Native to Mexico and Central America, Echeverias are regarded by many as one of the most beautiful succulents. Evergreen, they form attractive rosettes of fleshy leaves and often resemble plum-petaled roses, waterlilies or ruffled lettuce. There are dozens of species, and hundreds of cultivars offering a wide array of colors, sizes or leaf shapes.

• Echeverias belong to the family Crassulaceae, a very large family containing many genera of succulents such as Aeonium, Crassula, Kalanchoe, Sedum or Sempervivum. Most of them grow in higher elevations in Mexico, where humidity is low and temperatures rarely get too hot. Soils are always well draining.
• Many Echeverias offset readily, eventually forming attractive colonies of rosettes. This suckering habit makes them particularly ornamental in pots that they will fill in no time, often attractively spilling over the edges.