|Drosanthemum micans floral detail|
Get your sunglasses on! Why? Because it’s gonna be a hot one. Can you feel the electricity of color surging from this flower?! Today’s model comes to us from South Africa. It’s a succulent that, as you can see, produces blossoms that look as if they were forged from golden sunlight and dipped in the flames of desire. Am I right?! May I present, Drosanthemum micans commonly referred to as the Dew Flower. I’ve had this plant for some time and last autumn I seriously cut it back. It sat very quietly over the winter and just the other day it surprised me. It had been secretly growing and budding up big time over the past month or two and then, like a devil in a woodpile, it set my garden on fiya! These flowers have made quite the sultry landing pad for the bees and bumbles. The look is muy caliente!
|Drosanthemum micans flower + foliage + form|
Drosanthemum micans brings some serious sunshine to the world. It’s a compact, perennial little succulent shrublet that can grow to about 2 1/2 feet tall and wide. It’s got wiry stems covered in what look like little dewdrops. The plump needle-like grey-green leaves that appear scattered on the stems also have a dewy quality to them. In full sun, it looks like the plant is covered in a glistening dew. Now as for the flowers, not only are they spectacular, but they’ve got a very specific schedule. They tend to open around 9 in the morning and close everyday around 5. It’s something to see.
Drosanthemum micans, in my opinion, is a super easy succulent to grow. It likes full sun, well-draining, gritty soil, occasional water, a light feeding of compost, and is hardy down to about 25 degrees fahrenheit/-3 degrees celsius. Once established it can be drought tolerant and is almost carefree. This saucy little succulent will bloom almost all year too. Just deadhead after blooming to encourage continual blooming or cut back in October or November, like I did, and come spring it’ll be ablaze with blooms as brilliant as a thousand suns…or something close to that. It looks killer in a container or in the ground where it can gleam in all it’s glory.
