What it is
String of Pearls (Curio rowleyanus) is in the Asteraceae (Daisy) family. A trailing succulent of bead-like leaves that spills from a hanging pot - root a strand laid on soil.
How to grow it
It wants bright indirect light, water it very low - succulent, and give it gritty, fast-draining soil. Target a soil pH around 6.0-7.0. Space plants about Pot apart. Expect roughly Stem cuttings root. Tender succulent.
How it's used
String of Pearls is used: houseplant.
🔎 How to identify it
- Round pea-like leaves on threads
- Trailing strands
- Roots along the stem
Not for eating
How to grow & propagate string of pearls
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate string of pearls
The daisy family is a seed family — those flower heads are seed factories, and most members come up fast and willing from direct sowing. The perennial members (coneflower, black-eyed Susan, the native sunflowers) also clump up over a few years and can be lifted and split in fall or early spring to make free plants and keep the center from dying out.
Growing string of pearls in Texas
Give it bright indirect light and gritty, fast-draining soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
Time your planting to our long warm season and watch the frost dates at both ends; the live weather tool on this site is built for exactly that.
Once it's rooted in, this is a low-water plant — overwatering does more harm than drought here. Water deeply to establish, then back off and let it prove how tough it is.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly stem cuttings root before you're harvesting. Pick herbs in the morning after the dew dries for the strongest oils, and harvest little and often — regular cutting keeps a herb bushy and stops it bolting.
Making more for free
If you want more, let your healthiest plants mature fully and collect the seed once it's dry on the plant — then store it somewhere cool, dark, and dry until next season.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.