Echeveria ‘Chroma’: The Vibrant and Low-Maintenance Succulent

Echeveria ‘Chroma’ is a hybrid succulent plant that is known for its striking leaf coloration. The leaves are typically shades of pink, red, orange, and yellow, which gives the plant its common name “Chroma Echeveria”. The plant belongs to the Echeveria genus, which is a part of the Crassulaceae family. The Echeveria genus is commonly known as the hen and chicks, and they are known for the rosette shape of their leaves.

Appearance

One of the most striking features of Echeveria ‘Chroma’ is its rosette-forming leaves. The leaves grow in a circular pattern, radiating out from the center of the plant. They are thick and fleshy, and can be up to 3 inches long and 1 inch wide. The plant can grow up to 8 inches wide, but it generally stays compact, making it a great option for small spaces or indoor gardens.

Another unique feature of Echeveria ‘Chroma’ is its leaf coloration. The colors can change depending on the amount of light it receives. In bright, indirect light, the colors will appear more vibrant, but in low light conditions, the colors may fade. In addition to its colorful leaves, Echeveria ‘Chroma’ also produces small, bell-shaped flowers on tall stalks in the summertime. The color of the flowers is often orange or yellow, but can vary depending on the parent species of the hybrid.

Care and Maintenance

When it comes to care and maintenance, Echeveria ‘Chroma’ is a low-maintenance plant that is well-suited for both indoor and outdoor cultivation. Echeveria ‘Chroma’ prefers well-drained soil and a cactus or succulent potting mix is a good choice. The plant can tolerate a wide range of light conditions, but prefers bright, indirect sunlight. Be sure to allow the soil to dry out completely between watering and avoid over watering as it’s the most common reason for Echeveria to die.

Echeveria ‘Chroma’ is not frost tolerant, so it should be brought indoors or protected in some way if you live in an area with frost or freezing temperatures. Echeveria ‘Chroma’ can be prone to mealybugs and spider mites, so regular inspection and treatment is recommended. They can be treated with an insecticidal soap or neem oil.

Propagation can be done through leaf cuttings or offsets, which are small plantlets that form around the base of the mature plant. Simply remove the offsets from the parent plant and plant them in their own pot or area of the garden.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Echeveria ‘Chroma’ is a vibrant and low-maintenance succulent that is perfect for adding color and texture to your succulent collection. It’s well suited for both indoor and outdoor cultivation and can tolerate a wide range of light conditions.

With proper care, Echeveria ‘Chroma’ can thrive and provide a beautiful addition to any succulent or cacti collection. Its unique leaf coloration makes it a great option for indoor and outdoor decoration, adding a unique touch of color and texture to any space. It’s a great succulent to consider for those looking for a low maintenance plant with a lot of visual impact.

Growing Season:
Summer

Dormant Season:
Winter

About Echeveria 'Chroma'

Echeveria 'chroma' succulent care guide

Echeveria ‘Chroma’ is an incredibly cool cultivar by Renee O’Connell of Altman Plants. It takes on an almost tie-dye look with its warm peachy/pink variegation. Its golden flowers on tall, arching inflorescences will attract pollinators, like hummingbirds and bees, to your garden.

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General Guide to Echeveria Care

These beauties are one of the most popular succulents for beginners and experienced gardeners alike. There are hundreds of echeveria species, hybrids and cultivars which makes them a fun succulent to collect. Their origin is mostly from Mexico and the rest from Central America, South America and the United States.

Indoor Echeveria ‘Chroma’ kept as houseplants generally won’t need watering as frequently as the ones kept outdoors. Water them once the soil dries out AND they show signs of thirst. In the winter, they can go longer in between waterings when they are dormant.

When caring for echeveria indoors, be sure to give them lots and lots of light- natural or supplemented by grow lights. Most echeverias aren’t the best succulent to grow indoors as house plants because they need so much sun to keep your echeveria from growing tall. They become weaker and unhealthy when they start to lose their compact rosette shape. 

In addition to lots of light, be sure to provide your indoor echeveria with lots of ventilation. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to set a fan up near them to keep air flowing all the time. Stagnant air is the perfect environment for harmful bacteria and fungus which can lead to rot.

Never let the soil remain waterlogged by using a very porous, gritty, well draining soil in a pot with a drainage hole. Amend your soil with at least 50% inorganic amendment. Echeveria ‘Chroma’ is sensitive to root rot when over watered. See the Guide to Soil for Succulents for more information about the different amendments that people use for succulents and where you can buy them. Echeveria can tolerate long periods without water as it is stored in their fleshy leaves and stem.

Water echeveria varieties a little more during their active summer growing season between March and September approximately. Be sure to let the soil dry out between waterings. Water sparingly in the winter when they are dormant. They will not be able to take in as much water through their roots when they are in a dormant state. In their natural habitat, they have long periods of drought between heavy rain events so try to mimic this when you are watering. 

Always avoid getting the leaves wet especially in humid areas to keep water from remaining trapped between the leaves. This will lead to rot. Bottom watering works well in the case of potted echeveria. It takes a LOT longer to kill an echeveria from dehydration than overwatering, so always err on the side of underwatering.  

The more light your echeveria gets, the more brilliant its colors will become. During the cooler months, their colors really get dramatic because you’ll be watering them less as well. 

 Bending leaves and stretching stems indicate low light levels. This is also known as etiolation. Bending and stretching are their way of trying to reach for more light by increasing their surface area. To fix this, gradually increase the amount of light over a few days to a week to avoid sunburn. Putting an echeveria in full sunlight abruptly will cause irreversible sun damage. 

If the etiolation is severe, you will need to behead your echeveria, let the cut end callus and replant it in dry succulent soil. Give it the proper amount of light to avoid etiolation again. From there, you can propagate the lower leaves and babies will form on the remaining stem.

Propagation of your echeveria can happen by leaf, seeds and stem cuttings. Be sure that the leaves make a clean break from the stem node if propagating leaves. A mature echeveria will have more propagation success than a young one.

Generally, no. Echeveria are not monocarpic like sempervivum, aeonium and agave. They will bloom yearly in the spring and summer with long arching flower stalks that have several flowers at the ends. Their small, brightly colored flowers will last for a few weeks and will attract hummingbirds and other pollinators to your outdoor succulent garden. The energy needed to create a flower stalk can be taxing on your echeveria, so you may notice the leaves starting to look a little shabby. This is normal and once the flower stalks are removed, your echeveria will begin to perk up again. I actually cut the bloom stalks off right before they flower because I prefer the energy to go to making new leaves rather than flowers. I also find that the leaves on bloom stalks are more likely to propagate successfully so I remove those as well. See my Guide to Propagating Leaves for my step-by-step leaf propagation process. 

I did mention that they GENERALLY don’t die after flowering. On occasion, echeveria will throw out a terminal inflorescence (flower stalk) from the very very center of the plant. When this happens, the echeveria will die after flowering. In my experience, the echeveria varieties that have given me terminal blooms are Echeveria ‘Afterglow’ and E. ‘Blue Sky.’

Fertilize echeveria only during their summer growing period with a fertilizer low in nitrogen, balanced NPK numbers and diluted to at least half strength of what is recommended on the label.

Echeveria ‘Chroma’ are prone to mealy bugs. At the first sight of mealy bugs, pick them off with a small paintbrush dipped in isopropyl alcohol and treat the soil with a systemic insecticide. Quarantine any affected plants so the mealy bugs don’t spread. Most echeveria problems, however, are because of too much water and not enough light.

Echeveria ‘Chroma’ are rose shaped plants and can send out offsets horizontally from their stems via stolons. When planted in the ground, echeveria can form wide mounds around the mother plant. 

There are many echeveria types and their thick foliage ranges from powdery, fuzzy, smooth edges, wrinkled edges to bumpy surfaces.

Echeveria ‘Chroma’ can withstand temperatures down to about 20°F (USDA Zones 9-10) outdoors. They can handle a very light frost, but definitely can’t handle consistently freezing temperatures. 

The name Echeveria comes from the Mexican botanical artist Atanasio Echeverria y Godoy by the French botanist Augustin Pyramus deCandolle. Echeverria y Godoy produced thousands of botanical illustrations while exploring Mexico and Central America. 

(Source: https://www.smgrowers.com/)

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