What's Wrong with My Baby Sun Rose?

Baby Sun Rose stores water in the succulent cells of its leaves and stems. When the soil stays wet, those cells absorb past capacity and burst, turning stems soft and translucent at the base. Rot climbs the trailing stems fast once it takes hold at the roots.

Baby Sun Rose wilts dramatically when the soil runs completely dry, because the shallow roots can no longer supply water to the long trailing stems. The whole plant can look collapsed and done for, but the recovery is fast once it gets a drink.

Baby Sun Rose's bright pink, red, or yellow daisy-like flowers only open in direct sunlight and only form on plants getting several hours of it per day. In too little light the plant stays alive but channels all energy into leaf growth and never sets buds. Flowers may also close on cloudy days, which is normal.

Baby Sun Rose is a fast-growing groundcover from sun-drenched South African coastal cliffs. Without enough direct light, the trailing stems elongate rapidly, the heart-shaped leaves become smaller and more widely spaced, and the plant loses its dense cascading form.

Mealybugs show up as white cottony clumps tucked into the joints where leaves meet stems. Baby Sun Rose's dense trailing habit and closely spaced leaf axils give them plenty of sheltered spots to build colonies before the sticky honeydew makes them obvious.

Soft green or yellow insects clustered on the flower buds and at the tips of actively growing stems. Baby Sun Rose's frequent budding creates a steady supply of the soft new tissue that aphids target, making the flowering tips the first place to check.