Succulents with Red Flowers
by Succulent Market AdminAug 31, 2020
Red is a powerful color that instantly makes a statement. Succulents with red flowers are a ravishing choice for your indoor landscape. Even if you don’t have many indoor plants, a single red flowering succulent on your side table will brighten up the room! Whether you plan on getting one for yourself or as a gift for a friend, here are some beautiful succulent varieties with bright red flowers.
1. Flaming Katy Kalanchoe
With flaming red flowers, Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana, better known as Flaming Katy, is a popular choice of many indoor gardeners. The reason is quite obvious - the vivid red flowers have the capacity to uplift any setting!
With this succulent, you get a compact houseplant packed with vibrant blooms during the flowering season in winters. The blossoms often last for weeks or even months if the environment is cool and all the other conditions are equally suitable. The fleshy, green leaves are equally stunning when the plant isn't blooming.
Keep it next to a bright window, with temperature in the range of 55 to 85°F, for ideal growth, though you can also move it to shady corners for a limited time. Some growers like to move it to a darker room to trigger blooming. However, prolonged exposure to full shade can result in leggy and spindly. Fertilize it with a diluted houseplant fertilizer once the blooming ends and every four weeks through the spring and summer.
2. Christmas Cactus
If you want an impressive red floral display right around Christmas time, go for the Christmas Cactus. These are the perfect holiday cacti if you love red blooms. Besides red, you can also find the same species in other flowering colors, including white, yellow, pink, and purple. The blooming lasts for weeks, especially if you give it the care it expects.
Plant it in a nutrient-rich, well-drained potting soil and maintain consistently moist soil during the blooming period. Make sure that the container has drainage holes at the base to release excess water. Place it next to a window with bright, indirect lighting. East-facing windows are generally the best spots for your Christmas Cactus.
To trigger blooming, the surrounding temperature needs to be a bit on the cooler side, ideally between 50 to 55°F, with at least 14 hours of darkness every day for about six weeks. Once you see the buds appear on the leaf tips, start fertilizing it with dilute doses of a low-nitrogen fertilizer every two weeks or so.
3. Orchid Cactus
Epiphyllum is better known as orchid cactus, given the enormous vibrant blooms they produce. Over 20 different species exist, with flowers appearing in several shades of purple and red. Although you can plant them in pots, they're the perfect candidates for your hanging baskets, since their uniquely-shaped, jointed stems grow to a length of 18 to 30 inches.
The blooming continues from early winter to spring, but the individual flowers will only last for a couple of days. Amend the conventional potting soil with peat and sand for better drainage and place at a location with bright, indirect light for best results.
Use a diluted balanced fertilizer throughout spring and fall, but start feeding with a low-nitrogen mix with winters' start to promote blooming. Other than fertilization, exposure to cooler temperatures and extended dark hours per day will also trigger flowering.
4. Torch Aloe
Related to the infamous aloe vera, together with several other aloe varieties, torch aloe is a popular choice for the beautiful orange-red flowers it produces each winter. With sword-shaped leaves and bright conical flower bunches appearing above the foliage, it's quite a hardy variety that works both as a houseplant and an outdoor plant.
Plant them in a fertile, well-drained soil outdoors or a good cacti mix indoors. They're generally sun-loving varieties but will also tolerate some shade. They'll appreciate a consistently moist soil but won't handle overwatering.
In contrast to the usual succulents, which are compact plants, the torch aloe grows more like a shrub, reaching a height and width of about 10 feet, if grown in the right conditions. Use a well-balanced diluted fertilizer through the growing season, but switch to low-nitrogen mixes right before the blooming season.
5. Baby Sun Rose
Aptenia Cordifolia or Baby Sun Rose is another beautiful red flowering succulent that works as an excellent ground cover for indoor and outdoor landscapes. Along with the fleshy, small leaves in fresh green color, the tiny red flowers that appear on the variety in spring and summer instantly brighten the picture. What's most intriguing is that the flowers open up somewhere around the afternoon and close in the evening.
Although they don't attain too much height (averaging about 6 inches tall), their horizontal spread is quite fast and can cover a 2 feet area easily when given optimal conditions. Include them in your outdoor rock gardens, hanging baskets, or container arrangements, but make sure you plant them in well-drained soil.
Allow the soil to dry almost completely before watering, and water deeply. Use diluted water-based fertilizer regularly, or include a slow-release formula twice a year for consistent nutrient availability.
These are the 5 succulents with red flowers that we love the most. Many others exist like Opuntia, Crown of Thorns, Peanut Cactus, Burro's Tail, and more. Besides red, you'll also find succulents that produce pink, white, peach, orange, and purple flowers. Mix and match to create a staggering succulent display for your home.