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Pachyphytum compactum - A low succulent plant with stout stems to 6 inches long (to 16 inches if pendent) that often branch towards the base and hold rosettes with many (15-80) tightly congested gray-green tinged violet leaves at the stem tip. The round tubular leaves are pointed at the tips and imprinting from neighboring leaves marks the inside of the leaves with straight lines that gives them a rectangular look that is quite distinct. The late spring flowers, held in a nearly 1-foot-tall raceme, are a pale yellow in the center with the rest of the flower a pinkish orange and narrow pale orange sepals that are blue-green at the tips.
This succulent is very adaptable and easy to grow. Southern California gardeners can grow it in full sun (along coast) to fairly deep shade, but it performs best with part sun or light shade. Plant in a well-drained soil or keep in a container. Irrigate little to occasionally. Cold hardy to 20°F.
Pachyphytum compactum comes from the Mexican states of Queretaro and Hidalgo. The name for the genus comes from the Greek word 'pachys' meaning "thick" and phyton (phuton) meaning "plant" because of the thick swollen leaves and the specific epithet is a reference to the compact nature of the plant. We first received this plant with the plant collection of Stockton succulent plant grower Alice Waidhofer in 2005 and sold it from that year until 2010.
The information about Pachyphytum compactum that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.
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