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Most (or all) succulants bloom at some point when they are growing in their natural habitat. The question is, are there some that will easily flower when they are grown indoors? That is a question I am especially interested in since I live in a cold, northern environment and my succulent plants need to be kept indoors.
There are some succulents that will easily bloom when grown indoors. Some examples are the Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter cacti that we are all familiar with. There is also the orchid cactus, and plants in the Mammillaria and Sedum families.
There are so many succulents that we can get to bloom indoors that I had to choose just a few of my favorites to talk about. There is no guarantee that you will get yours to bloom, of course, since each type of succulent needs to have the correct conditions met in order for it to bloom, but understanding what these conditions are and putting them in place is the best place for us to start.
Succulents That Bloom Indoors
Sedums
Plants in the sedum family are fun to grow, and they are generally very easy to propagate too, but best of all is that many of them will also bloom indoors.
If you are interested in learning how to propagate them from either leaves or stems, we have a short guide for either one, leaves or stems, that can provide some helpful direction.
Many sedums are planted to provide a beautiful ground cover outdoors, but lots of them also do well planted in containers or pots and are grown indoors as decorative succulents. (I believe the shorter, low-growing varieties look wonderful when grown in fairy gardens.)
A sedum called the Jelly Bean Plant, Sedum rubrotinctum, (also called pork and beans) is interesting to grow just for its looks. It is a low-growing, compact succulent that will grow very well indoors, and it will produce bright yellow, star shaped flowers for you in the spring if you give it plenty of light.
The leaves will turn bright red when they get lots of light too, which adds to the striking appearance of this succulent. You can get this plant from Amazon.
Another sedem is ‘Angelina’ stonecrop, also called Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’. This sedum is native to Europe and can tolerate colder temperatures.
This plant is usually grown as a groundcover, but it also does very well indoors as a decorative plant. It is a small, fast growing plant. It readily produces blooms every summer, after a year or two of initial growth that it needs to get established. It needs lots of bright, indirect light, so it would do best in the sunniest part of your house. If you can’t give it enough natural sunlight, you might want to consider using an LED plant light to keep it healthy.
When it blooms, it is covered with lots of small, yellow, star-shaped flowers. When grown outdoors, it often drapes itself over walls, so it would also look very nice in a hanging basket indoors. I also think this plant would look very nice in a fairy garden, as long as it was pruned occasionally when needed.
Mammillaria
This is a family of cactus (which is a succulent) that originates from the southern part of America and Mexico, and since they can’t tolerate the cold temperatures of the northern winters where I am located, they have to be kept indoors in pots. Fortunately, these cacti will flower if they are given enough light and a period of cooler temperatures in the winter.
If you don’t have enough light in your home, you may consider using an LED plant light to increase their exposure.
One cactus from the Mammillaria family that I like is called the Old Lady Cactus, mammillaria hahniana. You can easily find them for sale at your local garden center, but they can also be found online too. Amazon has this one and it would make a good choice as a starter plant.
The Old Lady cactus is a round-shaped cactus with a soft, fuzzy appearance, and it produces a beautiful set of fuschia-colored flowers that look like a crown on top of the cactus. This plant needs plenty of bright but indirect light and a cool period in the winter for it to produce flowers.
Tropical Succulents
Not all succulents or cacti are originally found in dry desert parts of the world; some of them come from tropical climates, generally from Central or South America.
These types of cacti/succulents are epiphytic in nature, which means they like to live off of other plants or trees in a non-parasitic way. In other words, they use these other plants only as a means of support. Some epiphytic plants are called “air plants,” but the ones I like to grow for flowers have a good root system and are not what most people think of as an “air plant.”
These types of succulents are best known for their flowers and how easy it is to make them bloom. Their flowers come in many different colors, depending on the type of plant you are growing.
One of these tropical succulents is called The Orchid cactus, Epiphyllum.
This plant is known for its long, trailing stems and its large, orchid-like flowers.
These flowers are fragrant and come in different colors. One interesting thing about this plant is that it blooms at night, and each flower only lasts for a short period of time. This one on Amazon will grow to produce bright red flowers.
Three more of these tropical succulents are what people think of as holiday cactus plants, and they are:
Christmas cactus, Schlumbergera Buckleyi,
Thanksgiving cactus, Schlumbergera truncata
and the Easter cactus, Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri
These cactus plants are very popular around these holidays since that is generally when they are in full bloom.
They will easily bloom for you after you get them home, and you can get them to bloom again later in the year if you give them a period of dark, cool temperatures.
You can easily buy them at garden centers, and they are usually sold when the flower buds are ready to open up, but you can also find them online.
Christmas cactus plants are a little harder to find because they are more fragile than Thanksgiving cactus plants, and that makes it harder to transport them commercially. I did find these cuttings on Amazon. So if you are interested, check them out.
Amazon has this Thanksgiving cactus and it comes in a 4 inch pot. They also have this Easter cactus as well, which, when it blooms, will have orange flowers.
Check out our article on how to get your Christmas cactus to bloom for you here. We also have an article to help you tell the difference between Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving cacti plants.
This post was written for cactus-central.com and is not permitted to be used on other sites.