Frilly Echeverias: The Fairest Succulents of Them All

Echeverias fill the foreground in a garden of succulents in Rancho Santa Fe, designed by Robert Dean. Photograph by Lisa Romerein

The question I’m asked most often, now that my book on succulents has come out, is: “Which is your favorite?” It’s like asking someone to choose among her children. Fountain-shaped aloes, bead-like senecios, columnar euphorbias . . . each has its own unique beauty.

Among the many genera of succulents, there is an astounding diversity of size, shape, and color. I doubt that anyone would argue if I picked Echeveria as my personal favorite. These rosette shaped succulents, native to Mexico, have colors as red as salsa, as opalescent as a south-of-the-border sunset, and as blue as the Sea of Cortez. The plants’ overlapping leaves suggest fleshy roses, water lilies, camellias, and more. But unlike those flowers, there is no fade factor. Echeverias look the same, day in and day out—unless, of course, they’re in bloom.

A cereal-bowl-sized rosette will send forth flower spikes a foot or more in length and about the diameter of a pencil. These curve and undulate, like antennae. Indiv...