Ordering

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.

Here at Surreal Succulents we thought it would be helpful to write a guide on the correct way to enjoy and get the most out of your succulent plants when placing an order.

Surreal Succulents are able to post orders all over the world, if you are outside of the EU we can even obtain phytosanitary certification for export. This shows our plants are healthy and safe to be shipped to your country, bug free.

In some countries, such as  America, we can already ship up to 12 plants without certification.

Surreal Succulents has new stock coming back online from week to week especially in the growing season so it’s always worth keeping an eye on the site to see if your favourites or dream succulent has come back online for ordering. After you place an order you will receive a confirmation email

Then our skilled trained Surreal Succulents team will go and hand pick every plant. They will pick the largest and most importantly healthiest plant for your order. The plants are then de-soiled, as we believe this is the healthiest way to ship your plants. Shipping bare root also allows us to give the plant a root inspection. Posting this way is cheaper as its lighter to ship to your door saving you money.

We then print a horticultural label and your plant is carefully wrapped in soft tissue paper and the labels taped to the outside for identification. We then pack the plants with more tissue paper into its shipping box so it can handle the journey to your door.

Once you receive your order carefully unwrap your plants and admire your beautiful new succulents for your collection.

Pot your succulents up and give them a good watering please see our “How to care for succulents guide” for the best way to do this.

The next thing to consider is your plants might have been in a dark box for several days, especially international orders. For best practice we advise potting your succulents up in a 9cm or 1 litre pot and placing them in a position so they will not receive intense bright direct sunshine between 11:00 and 15:00. Your plants will need to reacclimatise themselves so we would recommend airing on the side of caution and allowing your succulents to adjust like this for 7 to 10 days. If indoors simply place near a window and acclimatise it in the same way.

You will notice your plants will pick up very quickly this way and will show their stunning bright vibrant beauty as they adjust to the sunlight again. This simply allows them to adjust to their new environments gradually so you ensure a smooth transition. After 7 to 10 days you can now place your new succulents in their desired location and please admire and enjoy them for years to come.

1. Can I visit the nursery?
Come and visit us at Tremenheere Nursery, located at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens near Penzance. Read more about our nursery here.

2. What size are succulents do you have for sale?
We sell plants which are grown in pots ranging from 6cm upto 9L for specific specimin plants. Most of the plants are grown in 6 or 7cm pots, perfect for posting at this size. They are robust specimens, established at their size, ready to be potted up. (Please note the plants are shipped bare root and pots are not included). For more information view our Ordering from Surreal Succulents article.

3. Do you ship Worldwide?
We do ship worldwide (outside the UK) on completion of phytosanitary certification, for which extra charges apply. You will need to ensure that you have any relevant import permits (applies to most countries outside of the EU) – please check with the appropriate authorities in your country. You may have to pay a steep customs charge for your plants to make it to you successfully. We are working to reduce these.

4. How soon will I receive my plants?
Our website orders are despatched within 2-3 working days of receipt at the Nursery. Note that during cold spells plants cannot be dispatched because they could suffer damage in transit. Orders will be sent out as soon as temperatures rise above freezing. Orders may also be delayed over public holidays to avoid excessive length of time in transit.

Our website orders are despatched within 2-3 working days of receipt at the nursery. During cold spells, we protect orders with our heavy-duty horticultural fleece, if you find temperatures lower than -10°C, please let us know and we can arrange for your order to be delayed.

Orders may also be delayed over public holidays to avoid excessive length of time in transit.

5. What are your postage costs?

UK (Royal Mail Tracked)
1-4 items – £4.50
5 items or more – £2.25
Orders over £40 worth of products (excluding postage) – FREE

Channel Islands (Tracked)
1-4 items – £4.95
5 items or more – £3.95
Orders over £50 worth of products (excluding postage) – FREE

EU (Tracked Air Mail)
Tracked 1-10 items – £7.25
Tracked 11 items or more – £6.25
Orders over £80 worth of products (excluding postage) – FREE

Rest of the World (International Tracked)
1-7 items – £11.25
8-20 items – £14.25
21 items or more – £12.25
Orders over £135 worth of products (excluding postage)– FREE

6. What is your refund policy?
Customers are usually delighted with our goods and service, but if a mistake does occur, please let us know, and we will do all we can to put things right for you, politely and professionally. Please see our shipping & returns pages for further details.

7. Is online shopping safe?
Our online shop accepts payment through PayPal and Opayo to protect your payment information. All sensitive data will be encrypted before leaving your computer. When you go to the checkout page to complete an order you can check for yourself that the encryption is working by looking for the padlock icon in your web browser’s status bar at the bottom of your screen. We do not store any of your card details.

8. How will my plants be delivered?
We send your plants to you bare-rooted, with most of the soil removed from the roots, and carefully wrapped in tissue paper. The plants travel happily this way, and postal charges are kept to a minimum. Each plant is individually wrapped and labelled. On receiving your plants they should be potted up as described on our growing advice page.

9. Will my plants be like the plants in the photograph?

Sometimes when your plants arrive they may not appear to be a true likeness of the plant in the website photograph. Our photographs are taken of the plants at their most colourful and attractive in dry conditions and high light levels. Rest assured that succulents vary in appearance through the year and will resemble the photo when grown on and at the right time of year (usually summer).