7 String Succulents Compared: Pearls vs. Bananas, Dolphins, Turtles, and More

Most gardeners who can name string of pearls can’t explain why the banana version survives twice as long on a neglected windowsill — or that one of the most popular string succulents sold in garden centers isn’t a desert plant at all. It comes from a rainforest in Ecuador, and treating it like a cactus kills it within weeks.

The string succulent category has exploded in recent years. They trail dramatically, photograph beautifully, and nearly all carry the same “easy care” label. That label is accurate for maybe three of the seven types you’re likely to encounter. For the others, it sets you up for a frustrating first month.

Below is a ranked comparison of all seven — with the biology behind each difficulty rating, a quick-reference table, and a simple choosing guide so you buy the right one the first time.

One Family? Not Quite

Most string succulents look related, and most of them are — but “string of” is a common name, not a taxonomy. The group actually spans three plant families:

Three pre-planned garden beds, free

Stop staring at empty beds: printable plans with exact layouts, plant lists and planting calendars — yours free from the Garden Library.

Send me the plans

I agree to receive emails from Blooming Expert and accept the Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe anytime.

• Asteraceae (the daisy family): String of Pearls, String of Bananas, String of Dolphins, and String of Tears all belong to the genus Curio, reclassified from Senecio in 2019. Ruby Necklace (Othonna capensis) is also Asteraceae but a different genus within it. All originate from arid regions of South Africa.
• Apocynaceae: String of Hearts (Ceropegia woodii) belongs to a completely unrelated family. It stores water in small bead-like corms along its stems rather than in the leaves — which gives it drought tolerance without being a true succulent.
• Piperaceae (the pepper family): String of Turtles (Peperomia prostrata) is the critical outlier. Native to the wet tropical forests of Ecuador — not the South African semi-desert — it needs more consistent moisture and humidity than any other plant on this list.

Why does taxonomy matter for care? The four Curio species share an evolutionary adaptation: their leaves have translucent strips called epidermal windows. These let light reach the leaf interior for photosynthesis while minimizing the surface area exposed to dry air, reducing water loss without sacrificing energy production. Research suggests the windows also help prevent overheating in intense sun. Plants that share this adaptation tolerate similar care. Plants that don’t — like Turtles — need a fundamentally different approach.

7 String Succulents at a Glance

*Difficulty rating applies specifically to growers used to desert succulent care routines — see profile below.

The 7 String Succulents: Profiles

1. String of Pearls (Curio rowleyanus)

The classic. Spherical leaves between a quarter and a third of an inch in diameter grow on thin trailing stems and spill over the rim of a pot like a living curtain. Each bead has a small pointed tip and a dark translucent epidermal window. Native to the rocky, dry eastern Cape of South Africa, string of pearls naturally grows under bushes where it’s sheltered from full midday sun — which is why bright, indirect light indoors replicates its preferred conditions far better than a blazing south-facing sill in summer.

The primary mistake is overwatering. String of pearls has a shallow root system and can’t sit in waterlogged soil for more than a day or two before root rot sets in. Use clay pots over plastic — clay evaporates moisture through the walls and speeds up the dry-down between waterings. A cactus mix cut with coarse sand, pumice, or poultry grit at roughly equal parts gives the fast drainage these shallow roots need. Give the plant a cool winter rest at 55–60°F with reduced watering and it will bloom the following summer — small white flowers with a faint cinnamon scent. Note that the sap is mildly toxic; keep it away from pets and small children. For a full care walkthrough, see our string of pearls growing guide.

2. String of Bananas (Curio radicans)

If you’ve killed a string of pearls and want to try again, start here. The banana-shaped leaves — glossy, green, roughly 1.2 inches long, each with a tiny translucent leaf window — grow on noticeably thicker stems than the pearls. That stem thickness matters: more vascular tissue means more water storage and more physical resilience when you forget to water for an extra week. Succulent authority Debra Lee Baldwin describes it as “the toughest, most trouble-free of the cascaders” — an assessment backed by its wide native range across South Africa, from the Cape Provinces through KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, and Namibia.

Stems reach 1 to 3 feet and grow fast enough to make frequent propagation easy. Care is nearly identical to pearls: bright indirect light, fast-draining cactus mix, water when the top half of the soil is dry. The practical difference is just how much longer it tolerates your forgetting.

3. String of Dolphins (Curio × peregrinus)

A hybrid between Curio rowleyanus and Curio articulatus, string of dolphins produces the most distinctive leaves on this list — curved, cylindrical, and pinched at both ends so each one resembles a leaping dolphin. When it’s thriving, the resemblance is genuinely striking. When it isn’t, the leaves flatten and elongate, losing the characteristic shape entirely.

That’s the core problem: dolphins needs consistently bright light — not just adequate light — to maintain the leaf form that makes it worth growing. A few weeks in lower light and you’re left with an unremarkable trailing plant with vaguely pointed leaves. It’s the most demanding of the Curio group, best suited to experienced growers with a very bright window or supplemental grow lighting. Not the right choice for a first string succulent.

4. String of Tears (Curio herreianus)

The most underrated plant on this list. String of tears has chubby, teardrop-shaped leaves with faint vertical translucent stripes — the same epidermal window adaptation as its Curio cousins, expressed as parallel lines rather than a single dark strip. It sits between bananas and pearls on the difficulty scale: the slightly larger leaf volume provides more drought buffer than the small spherical pearl, but less buffer than a full banana-shaped leaf. Care is the same as the other Curio species — bright indirect light, fast-draining soil, water when the top half is dry.

If you want a string succulent that looks distinct from the ubiquitous pearls without the demanding care of dolphins, string of tears is the most rewarding choice in the group.

5. Ruby Necklace (Othonna capensis)

Ruby necklace is the color-changer of the group. The leaves are cylindrical and bean-shaped — green in moderate light — but the stems are a rich purple-red even at baseline. Stress the plant a little with a few hours of direct morning sun, a brief drought, or cooler overnight temperatures, and the leaves shift to vivid shades of burgundy, magenta, and purple. This color change is not damage; it’s the plant’s natural anthocyanin stress response and fully reversible when conditions ease.

Unlike the Curio species, ruby necklace genuinely benefits from more sun exposure to develop its full color. Keep temperatures above 50°F; below that it begins to decline. The soil mix should be very gritty — 50 to 70% mineral components like pumice, perlite, or coarse sand combined with succulent potting mix. For more on trailing succulent sun and drought requirements, our Burro’s Tail vs. String of Bananas guide covers that spectrum in detail.

6. String of Hearts (Ceropegia woodii)

String of hearts isn’t botanically related to any other plant on this list and isn’t technically a succulent, but it earns its place here through genuine drought tolerance. It stores water in small corms — bead-like structures that form along the stems — giving it resilience without fleshy desert-adapted leaves. The heart-shaped foliage is grey-green with silver marbling on top and pale purple underneath; vines trail to 6 feet with time.

The practical difference from Curio species is light flexibility. String of hearts handles an east or north-facing window far better than pearls, and those water-storing corms give it a wider watering margin as well. It’s arguably the most beginner-friendly choice on this entire list for anyone who doesn’t have reliably bright light. For a head-to-head comparison, our String of Pearls vs. String of Hearts breakdown covers their differences in detail.

7. String of Turtles (Peperomia prostrata) — The Critical Trap

String of turtles is sold in the succulent section of nearly every garden center. The round, patterned leaves genuinely do resemble miniature turtle shells. The care label says “drought tolerant” and “bright indirect light.” And then it dies, and the owner blames themselves.

The problem is that Peperomia prostrata is not from South Africa and is not adapted to drought. It’s native to the wet tropical forests of Ecuador, where it grows as an epiphyte — attached to other plants in a consistently humid environment with regular rainfall. Treating it with a succulent’s watering schedule (letting the soil dry out completely) starves it of moisture. Treating it with a very gritty succulent soil means what little water you do give it vanishes before the roots can absorb it.

The correct approach: use a mix of regular potting soil with perlite and orchid bark that retains some moisture while still draining well. Target humidity of 50 to 70%. Water when the top half of the soil is dry, not bone-dry all the way down. It grows slowly — maturing at around 12 inches — and is non-toxic to dogs and cats, which makes it a good choice for pet-friendly homes once you’ve adjusted your care approach. The difficulty is entirely a framework problem, not a plant problem.

Why Some Are Harder Than Others

The difficulty gap between bananas and pearls isn’t arbitrary — it comes down to leaf morphology. A string of bananas leaf is roughly 1.2 inches long and a quarter inch in diameter, giving it approximately four times the water-storage volume of a string of pearls bead at a quarter inch in diameter. That volume acts as a buffer: the plant draws on stored leaf water during a drought while its roots wait for the next watering. Fewer reserves in a small spherical bead means both overwatering stress and underwatering stress manifest faster in pearls.

Stem thickness compounds this. Curio radicans stems are noticeably thicker and more physically resilient than those of C. rowleyanus. More vascular tissue means more efficient water transport and better recovery from stress — the equivalent of a larger water tank with wider pipes.

String of dolphins adds another variable: hybrid instability. As a cross between two species, it’s more sensitive to environmental cues — particularly light intensity. The distinctive dolphin-shaped leaf depends on specific light levels; provide too little and the leaf shape degrades permanently on those nodes. The other six types don’t exhibit this sensitivity to the same degree.

String of turtles is in a category of its own. The difficulty for succulent growers isn’t that it’s inherently fragile — it’s that every learned behavior from keeping desert succulents is counterproductive for a rainforest epiphyte. The right soil, watering frequency, humidity level, and pot choice are all different. Once you replace the desert-succulent framework with the correct tropical one, it’s actually a reasonably forgiving plant.

Which One Should You Buy?

For soil that works across the whole Curio group, our succulent soil guide covers the exact grit ratios and amendment options that keep these roots healthy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which string succulent is easiest to grow?

String of Bananas (Curio radicans) is the most forgiving — its thicker stems and larger leaves store significantly more water than the small spherical beads of string of pearls, giving it a longer buffer against both overwatering and drought. It’s the best starting point for anyone new to this plant family.

Are string of pearls and string of bananas the same plant?

No. Both belong to the genus Curio in the Asteraceae family and share similar care needs, but they are distinct species. Curio rowleyanus produces spherical bead-like leaves; Curio radicans produces elongated, banana-shaped leaves on noticeably thicker stems. The banana species is faster-growing and significantly tougher.

Is string of turtles really a succulent?

It’s classified as a succulent due to its fleshy leaves, but its native habitat is the wet tropical forests of Ecuador — not a desert or semi-arid region. It needs consistently moist soil and moderate-to-high humidity, which makes standard desert-succulent care routines actively harmful. Treat it more like a tropical houseplant than a cactus.

How long do string succulents trail?

String of Bananas and String of Hearts are the longest trailers, both reaching 6 feet in good conditions. String of Pearls typically trails 2 to 3 feet. String of Turtles is the shortest at around 12 inches at full maturity.

Can you grow different string succulents together in one pot?

You can combine any of the Curio species — Pearls, Bananas, Tears — with Ruby Necklace, as they share similar watering, light, and soil needs. Avoid putting String of Turtles in the same pot as any of the others: its moisture requirements are incompatible with the fast-draining, dry-between-waterings conditions the desert species require.

Sources

1. Curio rowleyanus — NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
2. Curio radicans — NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
3. Peperomia prostrata — NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
4. String of Pearls — Wisconsin Horticulture Extension
5. Your string of pearls and its cousins are all members of the daisy family — In Defense of Plants
6. Succulent Senecios: Details, Photos, Varieties — Debra Lee Baldwin