Echeveria
Echeveria elegans
Family Crassulaceae
An echeveria is geometry you can put on a windowsill: perfect spiraled rosettes in dusty blues, greens, and pinks, finished with a soft powdered bloom like frost on a plum. It's the succulent every wedding bouquet and dish garden borrows for a reason.
Small — rosettes run two to eight inches — pet-safe, and slow, it's made for collections: a row of different forms along one bright sill. Summer sends up coral bloom stalks the bees appreciate outdoors. Start with one and accept that a shelf will follow.
Full sun to bright light — stretches
Low water
Slow growth
Attracts bees
None winter chill
From the print shop
Growing echeveria? Hang it.
Our Plant Library collection carries echeveria — Echeveria elegans, print Nº 164, “Echeveria.”
526 designsfrom $12.99white or black backgroundmatte poster, unframed
Will it thrive where you are?
Enter your ZIP — we look up your USDA hardiness zone (2023 map) and check it against what echeveria actually needs.
Hardy inZones 9-11Echeveria · Common problems
Common echeveria problems
Echeveria · Growing & propagation
Growing echeveria
- Light
- Full sun to bright light
Stretches (etiolates) without it
- Water
- Low
Soak and dry fully; never let water sit in the rosette
Soil- Gritty cactus mix · pH 6.0 - 7.0
Fertilizer- Rarely
Pruning- As needed
Pull spent lower leaves; behead stretched plants and re-root the rosette.
Spacing- 4-8 in apart in arrangements
How to plant & propagate echeveria
- Propagate
- Stem/leaf cuttings, division, or pups
Echeveria · Calculators & field guides
A little help in the garden.
Echeveria · Yearly calendar
The echeveria year, month by month
Jan
No calendar activity is listed for this month.
BloomBloomJune to August
What each band means
- Bloom — flowers open — pollinators working, frost on blossoms is the danger.
These are the species' typical months — expect them a few weeks earlier in warm zones and later in cold ones. Watch the plant, not just the calendar.
Echeveria · Ecology & uses
Ecology & uses
Echeveria elegans
Echeveria in the garden system
Attracts- Bees
Moisture- Upland / dry
Deer- Browsed
Protect young plants
Origin- Introduced
What echeveria is grown for
✓ Not known to be toxicSafe for pets
Use- Dish gardens
- Use
- Weddings
- Use
- Windowsills
Edibility, identification, and traditional-use notes here are general reference — not medical or veterinary advice, and not a claim that any plant treats or prevents anything. Medicinal ratings record how strongly a plant features in herbal tradition, nothing more. Never eat or dose a plant you have not positively identified. More on how to use this library.
Echeveria · Varieties & cultivars
Choosing a echeveria variety
'Elegans' (Mexican snowball); 'Perle von Nürnberg' (purple); 'Lola'
Sources & plant identity
Know what you’re growing.
See where the knowledge comes from.
Echeveria
Echeveria elegans
The plant, at a glance.
- Botanical name
- Echeveria elegans
- Plant family
- Crassulaceae
- Growth habit
- Succulent · Perennial
- Origin
- Introduced
- Invasive risk
- Low
Hardiness, size and timing vary with your cultivar, soil and climate.
Rooted in research.
University extension research, brought together with hands-on growing experience at Story Thyme Farms.
for Echeveria
Research from these sources
Publisher marks identify sources, not sponsorship or endorsement.
Where to buy
Third-party nurseries — not Story Thyme Farms.
Third-party nurseries, not Story Thyme Farms. Prices are theirs.
Story Thyme Farms may earn a small commission from these links, at no cost to you — it never changes what we recommend. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Questions
Echeveria questions, answered straight.
Is echeveria safe for kids and pets?
Echeveria is commonly eaten and isn't considered toxic, but "commonly eaten" isn't a guarantee for any particular person or animal — allergies, quantity, and which part you eat all matter. One caveat on this one: Safe for pets. Never eat a plant you haven't positively identified, and check with a vet before letting pets or livestock graze anything new.
How do you propagate echeveria?
Stem/leaf cuttings, division, or pups.
Elsewhere
Where echeveria sits in the library.
Monstera
Golden Pothos
Snake Plant
Heartleaf Philodendron