Ceropegia plants are a completely fascinating family (Apocynaceae) of dangling or climbing succulent plants from South Africa. The stems are long, wiry, and sparsely set with pairs of plump, precisely-shaped leaves so that the foliage effect is open and airy.
The waxy lantern flowers are almost unbelievable – intricately formed like miniature urns, parachutes, balloons, umbrellas, or lanterns.
Ceropegia Woodii (Rosary Vine) The Most Popular Ceropegia
The most popular Ceropegia species, Ceropegia woodii, is an old-fashioned indoor plant favorite still fondly called rosary vine for the beady bulblets that form along the succulent stems.
Other common names include:
- Sweetheart vine
- String-of-hearts
- Hearts entangled
… because the leaves are perfect little hearts, daintily decorated with silver tracery. The flowers look like pink-and-purple urns.
An even lacier species is Ceropegia debilis, with dull green needle-shaped leaves penciled with silver down the center, green and purple flowers.
Ceropegia barklyi is a climbing species with bulbous roots, wing-shaped, deep green leaves with a mosaic of silver veins, and greenish cream flowers with purple-brown veins like the ribs of an umbrella.
If you don’t provide support, the stems will climb upon themselves. Ceropegia caffrorum has perky, solid green heart-shaped leaves.
The Strange Ceropegia Plant – Ceropegia Sandersonii
Ceropegia sandersonii is the strangest of all. At first glance, a tough climber with strong twining stems and large funnel-flowers with dark spaces that look like the eye sockets in a skeleton head,
Ceropegia plants are both curious and decorative. The danglers make attractive hanging baskets and lace-curtain effects in windows. The climbers look pretty when trained up on small trellises. And they are so easy to grow!
Ceropegia Care Tips
- Light: The Ceropegias don’t demand full sunlight but will accept it if that’s what you have to offer.
- Soil: Any good, porous house plant soil mixture suits them very well. The fibrous roots particularly like soil if it is a little on the sandy side.
- Fertilizer: Feed sparingly in summer, and omit fertilizer completely during the winter rest period.
- Watering: Water only when the soil has dried out completely.
- Problems: The only difficulties are caused by over-watering or letting the pots stand in water for any length of time.
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