Portulaca or Moss Rose
Jacki Kellum Garden Wall Planting

Somewhere along the line, I heard the expression: “Youth is wasted on the Young,” and it is true that is has taken me a long time to overcome many of the misconceptions of my childhood.

My dad and my grandmother taught me almost everything I know about gardening. They are my garden heroes, but when I was a child, I did not like the smell of my grandmother’s marigolds. I thought that their fragrance was unbecoming of a flower, and I remember my dad’s strawberry jar filled with sprigs of moss rose–springing from every orifice. I didn’t want to hurt my dad’s feelings, but I was not impressed with that little flowering plant which looked more like a cactus than what I had learned to esteem as a proper flower.

In my mind, flowers were supposed to have sturdy upright stems and properly substantial blossoms. I was at least 70 before I learned to appreciate Moss Rose, and now, I grow it somewhere in my garden every year.

My garden wall with a sculpture created by my Ozark Mountain artist friend and a pot of Moss Roses. This garden wall is hiding an unsightly air conditioner unit

I currently live in an area that is almost devoid of places to buy reasonably-priced garden plants, but I was able to find a bit of Moss Rose to grow in my wall planter. I live in Mississippi, and it is almost too hot to go outside and garden now, but I’m making my garden list for next year: “Plant Tons of Moss Rose.”

True, Moss Rose is not the same thing as other of my real and beloved roses–like my Zephirine Drouhin–

And Moss Rose is not the same thing as my towering Sunflowers that bend and bow and say grace over everything else down below:

But next year’s moss rose will be great to fill in the cracks in my garden walkway. It will be great to line my strawberry bed.

And my Moss Rose will shout “Hallelujah” from down below.

Amen.