Fuzzy Kalanchoes: Varieties, Uses and Tips Amazing tips

I'm eager to share with you my fondness for fuzzy kalanchoes! The varieties and design uses of these unusual succulents are diverse and wonderful. I've included important tips to ensure success.

The first time I saw a fuzzy kalanchoe, of course I had to touch it. It proved as photogenic as it was pettable. When backlit, velvety, fingerlike leaves glowed. Brown dashes along leaf margins suggested the stitches of a plush toy.

Face pot of Kalanchoe tomentosa (panda plant) at the Children's garden at the San Diego Botanic Garden.

Tomentose (fuzzy) kalanchoes thrive in pots, and look good solo or combined with crassulas, sedums and other small succulents. Their pet-me texture is striking in contrast with smoother leaves and glossy pot glazes. Most make good gifts for kids and adults alike.

In this post you'll see and discover:

• Silvery-blue Kalanchoe tomentosa (shown above)
• Golden-brown 'Chocolate Soldier' and 'Teddy Bear'
• Dainty white Kalanchoe eriophylla 
• Kalanchoe orgyalis (copper spoons)
• Kalanchoe bracteata (silver teaspoons)
• Treelike, tricky-to-grow Kalanchoe beharensis (felt bush).
• A desirable one I saw on the Laguna Beach garden tour (want!).

Below: Snow White panda plant (Kalanchoe eriophylla) is a diminutive novelty succulent useful for adding interest to container gardens.

Kalanchoe eriophylla

Why the fuzz?

Botanists conjecture fine hairs help to shade the plant, deflect the sun's ultraviolet rays, keep pests away, and lessen moisture loss.

Kalanchoe tomentosa 'Teddy Bear' 

Above: Kalanchoe tomentosa 'Teddy Bear' is an Altman Plants introduction.

Kalanchoe tomentosa (panda plant)

Kalanchoe tomentosa (panda plant) and its cultivars are among the easiest succulents to grow, and excellent for beginners. One small nursery plant, after a year's growth, will yield three or more cuttings you can use to start new plants.

I love the color and texture repetition of this pot pairing.

The Kalanchoe tomentosa in the photo above is getting a bit leggy---meaning rosettes perch atop denuded stems. Fuzzy kalanchoes typically need refreshing sooner or later. See how, step-by-step, on this site's Kalanchoe page.

Kalanchoe tomentosa 'Chocolate Soldier'. Plant-pot pairing by Diana Clark

Silvery-blue panda plant---the most common of the fuzzies---is a go-to succulents when I want to repeat a container's blue-gray hue. Golden brown cultivars of Kalanchoe tomentosa provide a similar effect in warmer-toned pots.

 This Kalanchoe tomentosa graces a hanging pot by Alicia Iraclides of Potted Arts. See us at the nursery making plant selections and how they came together in the video, How to Pair Succulents with Hanging Pots (5:45).

See a happy panda plant in my video

Kalanchoe tomentosa (panda plant) is one of "Ten Terrific Colorful Succulents" I show in this presentation, above, at Roger's Gardens nursery. See it beginning at 5:25. 

Felt bush and 'Fang'

Kalanchoe beharensis (felt bush) as shown in my book, Designing with Succulents (2nd ed.)

Treelike Kalanchoe beharensis, named after the southern Madagascan town of Behar, grows to about six feet tall with arrowhead-shaped leaves averaging 18 inches long. A wonderful aspect of this large succulent and its whiskery cultivar 'Fang' is that you can grow new plants from a single leaf. Lay it atop potting soil in bright shade, and as the leaf shrivels, a baby plant will grow where stem meets leaf.

Kalanchoe beharensis 'Fang'

It's tempting to plant treelike kalanchoes in the garden as focal points, but they can be tricky. Felt bush and 'Fang' prefer temperatures between 40 and 85 degrees, and coastal conditions like those of Santa Barbara, Laguna Beach or Coronado. Otherwise they tend to drop their leaves, exposing a spindly trunk lined with divots where stems were attached. Conversely, if Kalanchoe beharensis gets too happy, heavy clusters of leaves can cause weak limbs to break. If necessary, prop up the branches.

Copper spoons and silver spoons

Kalanchoe orgyalis (Copper spoons)

These oval-leaved shrub succulents do best in coastal gardens. Leaves of copper spoons are velvety brown on top and silvery gray underneath; flowers are yellow on branching stems.

Silver spoons (Kalanchoe bracteata, below) looks similar but leaves are uniformly silver-gray. It's often confused with nearly identical Kalanchoe hildebrandtii, which has greenish-yellow flowers instead of red.

Kalanchoe bracteata in bloom

Above: Isn't this a gorgeous garden? In it the designer used several different fuzzy kalanchoes. See it in my video: A Colorful Succulent Garden to Copy (3:51).

The fuzzy kalanchoe on my wish list

Kalanchoe tomentosa 'Super Fuzzy'

I met Kalanchoe 'Super Fuzzy' on a Laguna Beach garden tour ages ago. I've since looked for it everywhere. If you have a source, would you kindly LMK? Thanks!

Care and cultivation

The care, cultivation, propagation and refreshing of tomentose kalanchoes is the same for non-fuzzy varieties. Learn more on this site's Kalanchoe page.

Go to the Kalanchoe page

Kalanchoe: Details, Photos and Varieties

Kalanchoe: Details, Photos and Varieties Native to Madagascar, kalanchoes thrive outdoors in zone 9 (and higher if in dappled shade). Protect from frost. >>Jump Down to the Gallery About Kalanchoes Kalanchoes are beautiful soft succulents, easy to propagate from cuttings, with showy flowers. It’s a highly diverse genus, so to help you make sense of it,…

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Which Shade Succulents Are Best for You? Amazing tips

Shade Succulents video

You requested more info on low-light succulents, and I happily complied. I've added a Shade Succulents page to my site and created a YouTube video of the same name.

It probably won't surprise you that I watch my succulents like a meerkat atop her mound. I grow everything that's reasonably available, research plants' native growing conditions, and learn from my mistakes (which you'll see).

My big challenge was to winnow the selection. No sooner did I sort through hundreds of photos, I'd notice a demure little shade succulent I'd overlooked and think, "Oh! I've got to show them this!"

As a result, my site's new Shade Succulents Gallery shows a whopping 80+ varieties, many growing in my own climate-challenged garden. From the gallery:

Shade Succulents gallery (6 photos of 80+)

"But Debra, of course you can grow anything, you're in Southern California!" you may think. Not so! That may be true along the coast (where the millionaires live, you know who you are), but I'm 15 miles east as the crow flies at an elevation of 1,500 feet. OK, it's not that bad here. But we do get frost in winter and searing, scorching, beastly heat in summer.

Creating the new page and video took me nearly a month. I'm so eager for you to enjoy both! Do let me know what you think. Did I miss a succulent you love? Do you have questions? Please leave any and all comments below or on YouTube. Also be sure to "Like" the video (if you do), and subscribe to my channel (if you've yet to).

Oh! I also created a fun quiz for you at the end of the video. If I've done my job, you'll ace it. ;+)

Related info 

Grow Shade-Loving Fairy Crassula

Fairy crassula (Crassula multicava) is a great succulent ground cover for shade. In winter, like jade (Crassula ovata), it has dainty star-shaped, pinkish-white flowers. Here are 15+ reasons to grow it in your garden.

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Grow Shade-Loving Fairy Crassula Amazing tips

Fairy crassula (Crassula multicava) is a great succulent ground cover for shade. I've grown it since the '90s under oaks on a steep slope. It has sentimental value: My dad gave me the first cuttings. But like its cousin jade (Crassula ovata), this simple green succulent gets no respect. What is it with us gardeners that we sneer at easy-care plants that work well where nothing else does? "Common" isn't a compliment!

Case in point: At Waterwise Botanicals nursery, I ran into an old friend who is a renowned succulent gardener. He was curious what I had in my cart. I showed him something I'd found that thrilled me. He barely glanced at it. "Oh that," he said dismissively. "I had to pull it out of my garden because it was taking over."

I stammered, "Yes, but this one has red on the underside of its leaves." But he'd moved on. Maybe he already knew about Crassula multicava 'Red' and wasn't impressed. Yet I thought it gorgeous, and it's doing as well in my garden as the good ol' green one from dad's. As for the species taking over, certainly it spreads, but slowly. It's never been a problem. In fact, it has a handy way of filling gaps.

Crassula multicava 'Red' (red fairy crassula) has other cultivar names, including 'Purple Dragon' and 'Ngabara'.

In winter, typical of the genus, fairy crassula produces dainty star-shaped, pinkish-white flowers. By spring, masses of airy blooms on slender, branching stems float above oval green leaves. That is, if frost doesn't get them...which is likely why mine is less vigorous. Nearly every winter, frost hits exposed garden areas, confining tender plants to more sheltered spots. But fairy crassula prefers shade regardless. It burns in searing summer sun here (inland CA, Zone 9b).

Crassula multicava plantlets

It's fascinating how fairy crassula spreads. As flower stalks elongate, they produce itty-bitty plantlets that become heavier and more pendant. When about dime-sized, they touch the ground and take root. This often happens far enough from the mother ship that plantlets don't compete for light and nutrients.

As for Crassula multicava being invasive, it usually grows in leaf duff, so a gentle yank removes it. That said, if you do have ideal conditions for succulents---temps between 40 and 90, low humidity, good soil, and bright shade---it may be more vigorous than you prefer. But in less-than-ideal gardens, you'll love it and it'll love you.

Smaller, lighter green  leaves and red stems indicate Crassula multicava is getting more sun than normal. But that's OK near the coast.

15 reasons to grow fairy crassula (Crassula multicava)

• It's a great beginner's succulent that starts readily from cuttings.
• It tolerates difficult conditions: poor soil, deep shade, steep terrain.
• It appreciates regular water but gets by without it.
• Dark green mounds look good close up or far away.
• It's free and common at plant swaps. Neighbors happily give cuttings.
• Messy tree leaves fall into the plants and disappear. (To recall its name, think "multiple caves.")
• It helps tree leaves decompose into rich, crumbly leaf mulch.
• By robbing them of sunlight, it keeps weed seeds from germinating.
• It diffuses the impact of rain, preventing soil erosion.
• Roots, being shallow, don't compete with those of nearby trees or shrubs.
• Dainty white flowers contrast with deep green leaves.
• Flower stalks, bejeweled with starlike blooms, are lovely backlit.
• It needs almost no care and is pest- and problem-free. Even snails don't bother it.
• It's pretty in pots and as a filler in hanging baskets (cut back to encourage fullness).
• Like most succulents, you shouldn't walk on it, but it recovers if you do.

See Crassula multicava in my garden and watch me start cuttings of  'Red' in my new video: A Shade Succulent I Love and You Will Too

 

 

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