The 'Money Plant'. A Northern European house plant, in Portugal we can grow it in the ground. Very long lived, fast growing into a stocky 1 metre bush. Mature plants are covered in pale white to pink star-like flowers through winter, especially at Christmas. Often ignored by gardeners it can be used as an informal hedge, as background or structural planting and as a specimen, the older plants trunks and bark are often sculptural, particularly if they are multi-stemmed. Like other members of the species C. ovata also does well in a large pot and can withstand long periods without water. Foliage is lush pea-green when fully hydrated but can be all shades of green tinged with rusty red and yellow when stressed or without water. This is their natural defence against drought and they always recover.

Occasionally they are damaged by heavy frosts but left to their own devices they regain their foliage and often a bit more character. They look good planted singly with most herbaceous plants or low growing succulents, but also in groups they will add a permanence to mixed planting, particularly when everything else is looking a bit tired in late summer.