Yes, it is the answer. Although certain succulents can withstand frost, they are frequently thought of as drought-tolerant plants. They flourish in chilly, snowy conditions, and the extreme cold even brings out their magnificent, vivid colors. They are referred to as “Hard Succulents.” Sempervivum, Sedum, and Euphorbias genera contain some of the most hardy succulents. You may plant such succulents outside all year round because the majority of them can withstand temperatures as low as -20F (Hardiness Zone 5).
“Soft Succulents” are another group of succulents that are more susceptible to frost. When the weather drops below freezing, they must be winterized inside.
How can you survive the cold with succulents?
Many of the most popular and stunning succulents will need to be taken indoors for the winter unless you are fortunate enough to live in a place where it does not get below freezing. Although a greenhouse is ideal, few gardeners have access to one. Fortunately, it’s simple to overwinter most succulents inside.
There is a vast variety of various plants classified as succulents, some of which have very particular requirements. But the advice provided here will help most widely cultivated succulents survive the winter.
When grown inside, succulents frequently develop a habit of being stretched out and lanky, producing weak and unsightly plants by spring. When care for succulents indoors throughout the winter, light, water, and temperature are three crucial considerations that can help to reduce this.
Light is Critical
Light is the main component in succulent survival during the winter. Succulents will extend if there is insufficient light in an effort to get closer to the source. In general, succulents want full sun. Although it can be challenging to do so inside, expose them to as much direct sunshine as you can. The ideal window is one that faces south, though east or west windows can also be used.
If there is inadequate natural light, fluorescent lights may be employed. It’s crucial to keep the plants between the bulbs and 1 to 2 inches away from them. Over a distance of 3 inches, fluorescent light is practically useless to plants. For plant growth, incandescent lights emit the wrong spectrum of light and becoming too hot.
Succulents Need Little Water During the Winter
It is always preferable for succulents to be too dry than too moist. This is particularly true in the winter, when plants experience less-than-ideal lighting conditions and below-average temperatures. During the winter, keep your succulents on the dry side. Just enough water should be provided to prevent plant shriveling. You might just need to water once every 10 to 14 days in a cold area.
Keep the plant itself dry at all times, especially rosette plants like Echeverias. The plant will swiftly decay and become mush as water will collect in the rosette’s center. Keep in mind that keeping a succulent moist will destroy it quickly!
Cool Temperatures are Good
The majority of succulents do not require extra warmth during the cold. It’s crucial to prevent them from freezing. The ideal temperature range is between 45 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The plants will remain in a semi-dormant state if kept cool. With the lower light intensity indoors during the winter, a warm environment fosters the growth of the plants, resulting in lanky plants.
No Fertilizer Needed
During the autumn and winter, succulents do not require any fertilizer. Instead of encouraging the plants to develop, you want to maintain them alive.
I’ve had great luck using these methods to overwinter plants like Echeveria, tender Sedum, Aeonium, Agave, Aloe, Crassula, Graptoveria, Kalanchoe, Faucaria, and Senecio.
The plants may endure the winter in a semi-dormant state with little stretching if you keep them sunny, dry, and cool. The succulents can be put back outside for a summer of sunbathing once the weather is no longer frosty.
Outside, how cold is too cold for succulents?
Because they are fickle plants, succulents shouldn’t be kept in temps so low. Succulents cannot survive in cold climates, so if you see the outside temperature lowering, take immediate action to save succulents from freezing.
It is unlikely that succulents will survive in temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Succulents are susceptible to freezing and dying at temperatures between 30 and 40 degrees.
When it gets colder than forty degrees Fahrenheit, succulents should be brought inside. Learn how to take care of your succulent in cold weather, why 40 degrees is the point at which it can no longer survive, and what other temperatures are harmful to these plants by reading on.
Do succulents require indoor storage over the winter?
You don’t have to be uncertain about how to care for succulents in the winter! In addition to some advice for your outdoor succulent garden, this piece will teach you how to properly care for your succulents indoors over the winter.
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Your succulents might not be able to remain outside all year round depending on where you live and the kinds of succulents you are growing.
In order for your succulents to thrive in a climate with snow or many nights of subfreezing temperatures, you will need to bring them inside if you have fragile succulents (those that can’t endure zero weather).
Succulents can they live outside?
Succulents are drought-tolerant plants because they can retain water in their large, irregularly shaped leaves. Succulents have a broad variety of eye-catching shapes and textures, which provide any landscape aesthetic interest. Can succulents live outside? is an often asked question. The quick response is “yes”! Growing succulents outdoors is an excellent alternative because they do well there and can withstand some neglect. They also do well in sunny areas with warm, dry weather.
Succulents can be grown in the ground, in pots, or hidden in unexpected planting locations. Take the uncertainty out of caring for these wonderful conversation pieces with stunning foliage by reading our suggestions for growing succulents outside.
Prepare succulents for indoor living
Spray your succulents with a surface pesticide before bringing them inside. To ensure that your succulents are pest-free, this preparation should take place at least 3 weeks before their indoor adaption. By doing this, you can stop insects and other pests from spreading to your indoor plants.
After clearing the garbage, weeds, and leaves, look for any indications of an infestation. Change the soil if you notice flies gathering around the succulents. When you bring them inside your home, they will quickly spread to the neighboring plants if you don’t.
Make sure your succulent is in a pot with a drainage hole and well-draining soil. Because outdoor environments frequently have greater ventilation, a proper soil mixture is essential for indoor growing of succulents. Succulents need sufficient air circulation to sustain healthy roots. To improve drainage, you can also add pumice or perlite to the potting medium.
In addition to these actions, gradually cut back on the watering of your succulents. The plants will go into dormancy and be able to endure the harsh winter with the help of less water and a lower temperature.
Bring the succulents inside 
Stop watering your indoor succulents and allow the soil to dry up. Water them lightly during the winter, just enough to prevent dehydration. Ensure that the temperature is consistently between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Providing enough light for succulents in the winter is another factor to take into account for indoor adaption. If your succulents have been kept outdoors for a while, they may have grown accustomed to regular exposure to intense light. It’s better to replicate their growing environment indoors. A sunny windowsill can provide 6–8 hours of bright light in warm zones 9–11, but in places with little sunlight, you might want to consider obtaining a succulent growth lamp.
Fluorescent lighting will promote healthy, stress-free plant growth, especially for non-dormant succulents.
Ice plant Oscularia Deltoides
Oscularia Deltoides, a succulent that is native to South Africa, with hefty, green leaves and blooms in the summer with purple daisy-like flowers. You may cultivate this succulent both inside and outside. It needs soil that drains properly and only light irrigation.
General Care: You may grow this succulent both inside and outside. They need a soil that drains properly and only light irrigation. Before you rehydrate the soil, make sure it is completely dry. Pink Ice Plants naturally need more watering when planted in full sun as opposed to partial sunlight.
It is hardy and can withstand temperatures as low as 15-20°F. However, prolonged exposure to cold temperatures and frost can harm ice plants.
Agave Butterfly
This rosettes succulent, native to the semi-arid Mexican regions of Puebla and Oaxaca, matures to a height of 2 feet. Its broad, cream-colored leaves are grayish green in tone. When the weather gets cooler, it enters dormancy after aggressively growing during the spring and summer.
In general, this plant needs bright, full sun outdoors because it loves the sun. It thrives in pots with drainage holes and stony, mineral soils. You’ll notice new offsets or “pups” growing around the mother plant’s base over time.
Hardiness: Agave Butterfly grows extremely slowly and can withstand extreme heat and protracted drought. This cultivar can tolerate light freezing down to 22F.
Although these succulents can withstand extremely severe temperatures, like other succulents, they require sufficient drainage in their growing location in the garden to prevent rot from melting snow.
Before planting them outside in snowy conditions, you must gradually acclimate cold-hardy succulents that you have grown in warmer climates. Even though they don’t seem so nice in the winter, these two varieties of succulents, which are among the most hardy, will come back lush and robust.
When may I return my succulents to the outdoors?
Before anything else, when is it too early to plant new succulents outside?
In general, waiting until after the last frost and when the nights don’t get below 40F is advised. Even while you could grow certain succulents outside before then, planting is most successful in warmer climates.
However, avoid waiting until the summer because the heat can be just as problematic as the cold. When planting your succulents outside, look for temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
I have succulents, when should I cover them?
“Frost tender” succulents may experience variable degrees of damage, depending on how long the temperature is below freezing (32 degrees F). A sensitive plant’s cells expand, burst, and transform its leaves to mush when liquid inside them freezes. In a “light frost,” only the tips of the leaves may be harmed (“frost burn”). A “hard frost” is characterized by sustained temperatures below freezing, which can cause entire plants to die. Typically, succulents do not recover from roots.
Ones that are among the most fragile succulents include crassulas, aeoniums, euphorbias, and kalanchoes. Some succulents, in particular, have an inbuilt antifreeze that allows them to endure temperatures considerably below 32 degrees Fahrenheit—in fact, below zero.
Are your outdoor succulents at risk over the winter? Depending on where you reside, Please refer to “Cold Weather Care for Outdoor Succulents, By Region.”
Your area is frost-free (lucky you!) if…
This soft-leaved agave in my garden is the canary in the mineshaft when it comes to cold. Many succulents may survive a brief cold (less than an hour), but Agave attenuata’s leaf tips immediately reveal damage.
Although ugly, this damage rarely results in death. See how each leaf’s healthy green portion is? Cut each leaf to a point using scissors to remove the tissue-paper-like frozen tips. The harm won’t be very evident when you’re finished. Those shorter, clipped leaves will be buried by new growth during the summer. (Note: Such damage is comparable to scorching brought on by excessive sun and heat, which is common of desert conditions, and by wildfire, which, believe it or not, does occur.)
What about a succulent or agave that only suffers damage from frost on the tips of its leaves? Don’t even try trimming them. In a few months, it will shed those oldest leaves nevertheless.
areas with sporadic, light frosts (like Southern California’s interior):
If there is a “frost advisory” for your area, keep an eye on the weather forecast, and before it gets dark, go outdoors and cover your sensitive succulents. After midnight, frost is more common, and temperatures increase colder as dawn approaches. Warm air is lighter than cold air, which travels down hills and gathers in low areas. Succulents in swales are therefore more vulnerable than those on top of berms. You may have heard that Christmas lights slightly increase the temperature. Yes, if they are the traditional variety. LEDs in current use don’t produce heat. You should be concerned about succulents that are exposed to the elements and have nothing over them. I occasionally lean over a succulent and look up. It becomes draped if there aren’t any tree limbs or eaves directly above.
I reside at 1,500 feet in the foothills NE of San Diego (Zone 9b). And yes, after seeing the weather forecast on the late-night news, I have been outside at 11 p.m. in my pajamas and slippers, freezing while I place blankets on delicate plants while my husband holds a flashlight. I may leave the plants covered if several nights of frost are expected; otherwise, I take the sheets off the next morning. I fasten them with clothes pins and rocks to make sure they won’t blow off. AVOID using plastic. The plants are unable to breathe because of it.
In my yard, jades and other delicate succulents are covered in frost cloth. WATCH THE VIDEO
Why cold damages some succulents and not others
The origin of a certain plant type affects it greatly. Most succulents are native to dry, hot areas where they can store water in their leaves to survive drought. The ones that don’t freeze, however, are from dry, cold climates. See my essay, Showy Succulents for Snowy Climates, in the Wall Street Journal. The “hardies” include:
several species and cultivars of sempervivums (hens-and-chicks, above); some cactus, yuccas, and agaves (such as Agave utahensis, A. montana, and A. parryi); and lewisias from the Pacific Northwest.
Do succulents survive the winter?
Not only warm climes are suitable for a succulent garden outside! Check out what you can accomplish with succulents planted in the ground in four-season regions.
In contrast to southern California’s sunny environment, where there are many beautiful succulent gardens, Utah’s four-season climate makes it more difficult to find outdoor succulent gardens.
The two main types of succulents that can withstand freezing temperatures are Stonecrop Sedums and Sempervivums, also known as hens and chicks. Most animals can survive at temperatures as low as –20 °F.
In order to maintain a stunning outdoor succulent garden year-round, even when there is snow on the ground, I have been developing a variety of arrangements using only cold-hardy succulents.
You’ll see affiliate connections to Mountain Crest Gardens for the many succulents I utilized for these projects all throughout this post.
I received a lot of succulents for free, but my favorite succulents are from Mountain Crest, and I wholeheartedly suggest them to everyone! Nowhere else will you find a finer collection of resilient succulents.
In the movies below, you’ll see a wide variety of succulent collections and items, but I wanted to make it simple for you to see them all at once, so here is a list of the things I used to produce these succulent landscapes: