Echeveria Serrana Care & Propagation

Echeveria Serrana is an exciting hybrid of unknown parentage. This striking plant is quite easy to grow if you know what to look out for. Below I will cover all there is to know about Echeveria Serrana including growing tips and propagation.

The advice is based on years of experience of growing Echeveria Serrana in our nursery Fern Farm Plants. All photos are of our own stock, grown by us.

Description

Echeveria Serrana is a stunningly beautiful succulent with a rosette type arrangement of leaves. The colour ranges from dark chocolate to pink to purple and can change throughout the year. The centre of the rosette turns pink when the plant is stressed and/or in winter. The overall colour of the plant is matte.

The leaves are long, pointy and on the thinner side. The edge can turn a lighter, creamy colour.

The rosettes of Echeveria Serrana grow on a low stalk, close to the ground. Individual plants can reach approximately 25cm in diameter and 10cm height in ideal conditions.

Serrana forms clumps of rosettes. Once a rosette is mature, it will produce offsets at the bottom. Each offset will then go on to produce offsets of their own. If the plant is in a big enough pot and has the right potting mix a single rosette can produce over 7 offsets each year.

Echeveria Serrana flowers prolifically in winter/spring. The blooms grow on a tall stalk where individual bell-shaped, bright red flowers open. The flower stalks also grow lots of dark chocolate leaves.

Position & Care

Echeveria Serrana is a fairly hardy plant that can be grown outdoors all year round in moderate climates that do not experience any frost. Serrana is not frost hardy and so will need to be brought indoors/ greenhouse during winter if frost or snow is expected.

The plant will survive outdoors if the temperature does not fall below 1C/33F. Mild frost should not kill Echeveria Serrana but it is likely to cause burns on the foliage.

The best appearance is achieved when Serrana is grown in as much sun as possible. In summer during heatwaves of over 35C/95F it is likely this plant will get burnmarks from strong UV rays and should be moved under cover/in shade/under 30% shade-cloth for the afternoon.

While Echeveria Serrana will grow in a bright shade, it is likely to grow leggy, green and can rot easily if overwatered.

In pots, use succulent potting mix and, for best results, re-pot to a slightly bigger pot every growing season. This will help the plant grow to its full size and produce offsets.

Echeveria Serrana can also be grown in the garden and looks particularly fantastic in rockeries, succulent gardens or at the edges. Plants in the ground are usually more hardy than those grown in pots. Mulch or pebbles can be used as well.

As long as succulent potting mix is used in pots, Echeveria Serrana should not show any adverse signs to overwatering or too much rain. It is important the plant gets enough sun and that the pot has holes so the water does not cause soggy potting mix.

If the plant is in a greenhouse or undercover water once the potting mix dries up. In the ground, Serrana will not need to be watered all that often, though during heatwaves/drought it will thank you for a good soak every other day.

Echeveria Serrana is an outdoor plant and not suitable to be grown indoors, other than for over-wintering. The only time this plant will have a chance at surviving inside is if it’s grown under plant growing lights or in a very bright sunroom.

Propagation

Echeveria Serrana can be propagated by offsets, leaves and seeds. While propagating by offsets is the easiest method, leaves also have a good strike rate. As for seeds, while possible it can prove difficult to raise this succulent from seed.

By far the best and easiest way to propagate Echeveria Serrana is by offsets. The offsets can be take off when they have a big enough stalk. To read a more in-depth article on how to propagate succulent by offsets, go here.

It is quite easy to do leaf propagation with Echeveria Serrana as it has a very high strike rate and a single leaf can produce as many as 3 or 4 rosettes. We have a detailed article on succulent leaf propagation here.

Seeds may not be a great idea for a number of reasons. One, it can be hard to find a reliable seed seller that will sell you seed that has not been contaminated with pollen of other succulents/ sell seeds that are viable.

Two, germination of the seeds can also be unreliable and three, it can take a very, very long time (years) for a seed to grow to a decent sized plant.

Whichever propagation method is used, Echeveria Serrana should only be propagated in the growing season. This would be spring and summer, though do be careful young plants do not get burned in strong summer sun.

Pests

Echeveria Serrana is particularly susceptible to mealy bugs and should be regularly checked as these pests can spread fast. Aphids are also not unusual and mainly attack the flowers.

To read more about mealy bugs and how to control them, see this article. For Aphids go here.

For a list of animals that like to eat succulents, you can read another one of our articles here.

Toxicity

As most Echeverias, Echeveria Serrana is not toxic to humans, dogs, cats, other pets or livestock, though it is not recommended to consume this plant as food.

Where can I get it?

Echeveria Serrana can be a little hard to track down but specialist succulent nurseries/ online nurseries should stock this plant.

If you like Echeveria Serrana, you may also be interested in Echeveria Melaco.