21 Feb New Arrivals: A ‘Coppertone Stonecrop’ and Other Rock-Hard Succulents

We usually ascribe human features to our succulents — e.g. the textured fleshiness of our “mama jade,” the zombie pallor of the echeveria — but our newest crop is made of stonier stuff.

The stubby, cleaved Lithops marmorata  is one of our favorites. “Lithops” comes from the Ancient Greek word for stone, and its common names include pebble plant and living stone. The peg-shaped leaves look a bit like hooves, no? Its flowers, which have a spicy-sweet scent and resemble daisies, sprout from the cracks in the leaves. Poetic!

Now onto the sedums, also known as stonecrops. The coppertone stonecrop, known officially as Sedum nussbaumerianum, comes the closest to rose gold that we’ve ever seen on a plant.

And what’s that lime green platter in the middle of the top photo? Never mind the redundant name; Rocky stonecrop (Sedum rupestre, aka lemon coral) is a perky, springy succulent groundcover that sends out more neon energy by way of its yellow blooms in summer.

Finally, mingling up top with the rose-shaped crassula, sedeveria and echeveria are the green tentacles of the Fenestraria rhopalophylla. (Creepy common name: baby toes. Less creepy name: window plant.) The leaves are smooth and wiggly with translucent square at the top, and remind us of the cold, hard fingers of a Roman statue.