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Growth habit
These
plants are small to medium growing evergreen succulent scrambling
herbs, the
stems as well as the leaves are highly succulent. They reproduce both
vegetatively as well as by seed.
Decorative value
These
plants are extremely decorative groundcover or feature plants having
light
green succulent leaves and a neat growth habit. Under increasing water
stress
the leave change colour to become an ever increasingly orange colour
with pink
margins and stems. They produce large masses of small white flowers
edged with
pink over a very long period of time starting as early as December
right
through until the mid to late winter months.
Drought resistance
In their
natural habitat they are able to withstand reasonable periods of
drought due to
their very succulent nature. From my experience of growing these plants
I have
found them to be fairly drought resistant.
Disease and pest resistance
These
plants
are generally disease resistant however they are sometimes fed upon by
the
larvae of butterflies they often in particular the flowers and flower
stems
become infested with mealy bug.
Suitability as Green Roof plants
From
indications of the plants that are being tested under Green Roof
conditions
these plants certainly give the impression that they are going to be
excellent
Green Roof ground cover plants.
Biodiversity value in the Green
Roof landscape
They create
good habitat and protection for other green roof dwellers. They are
frequently
fed on by the larvae of butterflies, when in flower from December until
mid to
late winter they attract large numbers of pollinating insects in
particular
honey bees.
Cautions and precautions in the
Green Roof
application
None that I
am aware of at the moment
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