I just came across this site with a great poster of how the various succulents are related. May be useful to some...

http://greatinfographic.com/a-...

Those are the families.

I liked the chart until I looked more closely. Lithops, Faucaria, etc. are placed in the agave family when they should be under Aizo, and there are no Euphorbias anywhere. So maybe it's a work in progress... kind of incomplete and incorrect but a good start. The number of Euphorbias is pretty close to the number of cacti, so there's no reason to leave them out.

Thanks Baja - I'm just learning. The only succulents I knew (sort of) until recently were Sedum and my Jade.
I just picked up a Sedeveria hybrid so there's plenty to add to my confusion.

I thought Orchids were hard to keep organized by families until I started down this path.

Oh, there will always be plenty of confusion. That's a good thing, in a way, if you know what I mean. More stuff to explore, anyway.

If you're old-fashioned like me, I would recommend the book by Miles Anderson (under various titles), which is a concise visual encyclopedia with lots of useful info, and a great starting point for exploring some of the more obscure realms. There are also two recent books by Jeff Moore with lots of pictures and info about succulents in general, or about aloes and agaves, two of my favorite members of the group. None of these books are very expensive, and a lot of the photos are inspirational.

Thanks Baja! I will certainly check them out!

We have had succulents & cacti forever but I had never gotten very deep into them. We were given a Jade when we were first married and nearly 40 years later it's still doing great (so is the plant! ). My big interest at present is Crassula perforata & C. rupestris varieties, though Aeonium, Echeveria, Sempervivium, and Sedum in general always interest me. I'm beginning to plan for an all blue & purple/lavender planter by spring, and possibly another with reds, oranges & yellows.
IF I can find some nearly white succulents (I know they are hard to find) I want to see if I can make a planter with just black & whites with various textures.


<Those are the families.
Thanks Tiffany! As mentioned, I'm just starting to get into these more deeply. We've had Aeonium of various types over the years as well as Aloes & Sedum, and some I never knew the names of (they followed us home - you know that age-old story). Many did great, some didn't do well - I suspect a watering can tipped too often caused many plant funerals to be held in our home. Now that I'm working on specific plants and understanding even succulents are not a "one size fits all" with watering and care I feel they will do much better. Ironically Orchids are how I am approaching them - succulents may look similar and may generally have similar needs, but each one needs to be understood as an individual; they may need very different care. I say ironically because the mantra with Orchids is "when watering, think cactus".

Oooh the white succulents are awesome. These 3 white BC natives would probably be a challenge in NC but they enjoy our mild climate. The white powder is like a sunscreen.





There are a few white Echeverias... E. runyonii and its variant "Topsy Turvy" are whitish blue in the sun.



The two black Echeverias that you tend to see out there are "Black Knight" and "Black Prince", and they are a very dark color in the sun, like their darker parent, E. affinis.



In the deep purple department, Aeonium "Zwartkop" should be pretty easy to find, also various Dyckia hybrids (terrestrial bromeliad not succulent but same lifestyle, and great hummingbird magnets).



I would think a great Echeveria for red color would be E. agavoides, which usually develops very attractive red edges in the sun. This should be a pretty widely available plant.

I'll add those to my list. The whites I've had my eye on are Echeveria Lola, and Echeveria cante 'White Shadow'. We've had Echeveria 'Black Rose' in the past and loved both the color and the ease of growing it. I have a small one growing in a succulent wreath and it stands out very nicely among all the others. These would all be containerized houseplants that would spend their summers on the front porch or the retaining walls of the raised beds in the front yard. Winters would be indoors.

Another one I would like to see, although green, is Moraea Tortilis (called Curly Grass). I don't know for sure if it is a succulent but it is definitely unusual.