The flowers have finally opened on my Rosary Plant (crassula rupestris). Woo hooo!
I’m excited because not all of my plants bloom every year. This little guy is in a 3 inch pot and it is his second year.
I am completely enchanted by these cute little succulent plants. I’ve got them filling in pots here and there. They hang over the side but the tips want to point up. They seem to do best in shade to part shade for me, especially when it’s over 100 degrees.
The base of the stems get woody and a little brittle. But they’re pretty tough, when the dog knocks them off I just toss them back into a pot and they take root again.
I like the side view, it shows off the tiny flowers and leaves.
These five-petaled flowers are only about 1/8 of an inch wide.
Here’s the whole plant.
Succulents are great! I’m learning about them slowly, and enjoy your articles. I garden in N. California, and I have to put my succulents in semishade, or they get burned (except in winter). I also find that, in hot weather, they really do respond well to watering (as long as they have good drainage). There are native California succulents, but you have to check to be sure they aren’t coastal or otherwise cool-weather loving (there are some native mountain ones, too; they get a lot of sun but don’t know if they take heat).
Greg, the little leaves are supposed to look like rosary beads. I don’t really see it either. I think String of Pearls look more like beads, but who am I to judge?
Aiyana, I’m in the SF Valley where it’s really hot too. Most of my succulents get some sort of shade during the day, or I put something up when it’s over 100. We need to find you a native succulent plant maybe.
This plant does have some interesting flowers. Crassula does not do well here in the low desert, so I quit spending money trying to find a species that didn’t melt. No luck. I think the various species of Crassula are some of the most interesting of the succulents.
Aiyana
What a great little plant! Any idea why they call it “rosary plant”? Is there a history of it being used to make a rosary or something…?