Echeveria secunda

Echeveria secunda, Blue Echeveria is usually sold in the horticultural trade as Echeveria secunda var. glauca. This is now considered a deprecated synonym of Echeveria secunda - but whatever you call it - it is one of the most beautiful Echeverias with its very large glaucous rosettes and its retina-burning, gem-like flowers borne on tall elegant peduncles throughout the summer months. Freely clumping to form a large colony, the mother rosettes are quite capable of reaching an enormous and impressive 35cm across with the many offsetting rosettes extending the size even further. This is a giant and although it is often grown as a houseplant it does best spending the warmer months outside, sunning itself in a large terracotta bowl, growing even larger and spilling over the sides.

Echeveria secunda has been known in Europe since at least 1838 and its taxonomy has become quite complex with original taxonomic descriptions coming from plants in cultivation rather than in the wild. In its native Mexico it grows on highly porous mineralised substrates of igneus rock at elevations from 2000 metres up to 4275 metres above sea level. At these elevations, it experiences a great deal of cold and it is generally considered one of the most cold-tolerant of the Echeverias capable of surviving mild frosts as long as it has a perfect free-draining substrate during the winter months. This is best achieved by establishing the plants in the nooks and crannies of a south-facing vertical rock wall where its roots won't hold any winter wet and where overhanging foliage can give it extra frost protection.

Otherwise, it can be grown through winter in a cool greenhouse or it makes a perfect houseplant - on a spacious sunny windowsill or overwintered in the conservatory.