51�Թ�

She added plants to the menu and began selling greenery alongside her staples: Senecio with sushi, prayer plants with pumpkin mochi cookies, calathea with her famous mint lemonade.

Also appealing and true to its common name, but for brighter light: string of pearls, Senecio rowleyanus, a South African species with succulent pea-sized and -shaped leaves that cascade over a pot edge.

Why didn’t I think to fill my pots with succulents as she did — plants such as Echeveria, Senecio, Sempervivum and even certain Sedum that deliver a long show with relatively little care?

That explains her affection for exceptions like Euphorbia tirucalli Sticks on Fire or the upright Senecio cylindricus, as well as non-succulent partners like Phormium that can handle lean, drier conditions.

String of Pearls, formerly known as Senecio rowleyanus, is a popular trailing plant with pea-shaped leaves.