Echeveria (Echeveria spp.)

Echeveria Plant Features

Succulents are super popular because they’re stylish and have low water needs. Echeveria are some of the most popular succulent types because the leaves grow out from a central point, called a rosette. This gives the plant a flower- or rose-like appearance.

The echeveria family brings a variety of colors and textures to your indoor and outdoor displays. The classic types of this succulent are blue-gray or gray-green in color. Hunt around and you’ll find green, purple, and variegated varieties, as well. Most are low-growing and topped in summer with clusters of bell-shaped flowers on tallish stems.

Indoors, echeveria’s tidy growth makes it perfect for decorating window sills, desks, and tabletops. You can’t go wrong with different echeveria types for living walls and other DIY projects. Outdoors, enjoy these plants in container gardens, as well as low-water landscape beds and borders. Because they’re so drought tolerant, you can practically plant them and forget them!

Dig Deeper!
Get our guide (it's free!) on growing and decorating with cacti and succulents

Find more container garden inspiration with echeveria and other types of succulents.

Don't miss our tips for picking out the best succulents.

Echeveria Growing Instructions

Echeveria have a reputation for being easy to care for, and it’s true if you have the right conditions. The first thing to know about them is that they need lots of light—the brightest spot you have inside. Unfortunately, echeveria, like many succulent types, don’t do well in low light situations. Outdoors, they appreciate all-day sun or a spot with morning shade and afternoon sun.

These textural plants do have low-water needs, whether you grow them indoors or out. Water as the top several inches of the potting mix dries to the touch. How much and often that is will depend on factors such as light, temperature, humidity levels, the type of soil or potting mix, the size of the pot, and other factors.

Their low-water needs make most echeveria relatively slow growers. That said, they don’t need a lot of fertilizer. If you’d like to feed them, however, you can use any general-purpose product. Be sure to follow the directions and don’t exceed the recommendations on the product packaging.

Echeveria typically don’t require pruning except to remove the faded flower stems. (They only bloom in high-light situations; if you’re growing them indoors and they don’t get enough brightness, your echeveria may not bloom.)

Note: These succulents are not meant for human or animal consumption.

Water

Low water needs
Light

Indoors: High light

Outside: Part sun

Outside: Sun
Colors

Blue

Green

Orange

Pink

Red

Silver

Variegated

Yellow
Special Features

Colorful foliage

Super-easy to grow

Complement your Echeveria

Aloe
Aloe and echeveria are both succulent types that like bright light and don't need a lot of water (indoors or out!).

Kalanchoe
Accent echeveria with the wild and diverse types of Kalanchoe. K. 'Chocolate Solider' is fabulous with E. setosa, for example.

Our favorite varieties

Echeveria affinis

Echeveria affinis is a charming species with purple-green foliage that grows 10 inches tall and 12 inches wide. The more light it gets, the darker the leaves become. This species blooms in summer with reddish flowers. It's a perennial in Zones 10-11 and is native to Mexico.

Echeveria agavoides

Echeveria agavoides bears pointy green leaves playfully tipped in red. The pinkish blooms are just as colorful as they’re edged in golden yellow. It grows 8 inches tall and 12 inches wide. It’s native to areas of Mexico. Zones 10-11

Black Prince Echeveria

Echeveria ‘Black Prince’

Echeveria ‘Black Prince’ is a standout hybrid that bears rich purple-green foliage. Like many purple succulents, you get the better leaf color in brighter light. ‘Black Prince’ offers reddish summertime flowers. It grows 6 inches tall and wide. Zones 10-11

Princess Blue Echeveria

Echeveria ‘Princess Blue’

Echeveria ‘Princess Blue’ is a charming hybrid that bears silvery-blue-green foliage tipped in pink or purple along with pinkish-red flowers in summer. It grows 8 inches tall and wide. Zones 9-11

Echeveria colorata

Easy-care and elegant, Echeveria colorata is a delightful species that forms a rosette of silvery foliage tipped in pink. It grows 12 inches tall and wide and comes from areas of Mexico. When it blooms, it shows off pinkish-orange flowers in late summer and early autumn. Zones 10-11

Deranosa Echeveria

Echeveria ‘Deranosa’

Echeveria ‘Deranosa’ is a tidy little variety from Mexico with fleshy gray-green leaves in the traditional rosette shape you find from this genus. The flowers are yellow. It can grow 8 inches tall and wide. Zones 10-11.

Echeveria elegans

Also called Mexican snowball, this species displays delightful silvery-blue foliage. It grows about 12 inches tall and wide and bears yellow-and-pink flowers over the summer in bright light. Zones 10-11

Echeveria haagai

Echeveria haagai is a fun Mexican species with thick and fleshy gray-green foliage. Its texture contrasts well with other echeveria species. The flowers are orange-red in color. It grows 8 inches tall and 10 inches wide. Zones 10-11

Topsy Turvy Echeveria

Echeveria runyonii 'Topsy Turvy'

Grow Echeveria ‘Topsy Turvy’ if you like texture! Each leave has a little curl at the tips, helping it stand out from the crowd and give plantings a visual boost. In summer, it bursts into bloom with delightful orange-and-yellow flowers reminiscent of candy corn. It grows 10 inches tall and wide. Zones 9-10

Echeveria pulvinata

One of our favorite echeveria species, Echeveria pulvinata has fabulous gray-green leaves that are softly fuzzy. It’s relatively slow-growing and easy to care for, making it an ideal addition to sunny plantings, bright desks, or window sills. It can eventually reach about 8 inches tall and wide. Zones 10-11

Echeveria secunda

Echeveria secunda produces an attractive rosette of silvery blue-green leaves topped by stems of reddish flowers in the summer. Native to Mexico, it’s easy to grow and reaches about 10 inches tall and wide. Zones 9-11

Echeveria shaviana

A dramatic echeveria from Mexico, E. shaviana shows off leaves with frilly edges. It's a distinctive and enjoyable partner for other succulent varieties. It grows 12 inches tall and wide and offers pinkish summertime flowers. Zones 10-11

Echeveria setosa

Also called firecracker echeveria, E. setosa brings texture into your succulent plantings with its softy fuzzy, gray-green foliage. Like many other echeveria, it blooms in summer with red-and-yellow flowers. It grows 6 inches tall and wide. Zones 10-11

Echeveria purpusorum

Echeveria purpusorum is a charming species from Mexico that offers greenish leaves often variegated with shades of reddish-purple. In summer, it shows off spikes of orange-red flowers that nod gracefully over the foliage. It grows 8 inches tall and wide. Zones 10-11

Perle Von Nurnberg Echeveria

Echeveria 'Perle Von Nurnberg'

‘Perle Von Nurnberg’ is an outstanding hybrid that offers purple-tinted gray-green foliage that looks good all year long. Spikes of coral-pink flowers accent the foliage rosettes on long, hot summer days. It grows 10 inches tall and wide. Zones 10-11

Echeveria peacockii

With a name like peacock echeveria, you’d expect this variety to be showy. And it is! E. peacockii brings silvery leaves to your indoor or outdoor displays. Originally from Mexico, this species usually grows about 8 inches tall and wide or so). It produces red-orange flowers in summer. Zone 10-11

Echeveria nodulosa

Sometimes called painted echeveria, E. nodulosa is a distinctive species that shows off gray-green leaves edged and variegated in deep maroon red. We also love its flowers—they’re pink and yellow. Like many of the other Echeveria we grow, it’s showiest in bright light. It grows 14 inches tall and 12 inches wide. Zones 10-11

Lola Echeveria

Echeveria ‘Lola’

Echeveria ‘Lola’ features pale gray-green leaves with a soft purple blush in bright light. It blooms in summer with orange-pink flowers. ‘Lola’ grows 6 inches tall and 10 inches wide. Zones 10-11

Echeveria lilacina

Nicknamed ghost echeveria for its pale silvery-blue foliage, this Mexican species is perfect for contrasting with varieties like ‘Black Prince’ or E. nodulosa. It produces coral-pink blooms in summer and grows 12 inches tall and wide. Zones 10-11