I’ve been into succulents for a relatively short period of time; probably only around a year. Needless to say, I’m way behind the massive trend that’s popped up around succulents & cacti. Still, in the relatively short amount of time been into them, I’ve managed to find quite a lot to love about these plants.
A few things, for instance? They’re drought tolerant, meaning I can leave them be when I’m on vacation without having to ask my cat sitter to spend time watering a plethora of plant pots. They’ve got those gorgeous, thick and (obviously) “succulent” leaves that to me just scream beauty. They’re ridiculously easy to propagate if you’re willing to give them enough time. And then there’s those colours when they’re stressed… by god do these make succulents stunning in my eyes.
Now, out of all the colours of the rainbow, my top two are probably green then purple. I love the way these two colours pair together, and there’s nothing better than seeing variations of them – different shades of green and different shades of purple – in a succulent arrangement.
There’s a tonne of variation in terms of colour, texture, and size when it comes to the number of purple succulents out there. I can’t help feel they’d be ever so stunning combined together into one drop dead gorgeous pot, but haven’t gotten my hands on all of them quite yet, though I honestly want to try grabbing as many as possible.
Some are more of a lilac shade, others are really deep, more like an eggplant shade. They definitely aren’t these beautiful purples unless they’re stressed, so if you have a feeling you’ve got one of these but it isn’t in the beautiful purple shade you wanted, leave it out in the sun for a few days (keeping an eye to make sure the sun isn’t too strong to burn it!), and if the colour’s changed to a purple, you know you’ve got the right plant, but that it’s not in the perfect spot to keep the colour coming.
Purple will also come out if the plant is stressed in other ways – like if it’s roots are cut off, or it isn’t watered enough. That being said, these aren’t ideal ways to keep the colour, so if it’s possible for you to find a sunnier location for your plant, that’s a much better solution.
I love so many of these purple plants to be honest, though my favourites, if I had to choose, may just be Aeonium Zwartkop and Echeveria Purple Pearl. But it’s hard to keep from changing my mind so I’m sure I’ll end up promoting others to the top of the list in a few months.
Anyway, to keep things as easy-to-brows as possible, I’ve split up the purple succulents by type. I’ve not filled in the section for succulents that aren’t purple in colour but that do have purple flowers, as I feel succulents that flower purple should have their own article dedicated to them (I’ll work on that as soon as possible, and will include a link to that once I’ve finished it.
I’m not trying to make a little list here, I’m doing my best to be as comprehensive as possible, so I’d really appreciate it if you pointed out if/where I missed any purple succulents – they should absolutely all be on this list.
Without further ado, as long a list as I could wrangle together of purple coloured/purple-leaved succulent plants…
Purple Coloured Succulent Plants
Purple Echeveria Succulents
- Echeveria ‘Purple Pearl’
- Echeveria ‘Perle von Nurnberg’
- Echeveria ‘Black Prince’ (‘Black Hens and Chicks’)
- Echeveria ‘Afterglow’
- Echeveria ‘Etna’
- Echeveria ‘Misty Lilac’
- Echeveria ‘Cubic Frost’
- Echeveria Lola
- Echeveria laui
- Echeveria haagai
Purple Aeonium Plants
- Aeonium arboreum ‘Black Rose’
- Aeonium arboreum ‘Zwartkop’
- Aeonium arboreum ‘Electra’ (Purple Pinwheel Aeonium)
Purple Graptoveria, Graptosedum, & Graptopetalum Succulents
- Graptoveria ‘Debbie’
- Graptoveria ‘Purple Delight’
- Graptoveria ‘Purple Dream’
- Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’
- Graptoveria ‘Bashful’
- Graptoveria ‘Opalina’
- Graptoveria ‘Moon Glow’
- Graptoveria ‘Topsy Debbie’ (‘Lilac Spoons’)
- Graptopetalum paraguayense ‘Ghost Plant’
- Graptopetalum pentandrum ‘Superbum’
Purple Sempervivums
- Sempervivum ‘Purple Beauty’
- Sempervivum ‘Pacific Devil’s Food’
- Sempervivum heuffelii ‘Purple Haze’
- Sempervivum ‘Purple Passion’
Purple Cacti
- Opuntia santarita (‘Santa Rita Prickly Pear’)
- Echinocereus pectinatus (‘Rainbow Hedgehog Cactus’)
- Gymnocalycium ‘Purple Moon Cactus’
Succulents with Purple Flowers
- Article coming soon
Other Purple Succulents
- Pleiospilos nelii (‘Royal Flush’)
- Senecio jacobsenii (‘Trailing Jade’)
- Lithops optica (‘Rubra’)
- Anacampseros rufescens
- Crassula marginalis rubra variegata (‘Calico Kitten Succulent’)
- Kalanchoe pumila (‘Silver Gray’)
- Kalanchoe ‘Pink Butterflies’
- Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi
- Sedum telephium ‘Purple Emperor’
- Sedum ‘Purple Carpet’
Your Thoughts on Purple Succulents?
Do you like the look of purple succulents? Is there another colour you like more when it comes to stressed succulents or succulent leaves in general?
Are you a fan of mixing colours or arranging succulents with similar colours together?
Are there any purple succulents I missed adding to this list?
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