Aichryson (Aeonium) domesticum variegatum Crassulaceae
I’m not quite sure how high and wide this pretty succulent will grow if left to its own devices. Mine has stayed in a two-inch pot for more than a year, and filled itself out with thin, round green leaves edged with creamy white, blushing faint pink in warm sun. The leaves huddle in tight, overlapping rosettes all around the branching stems.
Aloe Liliaceae
Symmetrical clusters of thick, heavy, sharp-spiny leaves; fall and winter flowers held aloft like a torch. One of the smaller species is A. brevifolia, with leaf rosettes about three inches across. A. variegata can eventually reach a foot high, but very slowly; and its white-marbled leaves are striking in the meantime.
Aptenia cordifolia (Mesembryanthemum cordifolium) Aizoaceae
Creeping, clustering succulent with thinnish, round-pointed, gray-green leaves in pairs along the stems; brilliant fuchsia-purple daisy-shaped flowers. The variety variegata is embellished with creamy-white leaf edgings.
Astrophytum Cactaceae Star Cactus
Thick stem-bodies divided neatly into five sections but still attached together, growing very slowly to four inches across. Outlandishly large, flat, daisy flowers in summer. Try A. myriostigma, bishop’s cap, or A. asterias, sand dollar, both spineless; or silver-dotted A. ornatum, with swirling lines and tufts of curved spines.
Cephalocereus senilis Cactaceae Old Man Cactus
A good bet for beginning collectors. This is a columnar cactus covered with a shaggy coat of snow-white hairs, growing up to forty feet high in the desert, but approaching that height at a snail’s pace indoors. Flowers are rosy-pink, about two inches across.