Echeveria is a fantastic wonder of Mother Nature! With its innumerable varieties, its rosettes will offer you all the colors of the rainbow, from ice blue to deep purple, almost black, and the fleshy foliage color is not everything you get.
With natural species, hybrids and cultivars, it will also amaze you with its leaf shapes, from triangular and pointed to wavy, frilled and broad!
But let’s not forget that this evergreen succulent is also a flowering plant: waxy, tubular, urn or bell shaped flowers will hover above the low lying display of bright and unusual tonalities with yet more sparks of light and beauty.
Native of Mexico and Central America, there are about 100 natural species in the Echeveria genus, and an impressive 1,000 plus cultivars!
Loved in rock gardens, containers and terrariums, succulent and flower beds, as well as indoors, and even as ground cover, it is really hard to choose one!
Echeveria is famous for its decorative rosettes, but they are all different in color, size, shape and personality. To give you a full range of the possible combinations, we have selected the most striking, colorful and memorable varieties of all!
20 Echeveria Varieties in All Colors and Many Shapes
Echeveria has something to offer for everyone. With a little love and care, these hardy plants can thrive for years and bring a touch of natural beauty to any home.
So, in all colors and shapes, here are the top varieties of echeveria for your garden or home!
The first on our list will only tickle your imagination, wait till you see them all; so off we go!
1: ‘Maria’ Echeveria (Echeveriaagavoides ‘Maria’)
We can start with a classical looking variety of echeveria, ‘Maria’, also called wax agave. It has dense rosettes that can reach 14 inches across, which is quite a feat for this small succulent!
The main color that you will find on its pointed leaves is pale green, but the decorative shape of the little nest of fleshy foliage is heightened by a reddish to burgundy purple line all around the margins and at the pointy and spiny end, and in some cases, this area can take up a bigger part of the ensemble, even reaching half the whole leaf.
You will also enjoy its pinkish red flowers with a golden yellow edges when they come with their waxy and shiny presence, starting in late spring and continuing into early summer.
Ideal for rock gardens and containers, ‘Maria’ is a well known and much loved variety of echeveria that will easily mix in with other plants adding shape and color in any sunny garden.
2: Baby Echeveria (Echeveria darenbergii)
From a big classic to a smaller one: baby echeveria, also known as painted lady. And there is a reason for it…
It has small rosettes, which reach a maximum of 4 inches across (10 cm), but the very fleshy, plump leaves with very tiny tips almost look like candies, and they will wow you with their coloring.
The ice blue shade they display is only highlighted by pinkish blushes that appear towards the tips. Very dense, they will soon propagate forming amazing clumps of sky tinted little sculptures, which can reach 3 feet in spread (90 cm).
It is also a very long bloomer among echeveria varieties; in fact, you will enjoy its blossoms all the way from late winter summer, coming on lavender purple stems, and they are bright orange on the inside and pink on the outside, as well as shaped like little deep cups. And they will also attract hummingbirds! It is also a winner of the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Ideal for containers, rock gardens but also flower beds, painted lady, or baby echeveria is one of the most rewarding garden varieties ever.
3: ‘Black Prince’ Echeveria (Echeveria affinis ‘Black Prince’)
With a totally different personality from the previous varieties, ‘Black Prince’ is the gothic interpretation of echeveria.
The rosettes have very pointed leaves, even menacing in a way, especially if you consider their very dark burgundy purple color, which is almost as dark as night, hence the name.
Yes, a splash of green is usually visible at the center of the rosette or base of the leaf, which has also a concave cupping along the middle, sometimes highlighted by alittle line in relief. This rebellious gem will also give you scarlet red flowers in fall and winter, and it is very easy to propagate by offsets.
‘Black Prince’ is the echeveria variety to add depth to rock gardens or in containers, where it can express its dark beauty at its best.
4: ‘Afterglow’ Echeveria (Echeveria ‘Afterglow’)
‘Afterglow’ must be one of the most extraordinary varieties of echeveria. A hybrid between Echeveria canteand Echeveria shaviana, both from Mexico, it owes its name from the fact that it seems to shine of a light of its own!
The smooth surface of its broad, diamond shaped and fairly flat leaves will surprise you with shades that range from gray blue to pink, seamlessly fading into each other.
Lavender and cerulean tonalities will also appear in the mix, for a fantastic color effect! The exact coloring will change with light conditions and the seasons, giving you twists and interest all year round.
The flowers will appear in summer, and they can be from pink to bright red, and they are “escorted” by 5 long and thin sepals in the huge rosette’s blue colors that look like stars. Oddly enough, many gardeners cut them because they think they detract from the beauty of the leaves…
A heat loving variety, echeveria ‘Afterglow’ will shine its beauty in rock, succulent or Mediterranean gardens with its large rosettes, but it will also find its bright place in containers.
5: LipstickEcheveria (Echeveria agavoides ‘Red Edge’)
Ok, if you like strong colors, you can’t miss lipstick echeveria, or ‘Red Edge’. In fact, no other variety, species or hybrid will ever give you a brighter red than this!
The sharply pointed leaves form amazing rosettes with red tips, which can be on the fire or plum scale, and in the right condition, this color takes up most of the succulent plant itself.
At the base, you will see some apple green, sometimes fading into lime yellow before turning into the tonalities of blood and love this cultivar of Echeveria agavoidesis famous for.
While each rosette is not very big, they can form lovely clumps of little flames, which are topped with lovely pinkish red petals with dark golden dots on them. They will come in summer on cymes with 4 to 5 branches.
‘Lipstick’, or ‘Red Edge’ is the echeveria variety you want for energy in your containers, rock gardens or succulent displays, and its amazing color will always add an accent point and draw attention.
6: Painted Echeveria (Echeveria nodulosa)
A rare and unusual variety of our succulent from North Oaxaca and South Puebla only (Mexico) is painted echeveria, or E. nodulosa, a natural species you may well think is a cultivar! It has long and narrow, almost spoon shaped leaves that bending inward and have a rounded end with just the hint of a point.
But this is not the only peculiar feature of this beauty… While the surface is very pale blue green, you will see cherry purple lines running across the edges and in the middle of the leaves. The overall effect is like that you find on marble, and this rally suits its soft and curving shape!
As the season progresses, the purple shades can take on more and more of the foliage, and they can fade back as light becomes brighter in spring and summer.
The flowers appear on long stems with knots (hence its scientific name), that reach 2 feet into the air, and they are bell shaped, rose red but with yellow margins.
A splendid variety, painted echeveria is best grown where you can look at it at close distance, where you can admire its striping and color contrast, whether in beds, rock gardens or containers.
7: ‘Swan Lake’ Echeveria (Echeveria ‘Swan Lake’)
Meet the most ethereal of all echeverias, musically called ‘Swan Lake’. Hybridized by Renee O’Connell mixing Echeveria runyonii ‘Topsy Turvy’ and E. shaviana, it has a very pale gray bluish color, which almost fades to white in the light!
What is more, the elegant rosettes are formed by long, fairly flat leaves that widen at the upper part and then they bend inwards to form almost flat triangles, vaguely reminiscent of friar’s hoods or the lids of carnivorous pitcher plants… The edges take on thin and faint pinkish lines if you look closely.
Formerly known as echeveria ‘Doppler’, it is not massive, reaching about 6 inches across (15 cm), but its unusual habit makes it stand apart from all other varieties. Flowers will come on long arching stems, and they are bell shaped and pink.
You may look at echeveria ‘Swan Lake’ as the most elegant variety of all; if you want a delicate, Ophelia like look in your garden or in containers, then this is your best option.
8: ‘Princess Lace’ Echeveria (Echeveria ‘Princess Lace’)
Welcome to another surprising change in the echeveria genus: just look at ‘Princess Lace’ a very odd looking cultivar indeed! Its broad leaves are heavily frilled at the margins, which gives you a lace like, or embroidery effect. And the large rosettes, which reach about one foot across in some cases (30 cm) offer you a very striking color display as well.
The exact shades will depend on light conditions and the seasons, but… You will see tonalities that range from bright green, to blue or gray in the center, while the edges will blush in a palette of pinks, from rose to almost orange red!
Sometimes, you may even see copper and bronze on its outer parts! If this variety offers you an always changing colorful spectacle like no other with its foliage, it does have a downside, though: it does not blossom.
‘Princess Lace’ echeveria will always regale you with great and colorful surprises, both outdoors, where it can add the unexpected element to rock gardens or flower beds, and indoors, being a favorite houseplant variety.
9: ‘Brown Sugar’ Echeveria (Echeveria racemosaatrurpurea ‘Brown Sugar’)
Apart from the reference to illegal substances, ‘Brown Sugar’ is in itself a very other worldly variety of our evergreen succulent. This echeveria has rosettes with an unusual palette, mainly brown, even mahogany.
However, it will also blush to burgundy or sometimes even pink, and offer you tiny glimpses of green with new foliage. The leaves are also very long and narrow, concave at the top and gently arching, and they form a very open sculpture indeed.
They don’t just grow at ground level, being a racemosaspecies, it will also grow smaller ones on shoots above the main one… The blooms will appear on long stems, about 18 inches tall (45 cm) in summer, with their bell shaped, reddish orange flowers.
Loved as an indoor companion, ‘Brown Sugar’ echeveria will also add a touch of dark class to your garden, with its very unusual presence, in flower or succulent beds, rockeries or containers.
10: ‘Trumpet Pinky’ Echeveria (Echeveria shaviana ‘Trumpet Pinky’)
Even fate has given us a hand with echeveria varieties. ‘Trumpet Pinky’ is in fact a chance mutation of Echeveria shaviana ‘Pinky’! What’s happened? The leaves just curled, or folded into tubular shapes that widen at the end, just like the famous brass instruments we all know! And they lengthways edges are actually fully joint, with a hole in the middle!
This gives our succulent a very unusual, almost alien look, in a way similar to a clump of lidless carnivorous Sarracenia plants! The funnel shaped leaves form a very plastic rosette, and the open mouths look like they are singing, with their pink edges.
The rest is actually of a glaucous blue to green color, which may change with the light. But this strange event has not stopped it from blooming; lovely orange red flowers will appear on arching stems in spring!
Ideal for a surreal rock garden or open terrarium, ‘Trumpet Pinky’ echeveria really does not look like any other variety of this beautiful evergreen succulent and it is perfect to give your garden or indoor space a touch of plasticity and originality.
11: Firecracker Echeveria (Echeveria setosa)
Here’s the fuzzy champion of the Echeveria genus, E. setosa, a.k.a., Mexican firecracker or firecracker echeveria! As you may have guessed, the shapely and pointed succulent foliage is covered in a thick down of fine hair, white in color, that gives it a very fluffy look!
There can be up to 100 spoon shaped and pointed leaves in each rosette, and the very center may appear totally white, like snow that has just fallen from the sky in texture… The flattened rosettes are actually bright green in color, and this tonality is very stable in this species.
Each plant is about 6 inches wide, but they form clumps that can reach about 3 feet across (90 cm). Winner of the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society, it will give you urn shaped flowers on long stems once a year, red but with yellow margins.
Mexican firecracker is one of the best varieties of echeveria to use as ground cover, but you can also grow it in the usual settings for this evergreen succulent.
12: ‘Water Lily’ Echeveria (Echeveria agavoides ‘Water Lily’)
Get ready for yet another surprise and meet ‘Water Lily’, a cultivar of Echeveria agavoides… to start with, its leaves are plump, and elliptical, with a fine point at the end. In a way, they may remind you of miniature zeppelins all stuck together.
And they form very dense rosettes… But what makes this variety of our succulent quite extraordinary is the coloring of its chubby foliage…
Hints of green that start with pea and progress to blue are usually accompanied by a palette of pinks, even purplish, some warm yellow or orange and, finally copper and bronze, even galore!
Yet again, it very much depends on the light and the exact tonalities change through the seasons. But if you like changing plants and effects, you will love this: when the urn shaped, orange red with yellow tips flowers appear, the leaves will actually change shape and flatten!
A very colorful and playful variety, ‘Water Lily’ echeveria will give you lots of joy and fun wherever you grow it, outdoors or indoors alike.
13: ‘Heart’s Delight’ Echeveria (Echeveria ‘Heart’s Delight’)
‘Heart’s Delight’ is an echeveria variety that comes from a sister cultivar, ‘Raindrops’, introduced by Jocelyn Ainsworth. Both are notable for their leaf shape, but while the latter is famous for a bump (like a teardrop, or raindrop) on its glaucous greenish blue with pink margins, our protagonist adds an extra touch or two… To start with, the leaves are heart shaped and thicker.
They will retain the tear, but they will also have a much more intense coloring… Depending on light conditions and the seasons, you will see bluish green and even chartreuse, mainly in the center. But as you move to the tips, the colors will flame up to ruby and even purple!
Both will give you a flattened rosette, but ‘Heart’s Delight’ is a bit bigger, reaching 8 inches across. They are usually solitary, but sometimes you will get a few offsets as well. The flowers will come in summer, with their orange red blush.
A beautiful indoor houseplant, ‘Heart’s Delight’ will also thrive outdoors in warm climates, but to appreciate it fully, grow it near your house, or in containers on a patio, so you can see all its intriguing features closely.
14: Mexican Snowball (Echeveria elegans)
A natural species from central America, Mexican snowballs is a heavenly variety of echeveria! Its spoon shaped, plump leaves have a delicate spiny tip at the end, and they will literally wow you with their color: it is Maya blue, a rare tonality between turquoise, sky blue and cyan! And it is very suitable to the origin and name of this evergreen succulent.
Look closely and you will see a tiny dot of soft pink just on the very tip… With strong light, this will expand, giving you one of the softest contrasts you can imagine!
Reaching about 6 inches across (15 cm), they form slightly flattened but full and elegant rosettes, and they will also form little clumps that can reach 2 or even 3 feet in size (60 to 90 cm).
If the palette of the foliage reliable, we cannot say the same for the flowers, that can range from pink to red, with yellow margins. And they can come any time from winter to summer!
Excellent as ground cover, Mexican snowball is an uplifting variety that really adds a moment of calm and peace to flower beds, succulent compositions and rock gardens alike.
15: ‘Valentine’ Echeveria (Echeveria ‘Valentine’)
A very unusual variety of our succulent, ‘Valentine’ echeveria is surrounded in mystery! We know who bred this cultivar, and when: Dick Wright in 1966. But he never told us its parentage, so we don’t know how he obtained it…
In a way, its appearance reflects this. It will form open rosettes, about 6 inches across (15 cm), with very broad and glossy leaves, that widen at the ends. And they are quite frilly and lobed, a bit like round lettuce.
But there is another striking feature of this gem… The color can reach such an intense and deep plum to burgundy shade that it will blow your mind!
This will depend on light conditions as well, so move it around if you have it indoors, or wait for the season to change outdoors. Unfortunately, it is a non floweringvariety, but it is still worthwhile.
The single rosettes of ‘Valentine’ echeveria can create great accent points in flower beds or rock gardens; but also scattered here and there among other succulents, especially of blue, green and gray shades.
16: Echeveria Purpusorum (Echeveria purpusorum)
If you are a succulent collector and you wish to wow your friends with an unusual and little known variety, have a look at Echeveria purpusorum, which, in fact, does not even have a common name. This small species from Mexico forms dense rosettes with amazing foliage shape and coloring.
The very plump leaves are almost perfect pyramids with a triangular base and a pointed tip and sharp edges, and they are tightly packed. Quite glossy, they can be olive green, gray green or white green in color, and they will also display lots of tiny and irregular spots, purplish brownish in color.
Very sculptural indeed, it will grow slowly to about 3.2 inches tall and wide only (8.0 cm). But spring will see it grow a long stem, about 1 foot tall (30 cm) which will bear colorful flowers of bright scarlet and golden tips!
Echeveria purpusorumis an ideal houseplant variety of our genus, it will fit even tiny places, like bookshelves, but if you have a warm rockery or containers that need a living sculpture, in full view, then you can grow it there as well!
17: Echeveria Subrigida (Echeveria subrigida)
Another species from Mexico that still does not have a common name is Echeveria subrigida. But if I had to invent one for this variety, it would be “double lily echeveria”. Yes, because its rosettes really look like these flowers.
Open and huge (up to 18 inches big, or 45 cm), they have long and broad, succulent and pointed leaves which partly fold along the middle line and then bend backwards so very slightly as they mature.
Slightly wavy as well, their glossy surface will offer you a soothing bluish green color with a thin bright ruby lone that follows the edges! In the center, you will get a flash of light, where the new foliage is, because it is brighter and greener.
And it is also a champion when it comes to its blossom: 1 inch long (2.5 cm), they open on cymes from milk blue buds, that open in tubular coral pink (outside) and orange (inside) flowers!!
Thinking about it, “giant echeveria” would also be a good name for Echeveria subrigida. It is perfect in all settings where you would grow this genus, and, though little known, it will offer you an incredible spectacle!
18: ‘Ebony’ Echeveria (Echeveria agavoides ‘Ebony’)
Here’s another large variety of Echeveria agavoides, one of the most common species: the cultivar ‘Ebony’. In fact, its rosettes can reach 1 foot across (30 cm), but this is not their main asset, trust me… What I find of great decorative value in this variety are its sculptural qualities.
The petals, dutifully succulent, are almost triangular in shape, pointed and beautifully arranged in a regular geometric pattern, so that the point of one ring is just in the middle between two leaves of the other ring, giving you the impression of a spiral…
Densely packed and open to the eye, they also highlight their harmonic disposition thanks to the fact that the gray green shade of the foliage allows the contrasting burgundy or plum purple lines along the margins to show you this geometric masterpiece of Nature! The flowers will come in spring, reddish pink with yellow tips.
‘Ebony’ echeveria will lift your garden beds, container, rockeries and any other place where you can grow a succulent with its geometric and sculptural qualities – all year round!
19: ‘Lady Aquarius’ Echeveria (Echeveria ‘LadyAquarius’)
For a variety with a watery, marine theme, I would suggest ‘Lady Aquarius’ echeveria. This cultivar in fact will brighten up your eyes with its large rosettes, that reach 8 inches across (20 cm) and they will charm you with its broad, soft looking and ruffled leaves, of a light, baby or cyan blue tonality in pastel shades, with a thin, delicate and dusty icing on them!
They look like the waves of the sea! But, a line of bright and delicate pink will appear at the very edges, very thin at first, but as the season progresses and light becomes warmer, by late summer and fall, and into winter, this fine thread will spread and take over more and more of the foliage.
Then, in spring, itsrefreshing and uplifting coloring of sky shades will come back in all its glory. Then, when the Sun is high, waxy red flowers with orange inside will appear!
‘Lady Aquarius’ echeveria will definitely work well in an underwater themed open terrarium, or in otherworldly compositions in rock gardens of succulent beds.
20: Peacock Echeveria (Echeveria peacockii)
There is a reason why this species of echeveria from Mexico takes its name from one of the vainest and proudest birds on Planet Earth! Peacock echeveria is an explosion of bright and shiny colors, so, maybe the best variety to sum up the personality of this genus and close our list…
The spoon shaped and pointed petals, succulent of course, have a clear point at the tips and they form lovely cupped rosettes, up to 6 inches across.
There are about 20 of them on each plant, and they form clumps of about 2 to 3 feet in size (60 to 90 cm). But it is their palette that gives this beauty its name…
Powder gray blue with hints at violet undertones will cover the lower part of each petal, but sunlight will make them blush at the tips with shades of yellow, pink and orange, and the very ends will even flare up with scarlet! The flowers are only coral pink, but beautiful, with their waxy texture and lantern shape.
Peacock echeveria is a real succulent jewel; grow it wherever you want shiny colors and great contrasts, as well as texture and shape, even on a green roof if you have one, as ground cover, or, of course, in containers, beds and rock gardens!
Echeveria Varieties: Rainbow Succulent Rosettes for Your Garden
How many different rosette shapes, and how many colors do we get with echeveria varieties? The whole rainbow is an understatement! Covering all feelings and all moods, this succulent can only be described in one way: a real wonder of Mother Nature!
Written By
Amber Noyes
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California town, San Mateo. She holds a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco. With experience working on an organic farm, water conservation research, farmers’ markets, and plant nursery, she understands what makes plants thrive and how we can better understand the connection between microclimate and plant health. When she’s not on the land, Amber loves informing people of new ideas/things related to gardening, especially organic gardening, houseplants, and growing plants in a small space.