The ones with the glaucous (whitish) covering will do best, but speaking of best, your best bet, if I may, would be Dudleyas.Many of them are native and their growth cycle is tuned to San Diego's rainfall - you'll almost never need to water them because they're dormant in the summer. Many of the species are also farinaceous (having that whitish coating) - those are the ones I'd recommend.

This post was edited by cactusmcharris on Mon, Dec 8, 14 at 22:38

How far inland from the ocean are you?

cactusmcharris - Thank you for the recommendation. Though to be honest, I can't tell the difference between echeveria and dudleyas :)

hoovb - I'm about a half hour drive from the ocean.

In both CA native books I have as well as at the Theodore Payne Soc nursery they recommend that dudleyas get some afternoon shade in the hotter inland valleys. I have some areas I'd like to plant with them but they get direct SW sun all day and I wonder if they will do OK there.

can't possibly list all the echeverias.. some do great in full, hot sun... others do terribly. What do yours look like?

I'm about a half hour drive from the ocean.

Generally speaking, (with outliers excepted as lzrddr says), too far inland for best results in all day/afternoon sun. Give morning sun (at most) for best results (beauty).

Here are some Echeveria agavoides hybrids in full, all day sun inland

Here's some more all day Echeverias⦠those in full sun all day do tend to have some spectacular, though 'stress' coloration.

and of course the white ones like E cante (above) and E colorata Mexican giant do fine in full all day inland sun

These Echeveria pallidas obviously have no problem in all day sun, either (though of course this is a cloudy day)

Echeveria potosinas in all day sun (think this is just a form of Echeveria elegans now)

Echeveria pumilas in all day sun (again, cloudy day shot)

my own Echeveria subrigida in nearly all day sun (gets a break at about 4pm)

And here is my Dudleya brittonii in full all day super inland (desert) sun⦠likes it until about July⦠then it curls in on itself, only to pop back out this time of year like nothing ever happened to it.

Thank you so much for the info and beautiful pics Izrddr. Are all these from your home?

I love your Echeveria pumilas. They would go nicely with my home's color. Do they turn more pinkish the more sun they get or less water they get? I also like your Echeveria subrigida...

I wish we were neighbors. I'd be your first customer :)

Joe

Fabulous plants lzzrdr, do they get irrigation? Is the difference that mine get no summer water?

full sun no irrigation:
{{gwi:2127187}}
full sun with irrigation:
{{gwi:2127188}}

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This post was edited by hoovb on Thu, Dec 11, 14 at 11:56

I have Echeveria imbricata in full sun here, and they did fry initially⦠but fine now. No change in watering, though I do tend to water stuff, even if not asking for it