Description
Delicious little succulent with fast growing. Native to Africa, it is appreciated as much for its compact and ground cover as for its delicate flowering. It has thin and fleshy stems, covered with a white down, with a creeping or prostrate course: the small lanceolate leaves, of a bright green color, with margins equipped with numerous whitish bristles that give, as a whole, a silvery appearance to the plant, make them deserve the common name of "cat's ears." From late spring and until autumn in the axillary areas of the leaves in the apical parts of the branches appear the graceful small purple flowers on which the golden anthers stand out.
Suggestions
It prefers bright, sunny, open positions and at most partial shade since the lack of light can induce stunted and etiolated growth of the plant; it adapts to any type of soil but likes poor and dry ones, especially permeable and well drained ones. It tolerates long periods of drought and the presence of salinity typical of sea winds in coastal locations. It bears minimum winter temperatures only a few degrees below zero, therefore, in regions characterized by intense and prolonged cold in winter, it is recommended to plant it in a sheltered position, or to grow it in pots to be protected in a fresh and bright environment. It does not require particular interventions: in spring at the vegetative restart we can simply remove dry, broken, old or bulky parts and at the same time slightly trim all the vegetative apexes to allow further tillering and a richer subsequent flowering. Right and refined choice for containers and pots, even small ones, on terraces, balconies and verandas; in the open ground we use it above all to embellish some areas of our rock, or to dress the edges of dry stone walls of raised flower beds, or to emphasize the foot of cacti plants with columnar development.
