Chinese Dunce Caps

Tiny Plants in a Stone Wall

| Flower Roberts

Stones stay warm after the sun goes down.
I have places to sit in my wall which are cozy on cool evenings. Sedums and succulents appreciate the warmth and good drainage of a stone wall.


My most interesting type of tiny plant in the wall is tucked in a safe spot behind a seat where I can sit next to it to care for it and enjoy it.

Chinese Dunce Cap

This is Orostachys malacphylla var. iwarenge. I call it by an easier name, Chinese Dunce Cap. It gets that name because its fall blooms are on tall cones.

Orostachys malacphylla var. iwarenge


I love the gray rosettes against the gray stones. This plant needs full sun and perfect drainage. You will want to sit near it while it blooms. The cones are complex and beautiful.

My warm seat in the evenings.

FLOWER

Raindrops on Dunce Caps

| Flower Roberts

My tiny Chinese Dunce Cap / Orostachys boehmeri repels the raindrops.

The waters’ cohesion to itself is stronger than any adhesion to this succulent’s surface.

That is why the drops are perfectly round. They are repelled by the waxy cuticle of the plant.

This is called beading. Its waxy surface keeps water in as well as out.

I love seeing all the tiny orbs caught by the leaves.

Water working miracles.

Go H20!

FLOW

Shapeshifter Succulent

| Flower Roberts

This tiny plant is a trickster. It looks like silver little rosettes from spring to fall.

Chinese Dunce Cap beginning to elongate.

Eventually it elongates into cones that are tall and will have tiny flowers on them in October.

There are several forms of Orostachys/ Chinese Dunce Cap. This one is O. boehmeri.

It likes full sun and dry conditions.

Flow nearing Fall

Little Blue Beauty

| Flower Roberts

This tiny sweetie pie, Orostachys boehmeri, has been growing in the wrong places for a long time.

It has survived, but not thrived…

until now.

I created the perfect niche.

Orostachys boehmeri , Chinese Dunce Cap

Warmed by stones, perfect drainage, protection from trampling…

It is the happiest it has ever been.

Are you growing in the right spot?

Flow