The Lampranthus – Red Mesen, Dewplant, Cats Claw or Sunbeam – is a creeping succulent plant characterised by a mass of flowers.
Blooming heavily from late winter to spring in warm winter areas, and from early summer to early autumn in cooler locations.
It’s perfect for covering garden areas and decorating rockeries or slopes, due to its creeping nature.
An evergreen, erect, shallow-rooted succulent shrublet with a fibrous root system with wiry stems, spreading out horizontally, bearing small blue-green finger like leaves, up to 3 in. long and growing up to 3ft. high.
Many varieties, with flower colours ranging from red, orange, white and to violet. After flowering, dead-head spent flowers, helping continually to produce flowers.
They don’t mind poor quality soils, happy in both pots and in garden borders. Water moderately being a drought tolerant plant, an ideal choice in Costa Blanca South gardens.
A sun loving plant, plant in a very sunny or bright area of your garden for abundant flowering. They do not need fertilising, as that will cause overgrowth, making softer, weaker branches.
A succulent they are sensitive to low temperatures, although, being very hardy, can withstand a light frost.
Easy to propagate from cuttings, or simply let them self seed. A very resistant plant, however, it can be affected by attacks of cottony mealybug.
