Crassula Tetragona or Bonsai Pine
Plants for Dry Landscapes
or Easy House Plants
 One of my favorite
succulent plants is named
Crassula
tetragona. These drought tolerant succulent plants look a
little
like pine
branches with the
needles sticking out the sides, or a green bottle brush.
They are
often used in bonsai pots to look like pine trees. In the ground
for landscaping, they grow up to 4 feet tall.
Crassula
tetragona plants will branch at the
tips and can be used as a low, informal hedge. The plant's
leaves, which look like fat pine needles are about an inch long.
Leaf color can vary from green to deep, bluish green. Crassula
tetragona can take full sun to light shade, love heat and are easy to
root and grow.
Like other Crassula, these grow well in dry gardens with other
succulent and cacti. Mine do well in heavy, clay alkaline
soil. As houseplants, give crassulas up to 6 hours
a day of sun.
They should also do well with bright, indirect
light. Perennial crassula tetragona plants are drought tolerant
and easy to care for; they only
need water once a month or so. In summer they get wide, flat
sprays of flowers that make me think of Queen Anne's Lace. Blooms
are produced on the tips of their branches. Flower color can vary
from white to yellow. 
Crassula tetragona are great choices for container
gardens. They
are often grown in small bonsai pots and trimmed to appear as pine
trees.
Without the pinching and trimming these succulent plants
form new branches near the top, resulting in thick tops and bare stems
at the bottom.
To encourage shrubbier growth, pinch off a
few leafs at the top. - And just tuck them into the soil in your
pot. They will root and form more plants.
Crassula are hardy to 40 degrees. In
my garden they have survived light dustings of frost. But all
that water stored in their leaves and branches will freeze if they are
exposed to cold temperatures for very long.
Crassula Tetragona Succulent Plant Propagation
Like most succulent plants, they are easy to propagate with stem or
leaf
cuttings so you don't have to spend a
lot of money to have a lot of plants. Bonsai pine plants branch
at the tips and can get a little top heavy. Trim from the top of
the plant to create more succulents for your landscape.
If you
plant the cutting straight up, it will continue to grow that way.
If you place a cutting on its side, the cutting will develop roots
along the branch and form several plants.
 In my yard, the dog
sometimes knocks off a few branches here and there. Those
branches take root with no help from me, thank you.
So, I'm
slowly getting bigger clumps of crassula growing around the yard with
no time or effort from me, cool deal.
Xeriscaping with drought tolerant cacti and succulent plants has become
popular out here in the arid southwest.
My crassula are growing
in both full sun and shade, in heavy alkaline, clay soil. They
are poking up around my cactus and their fluffy branches provide a nice
contrast to the flat green cactus pads. They get watered once a
month (if I remember ).
They’re pretty, carefree and always look
green when everything else has fried. If you think you have a
brown thumb, this is the plant for you!
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