A rotating mix of rosette and trailing succulents — echeveria, sedum, crassula, graptopetalum and their hybrids. What’s on the bench changes weekly; how to grow them here doesn’t.
The small-pot succulent table is where most people start: rosettes in blue, gray, pink and green, trailing sedums and crassulas, and the hybrids that breeders turn out every season. We buy mixed assortments, so the selection changes from week to week — come and pick. They go into succulent bowls, container edges, wedding favours and windowsills.
What doesn’t change is how they grow in Queen Creek: morning sun and afternoon shade, not full desert sun; gritty soil; water only when fully dry; and cover for the frost-tender ones on the coldest nights. That is what the rest of this page is about. The rest of the bench is on our Succulents page.
This is the assorted succulents we commonly carry. Availability changes week to week and season to season, so call (480) 987-3308 or stop in to see what’s on the bench today.
A rotating assortment: echeveria, sedum, crassula, graptopetalum, sempervivum, kalanchoe and hybrids, sold individually. Labels vary — ask at the bench for the frost-tender ones.
Looking for one that isn’t listed? Ask — we can usually suggest a close match or tell you when it tends to come around.
The care tag was written somewhere else. This is the Queen Creek version.
The single most common mistake with soft succulents in the low desert is full sun. Most rosette types — echeverias especially — burn in a July afternoon. Give them direct sun until late morning and shade after, or bright light under 40–50 percent shade cloth. In winter they can take sun most of the day, and that is when the pinks and reds color up. Indoors, the brightest window you have; they stretch in a dim room.
A gritty cactus and succulent mix, ideally cut with an extra third of pumice or perlite; ordinary potting soil holds too much water. Pots with drainage holes — a bowl without a hole is a slow death. Terracotta dries fastest, which is good. Repot small plants into a bowl or a 6-inch pot within a few months; they grow quickly in spring.
A low-nitrogen succulent fertilizer at half strength once in spring and once in early fall. Pull dead lower leaves off rosettes so mealybugs have nowhere to hide. Behead a stretched rosette in spring, let the cut callus for a few days and replant it; the stump resprouts.
Water only when the mix is dry all the way through and the lower leaves have softened slightly: every seven to ten days in summer for pots outdoors in shade, every three to four weeks in winter. Soak until it runs through, then drain. Water the soil, not the rosette — water sitting in the crown rots it. A wet monsoon week means skipping a watering.
Sedums and sempervivums take frost; most echeverias, crassulas and graptopetalums are damaged below about 28°F, and kalanchoes below 32°F. On the handful of hard-frost nights from December to February, move bowls under a patio roof or cover with frost cloth. Ask at the bench which is which when you buy.
Most echeverias, sedums and sempervivums are non-toxic; crassulas and kalanchoes are toxic to pets if chewed, so ask when buying for a pet household. Mealybugs are the pest — white fluff at the leaf bases; swab with rubbing alcohol. Aphids on flower stalks in spring.
Stretching, mushy stems, a sunburned side — snap a photo of the plant and where it lives and we’ll sort it out at the bench. Advice is free.
Succulents live or die on drainage. We stock cactus and succulent mix, pumice and grit to open it up further, slow-release low-nitrogen fertilizer, and the shallow terracotta and glazed pots that dry out the way they like. The pottery yard has bowls, strawberry jars and hanging baskets for the trailing types.
Most soft rosette succulents cannot take full summer sun here — they scorch in July afternoons. Morning sun and afternoon shade, or shade cloth, from May through September; more sun in winter. Agaves, aloes and cacti are the full-sun plants.
When the soil is completely dry — about every seven to ten days in summer for pots in shade, every three to four weeks in winter. Overwatering kills more succulents than heat does.
Not enough light. Move it to a brighter spot (morning sun outdoors or the brightest window). You can behead the stretched top in spring and replant it as a compact rosette.
Sedums and sempervivums take frost in stride. Echeverias, crassulas, graptopetalums and kalanchoes need cover below about 28–32°F. Ask at the bench; labels vary.
It depends on the genus. Echeveria, sedum, haworthia and sempervivum are non-toxic; crassula (jade), kalanchoe and euphorbia are toxic to cats and dogs. Tell us if you have pets and we’ll steer you.
Not if you want them to live. Use a bowl with a hole or drill one; a layer of gravel at the bottom does not substitute for drainage.
Assorted Succulents live on the succulent bench; any staff member can point you to them. Locally owned, and a short drive from San Tan Valley, Gilbert, Chandler and Mesa.