Attributes Explained

We have categorised our plants based on a number of attributes to help you pick the right plant to buy. We’ve put together this guide to explain each of the attributes in more detail and what to look out for.

The Colour attribute represents the main colour seen in the plant throughout the main growing season, if you receive a plant that isn’t a similar colour or exactly like the plant in the image it may be due to the time of year as a succulent can colour up completely differently depending on whether it is Winter or Summer.

The colours of a succulent can also be affected by watering, feeding, weather and the position the plant was grown in. Over time if you give your plant everything it needs; the colours should return to the same colours as the images. 

We always do our best to photograph each plant true to its natural colour, and we are constantly improving our pictures so that it represents the plant as true to colour as possible.

The overall growth form of each plant is important to know as this will give you a great indication to where you can plant the succulent when you receive it.

Cluster/clumping a plant that will cluster into multiple heads and form a compact tidy appearance.

Pups/Pupping a plant that produces offsets from the root system, these emerge out of the soil next to the mother plant. Agaves are a prime example of this.

Single Rosette that offsets, a plant that grows on a stem that will offset as it ages, sometimes this can take a few years.

Single Rosette A stemless succulent with a compact rosette, these don’t tend to offset.

Single Stem A plant that grows on a single stem with a rosette at the top of the stem, these plants don’t always produce offsets.

Compact a plant that will grow into a very compact and neat form.

Branching a plant that will produce multiple layers of offsets, each offset will be attached to the main plant by a stem, these tend to be very easy to propagate.

Spreading a plant that will spread over an area if given the room and the correct conditions to do so.

Trailing a succulent that will trail out over the rim of pots and cascade down creating a waterfall effect.

Light Levels is a crucial attribute to take into consideration when deciding what plant to grow in your home or garden, this guide will help you decide the right succulent for you, whether you have full sun or loads of shade, this will help you determine the right succulent for your conditions. 

Shade a succulent that can tolerate and thrive in a shady position whether this is indoors or outside.

Part Shade a succulent that thrives in part shade, this is usually a plant that will need to be protected from the midday Sun, so morning or late afternoon sunlight would be ideal.

Full Sun a succulent that thrives in as much direct sunlight as possible.

Bright Windowsill a succulent that thrives in a windowsill that doesn’t get really strong sunlight, ideally a west or east facing windowsill away from the midday sun.

Or a North facing windowsill in the summer and a South facing windowsill in the winter.

Full Sun Windowsill a succulent that thrives in as much direct sunlight as possible, a nice south facing windowsill would be ideal.

for international buyers it’s important to note that these are based around the United Kingdom’s light levels.

Planting Location is a very important attribute to understand this will help you determine the correct succulent for your conditions whether this is indoors or out. Some succulents can only thrive when growing in an outside environment; this is due to the fact, they need plenty of air and natural sunlight, they may also grow too large for an indoor setting. 

Greenhouse a succulent that may need extra warmth especially at night so a greenhouse would be the ideal situation for this plant, plants in this attribute will also do very well outside during the warm summer months.

Indoor a succulent that will happily grow indoors in a naturally lit room or windowsill of your choice, check out light aspect attribute to determine the best succulents for your situation.

Patio a succulent that thrives in a pot on a sunny patio.

Dry Shade a succulent that will thrive in a shady position maybe under a bush/tree or up against a wall where they don’t receive much natural rainfall, these tend to be succulents that prefer to be protected from the midday sun.

Pot a succulent , happy to grow its whole life in a pot.

Wall where there may be a wall with a crack filled with soil for a succulent to be planted, Cornish dry-stone granite walls are ideal for these succulents.

Rockery a succulent that loves to be grow outside all year round in a great free draining soil mix and a top dress of gravel, even tender succulents can be planted in this situation and then lifted and protected for winter.

Garden a succulent that can be planted in the garden that is large enough to not be out competed by other shrubs and plants around it. Such as Agaves and large Aeoniums.

Windowsill a succulent that can be grown indoors on a windowsill.

Conservatory a succulent that will thrive in a nice warm conservatory away from the cold frosty winter evenings.

This attribute represents the overall size these succulents can eventually grow to, form tiny little plants such as Lithops and Haworthias to the giant tree Aloes of over 30ft tall. These succulents will only reach their full potential size if they are given the correct conditions to thrive in. Check out our, how to care for succulent’s guide. 

XSmall these succulents are as small as they come, growing no more than 6cm to 12cm when fully grown.

Small these range from 12cm to 30cm maximum size.

Medium these range from 30cm to 50cm maximum size.

Large these range from 50cm to 120cm maximum size 

XLarge these range from 120cm to over 30ft in some Aloe varieties.