Plant of the Month: Lewisia Cotyledon

Posted:9 February 2014

Lewisia Cotyledo (Family: portulacaceae) is an evergreen perennial flowering plant originating in the north-west USA. It grows from a taproot and produces a basal rosette of many thick, fleshy oval- or spoon-shaped leaves. In spring to early summer it throws up panicles of starry flowers in glowing shades of yellow, orange, amber, pink or red on stems 4-12 inches tall.

It needs sharply-drained neutral to acid soil, and so at the Garden House we planted three Lewisias in a large terracotta pan in ericaceous soil mixed with grit. Lewisia must be protected from winter wet, so we planted each rosette at an angle so that rain would not pool in the centre of the leaves.

It can best be grown in alpine house conditions, in containers, or outside in a rock garden or in crevices in a wall, providing the soil is neutral/acid. It needs a free flow of air and grows in sun or light shade. In hot gardens it does better with some shade in summer.

Propagate by removing offsets in summer.

Protect from wet, slugs and snails, and look out for stem rot and mealy bugs.

RHS Award of Garden Merit.