Flowering Succulents We Recommend
Distinctive and easy to care for, flowering succulents offer low-maintenance beauty.
Succulents have a lot to recommend them as houseplants.
Because they're typically desert plants, they retain water and often grow slowly, making them easy to care for. But, while most succulent houseplants have really interesting leaves and stems, they're not typically grown for their flowers.
But some succulents do flower, and the flowers can be as interesting or beautiful as the plants themselves!
The plants on this list are among our favorite flowering succulents. While a few, such as delosperma, have long-lasting blooms and are easy to get to flower, others such as aloe vera rarely flower—but when they do, the bloom is worth while.
How to Care for Succulents
Succulents are low-maintenance plants as long as you don't over-water them. That's because they retain moisture in their fleshy leaves, stems, and roots. Only water when the soil feels mostly dry when you poke your finger into it a few inches.
Succulents typically need tons of bright light, especially if you want them to flower. If you don't have a good south-facing window that gets lots of direct sun, you may want to invest in an inexpensive a grow light. (Find the grow lights we recommend here.)
Outdoors, most succulents require full sun, meaning you have to plant them where they'll get 6 or more hours of direct light per day. Read the plant tag or description to be sure about what you're buying.
More succulent stories you'll love:
Sedum
There are many different types of sedums in both upright and low-growing varieties. This perennial comes in various shades of pink and rarely needs anything other than divided when it gets too big for the spot. Make sure sedum has full sun.
Read more: How to Grow and Care for Autumn Joy Sedum
Ice Plant (Delosperma)
Delosperma, also known as ice plant, is a perennial groundcover that tolerates heat and drought once established. It’s great for erosion control because it spreads quickly. Give it full sun.
Incidentally, delosperma shouldn’t be confused with highway ice plant (with the botanical name, Carpobrutus). That's actually an invasive species.
Read more: How to Grow and Care for Ice Plants
Portulaca
Portulaca, also called moss rose, is a low-growing annual that’s absolutely covered in blooms every day for weeks and weeks. It's also easy to grow from seed. The delicate flowers come in the most amazing, saturated shades ranging from hot pink to deep coral. It needs full sun.
Lewisia
This alpine wildflower is native to western North America and is surprisingly cold-hardy. It has dark green leaves and beautiful apricot, pink or white flowers atop long stems in spring and summer. Give it full sun.
Living Stones (Lithops)
Living stones are the most unique little plants. They actually look like pebbles lying on the ground with a split down the center. Give them direct sunlight, and water every few weeks from spring to summer.
When the plant goes dormant in summer, stop watering. Then start again when the gap between the two leaves gets wider in autumn. It will also flower then with tiny white, orange or yellow blooms.
Burro's Tail
Burro's tail has a lovely, draping form with oval or teardrop-shaped leaves. Stems can reach 3 or 4 feet long and roughly resemble a burro's tail. The tiny pink or red flowers appear in profusion in spring. Give this plant bright, indirect light. Plus, they're pet-friendly!
Kalanchoe
Kalanchoe is a pretty, sturdy plant with red, pink, orange, yellow or white flowers that last for weeks and weeks. It can be tough to get it to rebloom, so it’s often treated as a gift plant and composted after the blooms fade. Give it bright light, and water when it feels mostly dry.
Echeveria
There are many different types of echeveria, but they all have a beautiful rosette-shape with fleshy foliage tinged with shades of teal, dove grey, green or pink. When they flower, they have long stems lined with bell-shaped blooms. Some types are grown as houseplants or in the garden in frost-free zones. This perennial likes full sun, but in hot climates, give it some afternoon shade.
Jade Plant
Jade plant is one of those sturdy houseplants that’s been around forever. It has fat, oval leaves, and some types have red margins. It’s tough to get this one to bloom, but if your home is very dry, you may get lucky. It also needs cool nights around 60 degrees. It’s said that if you get jade to bloom, it brings good luck! If all that seems like too much effort, enjoy its handsome tree-like form.
Read more: How to Grow and Care for a Jade Plant
Crown of Thorns
Crown of thorns can bloom almost non-stop indoors. It has large, sharp spines (thus, the name!), so keep this plant away from curious kids and pets.
The sap also can be irritating. Give it as much bright light as possible for best blooms.
Old Lady Cactus
It's not a very flattering name, but this cactus is one of the easier ones to grow indoors. It has a rounded shape with a fuzzy-looking texture. It develops a ring of hot pink flowers in late winter to early spring. Set it on a sunny windowsill.
Read more: Our Best Cactus Garden Tips for Creating an At-Home Oasis
String of Pearls
The delicate beads on this succulent look exactly like a pearl necklace. It gets round white flowers in summer if given cold nights and warm days and allowed to dry out slightly—though that can be tough to achieve in most homes. Give it bright, indirect light.
Read more: How to Care for Your String of Pearls Plant
Hens and Chicks
This hardy, old-fashioned perennial also is known as hens and chicks because of the baby plants, or “chicks,” that pop up around the mother plant. Tiny, starry blooms appear in midsummer. Interestingly, the plants are monocarpic, which means once they flower, they die! But it’s all part of the natural process, and the baby chicks will go on to bloom in a year or two. It needs full sun.
Ric Rac Cactus
A ric rac cactus has flat, wavy stems that resemble our favorite country trim! This delightful house plant grows quickly when it receives bright, indirect light. Rarely, after the plant is a few years old, it will bloom with a large, fragrant creamy-white flower that lasts just a few days.
Keep Reading: 39 Beautiful Types of Cactus to Grow at Home
Holiday Cactus
Christmas cactus (as well as similar plants that bloom around the time of Thanksgiving and Easter) can live for decades. They are reliable, hardy succulents that needs little care. These plants require bright indirect light for most of the year.
To get them to rebloom, place them in a room that receives no nighttime light starting in September because they require 12 to 14 hours of complete darkness to set buds.
Aeonium
Glossy leaves arranged in rosettes make this plant a pretty perennial that grows both indoors and outdoors in warm climates. Small star-shaped flowers grow from the center of the clusters. Give it very bright light indoors and part shade outdoors.
Desert Rose
With adorable, pudgy stems and a bulbous base that holds water, this attractive plant has bright pink blooms in summer. It can be grown as a houseplant, but you’ll probably need a grow light to help it bloom. Outdoors in frost-free zones, it needs full sun.
Peanut Cactus
This cute clumping cactus is fairly easy to grow indoors, or grow it outdoors in full sun in frost-free zones. It looks exactly like its name, with stems that can curl up to 12 inches long. The spines are softer than some cacti, and this plant may develop bright orange flowers. Give it lots of bright light.
Hoya Carnosa
This pretty succulent, also know as wax plant, has shiny leaves and sweetly-scented flowers. It needs very bright light to bloom.
Rare: Aloe Vera
This handsome succulent is often grown as a houseplant (though it almost never flowers indoors). But in warm climates, it can be grown in the landscape where it will reach 3 feet tall and send up spikes of yellow flowers. It needs full sun and won’t tolerate freezing temperatures.
Read more: How to Grow and Care for Aloe Vera
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