Jun 12, 2020
Mexican Snowball, wild type (Echeveria elegans), in cultivation.
Photo by Eduardo Carbonell
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Mexican Snowball, wild type (Echeveria elegans), in cultivation.
Photo by Eduardo Carbonell
Mexican Snowball, wild type (Echeveria elegans), in habitat, Querétaro, Mexico.
Photo by Gerhard Köhres
Mexican Snowball (Echeveria elegans)
Why not start with one of the most common and complicated rosette succulents in cultivation? This beautiful plant has an absolutely horrible number of hybrids and cultivars, so it’s probably the worst one I could’ve started with, but it’s also the one I see most often at stores, and one I own at least four (possibly six) of, so it seems fitting.
Native range: Mexico
Habitat: Rock crevices and rocky outcroppings in semi-arid habitats in the Chihuahuan-Tehuacan Deserts. Can grow outside year-round in hardiness zones 9-12 in partial to full sun. Does best in sandy or porous, dry to medium-moist soil, that must be well-draining for the plant to thrive.
Propagation: Seeds, root cuttings, leaf cuttings, stem cuttings/chicks
Synonyms, varieties, cultivars, and hybrids under the cut
Graptopetalum Macdougallii
Graptopetalum macdougallii Alexander
Scientific Classification
Family: Crassulaceae
Subfamily: Sedoideae
Tribe: Sedeae
Subtribe: Sedinae
Genus: Graptopetalum
Description
Graptopetalum macdougallii is an attractive succulent plant with leaves arranged in rosettes. Each ground-hugging rosette bears up to 50 leaves and is up to 3 inches (7.5 cm) in diameter. The leaves are up to 1.4 inches (3.5 cm) long, up to 0.6 inch (1.5 cm) wide, rounded, tongue-shaped to semi-spathulate, bright bluish to greenish, glaucous, and sharply pointed at the apex. The flowers are up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) across, each with 5 petals marked with dense red lines.
Sedum treleasei is a succulent plant with pale blue-green, thick and fleshy leaves up to 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) long, somewhat flattened on top and rounded below. Older leaves often take on a yellow tinge at the tips and margins, and sometimes there is a flush of pink on the leaf tips. Plants develop stems which may reach up to 1 foot (30 cm) in height, and they branch to form a good-sized clump in time. Flowering commences at the end of February or in early March, and extends into April. The flower stalks are up to 6 inches (15 cm) long, adorned with bracts which are miniature replicas of the leaves. Each stalk ends in a cluster of bright yellow, star-like flowers up to 0.5 inch (1.3 cm) across. Native to Mexico.