Page 25 - Fourways Gardens September 2020

Gardening

Crassula camp re’s vivid leaves

Once the weather warms up, resticks What surprised me this season was the Crassulas are very hardy.
revert from being coral-coloured to green. sheer variety of succulents and their colours
In fact, most of the succulents that are (reds, blues, yellows, greys) and the simple A popular species, this time from Central
currently red will turn green in spring but but attractive patterns in which they can be America, is Echeveria, which grows in
they remain attractive and are so easily arranged. a tight rosette whose spoon-shaped
managed. leaves become colourful at the tips.
It is not just resticks that turn a rich colour These hand-sized plants sprout tall red

Linsay, my local nursery adviser over the in winter. Another popular succulent is stems with a cascade of small lantern-

years, says she waters her succulents only ‘crassula camp re’ - an indigenous calf- shaped flowers. According to one source,
when they show signs of wilting but, if high plant. Even when its winter rosiness they prefer a ‘toasty garden bed’ yet they
conditions are dry, fortnightly watering is disappears it remains attractive with its are thriving in my very new and very
fine. Many succulent gardens are wrecked propeller-shaped leaves. There are 200 modest succulent bed which is anything

by too much watering. di erent kinds of crassulas and one of but toasty.

our indigenous species, Crassula ovata,
Another favourite among succulents is is popular as an indoor pot plant across This sudden succulent renaissance will
spekboom (‘bacon bush’) with its sturdy Europe and America, where it is known no doubt tempt people to start collecting
stalks and small, round eshy spring-green as the ‘jade plant’, ‘lucky plant’ or ‘money and propagating the plants. There is

leaves. These are edible and many rural plant’. It comes in a variety of shapes and, such variety and they are so easy to grow
dwellers eat them though mostly they feed in winter, displays a mass of small pink or and I’ve enjoyed wandering around my
them to livestock. white star-shaped owers. neighbourhood picking up ideas.

Typical succulent patch Crassula’s winter owers

Fourways Gardens • 23 • September 2020