UPDATE: Dick Wright wants to thank everyone who has contacted him as a result of this post and my YouTube series. He’s been swamped with inquiries, so please be patient. “It’s wonderful, but I can’t keep up with them all,” he says. Providing a list of plants is difficult because, “I don’t know what we’ll have from week to week.” Son Kraig is often away, so “I’m a crew of one,” Dick adds with a laugh. Moreover in January he had an accident—cut his finger and had to go to the ER—but he’s doing fine. “I heal real fast.” Dick turns 90 in September. — Debra

Is any plant lovelier than a ruffled echeveria, especially one in hues of magenta, lavender, bronze or gold? These rosette succulents are soaring in popularity, and new cultivars are being introduced all the time…like this amazing indigo variety from Wright Nurseries:

Look for echeverias throughout my books, in many of my videos, and enjoy photos of over 100 species and cultivars on my website’s Echeveria page. I promise you’ll be blown away by their beauty!

Don’t miss my YouTube series featuring renowned Echeveria hybridizer and grower Dick Wright.

Echeverias #1: Meet Dick Wright

Echeverias #2: Dick Wright on Echeveria Hybrids

Echeverias #3: Dick Wright on How to Grow Echeverias

I also offer these videos on propagating echeverias:

How to behead echeverias to make new ones

How to start echeverias from seed

You may wonder: How can photos of the same Echeveria cultivar be so different? Before you assume the photos were mislabeled or Photoshopped, consider that intensity of color and symmetry have to do with how much sunlight the plant receives and the direction of the sun’s rays. Echeverias will grow toward greatest sun exposure, which is especially noticeable when bloom stalks lean. Echeverias grown in low light will have elongated leaves (from trying to expose more surface to the sun) and will revert to green. Expert Dick Wright advises that two hours of full sun daily is ideal. Age also is important; young plants won’t display the ruffled edges, layered leaves and carruncling of mature ones.