Good Living Guide

Succulents

Rose Succulents: The Perfect Low-Maintenance Plant For Flower-Lovers

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As an experienced gardener, I enjoy working with challenging plants, but I also enjoy discovering easy-growing, low-maintenance plants that I know will add vibrancy to my garden with very little work. That’s why I always include petunias, marigolds and mums in every garden plan, and it’s why I’m over the moon about rose succulents.

Rose Succulents

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Get to Know Greenovias

Rose succulents are formally known as greenovias. Like all succulents, they’re easy to grow and require little work.

Rose Succulents

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If your only experience with succulents is aloe plants or chicks and hens, be prepared to be pleasantly surprised. These gorgeous, shapely plants resemble fully blown roses when they come out of dormancy.

Rose Succulents

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Gorgeous Island Natives

Greenovias are native to the Canary Islands. Sadly, they’re becoming endangered there. It’s surprising that they’re not more popular here, but we should all do our part to change that.

Unlike succulents that like hot, dry weather, greenovias prefer balmy, humid climates. They start to come out of their dormant phase when the temperatures reach 65 to 70.

Rose Succulents

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Greenovias Will Make You a Green Thumb

Plant expert Ashley Glassman gives a detailed tutorial on caring for greenovias. She shows how to care for them at every stage of their dormancy and life.

It’s important to know how to water greenovias to prevent sunburn and water rot.

Glassman recommends letting them go into their dormant phase. This keeps them on a natural cycle that allows them to grow strong. Follow her tips if you want greenovias as healthy, gorgeous and perfectly shaped as hers.

Get Your Own Rose Succulents

Are you ready to add these succulent beauties to your garden? You can buy them from these Etsy sellers.

Rose Succulents

Lithops Are “Living Stones” That Look Like Beautifully Marked Pebbles

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Lithops look exactly like stones until the day a delicate white, yellow or pink flower bursts through.

Lithops

An unusual succulent plant, lithops are sometimes called “flowering stones,” “living stones” or “mimicry plants.” When you see a group of them lying on the ground together, they look just like a group of stones with colorful, pebbled surfaces. If you look closely, you can see what looks like a split in each stone. That’s where they will sprout a single flower in the spring and summer.

Lithops

Lithops are Nature’s Mimics

If you want an unusual plant to add color and drama to your potting garden, try growing some lithops.

In nature, these beautiful succulents grow in the arid, hot plains of the South African desert. They have adapted to mimic the look of the stones surrounding them, but they also produce flowers that attract bees and other pollinators.

Lithops

Some Special Care Required

It’s not difficult to take care of lithops, but you have to adopt a different mindset than the one you’re used to for most plants. They need special growing techniques to flourish.

  • Use a growing medium that offers high drainage. Don’t use dirt or potting soil.
  • Lithops need four hours of sunlight. Gentle morning sunlight is best for them.
  • You should regularly check their roots to make sure they’re all growing and thriving.
  • The main way people kill them is by overwatering them.

Lighten Up With Lithops

Lithops will add a lovely, unusual element to any garden. If you’re ready to try something new, give these plants a sunny spot in your yard.

Lithops

 

Lithops