Last Friday, I took a trip out of the city with some friends to buy herbs, and came home with something unexpected. Pig’s Ear (Cotyledon orbiculata) is a pretty grey-blue-green succulent with big, fleshy leaves and orange flowers. According to my favourite go-to succulent identification book, “Succulents: The Illustrated Dictionary” by Maurizio Sajeva and Mariangela Costanzo, it’s from South Africa and not hardy in my zone so I’ll be keeping it in a pot and it will go outside in another month or so with my other tender succulents. Those of you in zones 7 and up will have the good fortune of keeping it outside year-round and may even be able to put it in the soil if you have lots of sun and a dry spot that drains well. It’s look and spreading growth habit reminds me of Flapjack (Kalanchoe thyrsifolia), but with pointier leaves.
At the store it was promoted as a remedy for wart removal, but I bought it for its beauty. Should I develop a wart, I now know where to turn instead of those scary removal creams that make them go black and drop off of your body.
I have a growing interest in succulents so will look out for that one here in the UK
Oh man, I had a mystery wart pop up on my finger and tried using those band-aids. After one day I changed it and it was like a David Cronenberg movie from the 80s was filming RIGHT ON MY FINGER. Blergh. Next time I’ll try this.
I’m starting to develop an extentsive collection of succulents as well. I have that one as well in a pot on my veranda, that I never water. Its funny I was never particularly interested in catcti and succulents until I met Hubby…what do you spose that means