String of Hearts
Ceropegia woodii
📖 About this plant
A delicate, enchanting trailing succulent vine with tiny, heart-shaped, gray-green leaves with mottled silver patterns and purple undersides. The wiry stems produce small, potato-like tubers at the nodes that can be used for propagation. When happy, it produces extraordinary, lantern-shaped pinkish-purple flowers with a distinctive tubular corona. The combination of dainty hearts, silvery vines, and unusual flowers makes it one of the most romantic houseplants. Thrives in bright, indirect light with infrequent watering.
🧑🌾 Care requirements
Bright indirect (4-6 hrs)
Every 2-3 weeks
Low to moderate (30-50%)
18-26°C
Very well-draining, gritty potting mix with coarse sand, perlite, and a small amount of peat or coco coir; succulent/cacti mix works well
Balanced liquid fertilizer (10-10-10) diluted to quarter strength every 4-6 weeks during growing season; very light feeder
🌐 Common Names
📋 Plant facts
- 🌍 Origin
- South Africa, Zimbabwe, Eswatini (Swaziland)
- 📏 Max height
- Trailing 1-3+ m; stems can reach 4+ m in ideal conditions
- 📐 Spread
- 60-120 cm
- 🕰️ Bloom time
- Spring - Summer
- 🎨 Bloom color
- Pink, Purple
- 🍃 Foliage color
- Green, Silver Variegated
- ⏳ Lifespan
- Perennial
- 📈 Growth rate
- Moderate
- ☠️ Toxicity
- Non-toxic to cats, dogs, and humans — safe for all households
- 🌱 Propagation
- Tuber cuttings (small potato-like tubers that form at leaf nodes on the stem), stem cuttings, or the pearl-like tubers laid directly on soil
🛡️ Health & Safety
Non-toxic to cats, dogs, and humans — safe for all households
Common issues
- Root rot from overwatering
- Mealybugs on stems
- Leaf drop from underwatering
💡 Care tips
- Trailing vine with tiny heart-shaped leaves
- Allow soil to dry completely between waterings
- Perfect for hanging baskets and high shelves
- Propagate easily from tuber-like leaf nodes
