Echeveria lilacina

Echeveria lilacina, also known as the 'Ghost Echevaria', is a small succulent well known for its rosette of very light blue almost silver leaves, regular, very compact and of good size. This creeping perennial owes its unique colouration to the white to grey pruine that covers its wide fleshy leaves, thick, flat and spoon-shaped. With the sun, the edges of its foliage blush beautifully, perfectly matching its summer flowering in short arched spikes of small pinkish-orange bells. Not very hardy and highly drought resistant, it is a plant that is ideally suited to rockeries in Mediterranean gardens or that can be used to create fantastic and easy to maintain pots.

Echeverias are succulent perennials belonging to the family of Crassulaceae, famous for their compact rosettes of very graphic leaves. Native to dry and rocky areas of central Mexico, it is a genus that especially fears excess water, requiring well-drained mineral soil and a highly sunny exposure. Highly drought resistant, Echeveria grows better with a few waterings in summer. The plant tolerates little frost (up to -5°C (23°F)) and is mainly cultivated in pots that are stored indoors away from frost, from the end of autumn. Some privileged corners in the Mediterranean region can still accommodate this plant in dry rockeries and slopes.

Echeveria lilacina is a botanical species distinguished by its perfect rosette of large, widely flattened leaves, covered with a pruine that gives it a very light blue colour. It is a perennial succulent plant with a regular and compact solitary rosette habit at the end of a short stem that reaches a maximum height of 5cm (2in) and remains barely visible under its dense foliage. Slow growing, it only reaches a height of 15cm (6in) and a maximum spread of 25cm (10in). The leaves are fleshy, thick, flat, wide, spoon-shaped, and have small points. The flowering takes place in late spring or early summer, from March to June. It takes the form of clusters of bright pinkish-orange bells, carried at the axils of the leaves, on short erect and then arched spikes of 15cm (6in).

Plant Echeveria lilacina in the rockery, on a well-drained slope, or at the edge of a bed if your garden is located by the sea, where frosts do not exceed -5°C (23°F), alongside the Cape Aster Felicia amelloides, Delospermas, and purslanes that appreciate the same conditions. Elsewhere, you can plant it in a nice pot or container, alone or in combination with other Echeverias or other succulent plants such as Sempervivums, for example.