Crassula capitella ‘Red Pagoda’ — stacked triangular leaves that flush deep red in bright light and cool nights. A trailing succulent for bowls, baskets and rock-garden edges.
Red Pagoda is a small trailing crassula whose leaves stack in tight, four-sided columns like a row of tiny pagodas. In summer shade it is a pleasant green; give it morning sun and the cool nights of a Queen Creek winter and the leaves turn a saturated red that few succulents can match. It spreads and cascades, which makes it a spiller for succulent bowls and the edge of a raised bed.
Like most soft succulents here it wants morning sun with afternoon shade, water only when fully dry, and cover on the handful of nights below 28°F. Note that crassulas are toxic to pets if chewed. The rest of the bench is on our Succulents page.
This is the red pagoda crassula 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.
Stacked, triangular, pointed leaves in columns on spreading, trailing stems; green in shade, deep red in sun and cold. Small white flowers in summer. Sold; trails a foot or more.
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 color comes from light and cool nights. Outdoors, give it direct sun from sunrise until late morning and shade after about noon from May through September; in winter it can take sun most of the day. Full afternoon sun in summer cooks it. Indoors it needs the brightest window you have and will be mostly green.
It tolerates light frost and the cold nights are what turn it red, but it is damaged below about 28°F. On the handful of hard-frost nights Queen Creek gets from December to February, move pots under a patio roof or throw frost cloth over beds. Never cover with plastic touching the leaves.
Little feeding needed: a low-nitrogen succulent fertilizer at half strength once in spring and once in early fall. Trim leggy stems back in spring; the cuttings root in dry mix within a couple of weeks and fill out a bowl.
Water only when the mix is dry all the way through — every ten to fourteen days in summer for a pot outdoors in shade, every three weeks or more in winter. Soak, then drain completely. Stems rot at the base in soil that stays wet; a gritty cactus mix in a pot with a hole is essential. After a monsoon downpour, let it dry out before watering again.
Fast-draining, gritty mix — cactus and succulent mix with extra pumice or perlite. Shallow, wide containers suit its spreading habit. In the ground it wants a raised or sloped spot in amended, well-drained soil; it rots, heavy beds.
Crassulas are toxic to cats and dogs if chewed. Mealybugs hide in the tight leaf stacks; a cotton swab of rubbing alcohol reaches them. Aphids on flower stalks in summer.
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.
Not enough light, or not cold enough yet. It reddens with direct morning sun and cool nights, typically November through March here. In summer shade it stays green — that is normal.
Only when the soil is completely dry — every ten to fourteen days in summer, every three weeks or more in winter. It prefers drought to dampness.
Yes, with cover on nights below about 28°F. Light frost improves the color; a hard freeze damages it.
No — crassulas are toxic to cats and dogs if eaten. Keep it out of reach or plant it where pets don’t browse.
Winter sun, yes. Summer afternoon sun scorches it; give it morning sun and afternoon shade from May to September.
Cut back long stems in spring and stick the cuttings into the same pot. They root in a couple of weeks and thicken the mound.
Red Pagoda Crassula 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.