If there are top two succulents which can grow healthy with neglect that would be the sedum adolphii and sedum morganianum. These are two plants I never really worry about, be it in the sunny Indian summers or the wet rainy season here. The burro's tail is a gorgeous plant as is the sedum adophii. Rotting is not so common with these, neither do they get affected by pests easily.
I really have no clue why they say that the burro's tail is a slow growing plant. Mine seem to grow so fast and thick that sometimes it just falls out because the weight of the plant is not supported by its roots. Since I grow these as hanging plants in baskets the fall really shatters the plants and it creates a huge mess.
These succulents need bright light, direct sunlight makes the color of the leaves fade. The leaves become yellowish more like golden grapes when it is ripe and bursting with juice. Growing them in partial shade makes the leaves look green and lovely. Let the plant grow in low light and you have long, straggly, leggy stems.
This plant is often confused with the donkeys tail. Both look very similar, they trail and look like twins but not identical. Both are trailing plants. The burro's tail has rounded leaves, while the donkey's tail is slightly elongated leaves which are crescent shaped. Sorry I forgot to get a picture of my donkey's tail plant.
Both seems to take time to take off but once they are settled in their growing spaces they just grow thick and wild filling pots to such an extent that they get top heavy and topple.
I feel that the buro's tail has a very strange appeal to many people , many of my friends say that they have this strange desire to pick the leaves and squeeze them, or bite into their juicy flesh as they look like grapes, strange but common. Nonetheless, both plants look beautiful when they trail down layer on layer making them look like the perfect trailing plants.
Like I said earlier they grow top heavy and often fall due to their weight. I have a couple of quick fixes for these problems. While I use porous succulent soil to grow them initially, I always re-pot them into pots with soil that is slightly clayey. This way the roots have a better hold. Even though I hate re-potting a bushy plant for the fear of the plant losings its leaves and displaying thin stems, or due to the fact that they break while re-potting and lose their beauty and shape, I still feel its better than having to lose the plant due to a fall.
Every leaf that breaks off has the power to grow into a new plant and every branch that breaks off can become a new plant by itself. Propagation is so very easy. Don't worry when your plant loses leaves think of them as free plants. Just pick up all the dropped leaves and put them in a tray filled with very lightly moist soil and you can grow a huge number of plants.
One great thing about the burro's tail is that it is almost never plagued by pests. I have seen rare cases of mealy bugs covering the whole plant, but as I said it is very rare. It often happens because these are kept close to infested plants or they are absolutely neglected in every way possible.
It stunning how these plants can be a part of every succulent arrangement and fill in so beautiful lending any arrangement a complete and balanced look. I love adding these into most of my succulent arrangements.
I grow my plants on the terrace and so they face the direct heat of the Indian sun all through the year. They tend to lose color and look pale, regardless they have a beauty of their own. Growing the burro's tail in bright light makes for thick, bushy growth which looks so beautiful. Just don't pour too much water and these will grace your garden for a long, long time to come.
Having said all this I should confess that I am more partial to the slightly fussy but gorgeous looking donkey's tail.