The Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine, otherwise known as the Podocarpus Lawrencei ‘Blue Treasure’ or Purslane, Garden Purslane, Little Hogweed, Pusley, Wild Portulaca, Pourpier, Verdolaga, is a rather well known herb plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.
Best known for its low maintenance and slow growth, this herb will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
Fortunately, taking care of your Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine is not too difficult – as long as you follow our guidelines in this Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine Care Guide. Now let’s get started.
The basic care guidelines you need to remember for your Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine are the following:
- Water: The Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine prefers enhanced watering in hot weather, otherwise, water occasionally once it’s established.
- Light: Keep your Podocarpus Lawrencei ‘Blue Treasure’ in an environment where it can receive partial shade to full sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of clay, loam, chalk, and sand.
That’s it – sunlight, water and soil! The basic 3 fundamentals for all plant care, and with the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine this is no exception. With these three elements, your leafy friend will live healthy and happy.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine belongs to the Portulacaceae family, the genus Portulaca and the species Oleracea, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Podocarpus Lawrencei ‘Blue Treasure’.
As with other Portulaca’s, the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine is an evergreen plant, which means it will be present year round in your garden.
Growing Region
The Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine is a plant native to the Mediterranean, Western Asia and likey ancient anthropogenic disper.
You might be wondering why your Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine’s native region is important. Well, if you know where your plant originally came from, you’ll know which environment conditions it prefers, and with it, knowledge on how to replicate it at home.
With this in mind, the Podocarpus Lawrencei ‘Blue Treasure’ will be most used to regions where the plant hardiness level falls between 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11a, 11b and the ideal climate zone is between 1, 1A, 1B, 2, 2A, 2B, 3, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, A1, A2, A3, H1, H2.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine is a relatively slow grower, which makes things easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But, what size of Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine are we talking about? What can you expect in terms of height, spread and spacing? Let’s dig in…
The Podocarpus Lawrencei ‘Blue Treasure’ can grow up to 2″ – 3″ (5cm – 7cm) in 2″ – 3″ (5cm – 7cm) and 1′ – 2′ (30cm – 60cm) in 1′ – 2′ (30cm – 60cm).
These dimensions make the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine a relatively medium herb compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.
Also, expect it to grow in a wonderful rounded shape, which is something worthwhile to remember when making your garden landscape plans.
This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 18″ (45cm) free so the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine can spread to its best extent.
Water
In terms of watering, the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine is a fairly complicated plant to take care of.
This is mostly because it has a not so straightforward watering schedule and somewhat irregular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Podocarpus Lawrencei ‘Blue Treasure’ prefers enhanced watering in hot weather, otherwise, water occasionally once it’s established.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively average needs in terms of water.
Watering
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage, and occasionally dry properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
But, if you want a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to watering your Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine then you should consider the famous ‘finger’ test. To perform this test, you just need to put your finger in your plant’s soil and determine if it’s moist or not. If it is, then don’t water; if it isn’t, then please do. In any case, this test will allow you to know if your Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine needs or does not need water, every time.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine prefers to have soil with good drainage, and occasionally dry properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of clay, loam, chalk, and sand.
This is why most experts agree that the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine requires soil with loam (silt), sand, clay, high organic matter, and shallow rocky, which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably alkaline, acid or neutral soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine requires partial shade to full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this herb will do well as long as you keep it in full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Podocarpus Lawrencei ‘Blue Treasure’ in full and direct sun (more than 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being an evergreen plant, the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine will be present year round in your garden.
But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the spring (late), the summer (early, mid, late), and during the fall.
Flowers
You can expect your Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine to flower around the spring, summer and the fall months from April to June (spring), from July to September (summer), and from October to December (fall).
The Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine produces some wonderful gold/yellow flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine have a beautiful green color during most of the year.
In particular, they have a simple arrangement with a alternate organization in its leaves.
You can expect the leaves from your Podocarpus Lawrencei ‘Blue Treasure’ to be around (1-3 inches) in size.
Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance
The Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine is well known for its tolerance to drought conditions, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Podocarpus Lawrencei ‘Blue Treasure’ will be fine.
Garden
Does your Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine have any garden recommendations? Does it serve any gardening purposes? Here’s how you can get the most out of your new plant.
Most Podocarpus Lawrencei ‘Blue Treasure’ owners agree that this herb will look great in most contemporary, asian/zen and rustic gardens of all types.
Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of informal and cottage styles.
In particular, the Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine’s best use for landscaping within your garden is as container, border, or a mass planting.
Conclusion
So that’s it! These are the main plant care requirements that you need to keep in mind in order to have a healthy Blue Treasure Mountain Plum Pine in your garden or home.
