Echeveria elegans

This succulent from Mexico, named after a Mexican botanist, is not, according to the book, hardy and will not tolerate temperatures lower than 7C. However an Italian household a few doors away from us, grow these plants permanently outdoors and certainly survive the Surrey winters. When we used these to good effect in the Floral Clock in Liverpool in the 1960s, we used to take them out of the ground in September and grow them in boxes of a very sandy compost mix in cold frames over the winter and they were not exposed to the open air until May.