How to Care for Living Stone Plants

If you're looking for a truly unusual house plant, consider growing living stones, one of the strangest of them all. Living stones, or lithops, look like small rounded stones that naturally protect themselves from being eaten by changing colors to match their environment. Plant living stones as part of a dish garden, intermingled with actual stones and pebbles of varied colors. You'll have a hard time deciding which are plants and which are stones.

Choose a spot where the living stones will be in bright light for four to five hours each day. They grow naturally in the hot, arid regions of Africa, are are accustomed to intense sunlight. Bright morning sun and filtered sun or partial shade during the afternoons is best.

Begin watering living stones lightly in early spring. Work up gradually to deep drenchings after 2 to 3 weeks, letting the soil dry out for ten to fourteen days between each watering. Stop watering when the plants stop growing in mid-summer, and begin again after about a month, in August or early September, when you notice signs of growth. The first thing that will indicate growth is a separation between the leaves, followed by a bud. After the plant flowers, stop watering and give the soil time to dry out by winter.

Avoid watering living stones during winter. The soil should be bone dry, even if the living rocks look shriveled. During this time, don't put the living stones too near a cold window because they are easily harmed by frost.