane at the farm, so I have ordered some seeds or the wild variety to use this year. Will be putting them in some of the raised beds to be living mulch.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Becky