Doris Taylor Succulent Info: Tips On Growing A Woolly Rose Plant

Echeveria ‘Doris Taylor,’ also called the woolly rose plant, is a favorite of many collectors. If you’re not familiar with this plant, you may ask what is a woolly rose succulent? Keep reading to learn more about this interesting succulent plant.

Doris Taylor Succulent Info

Doris Taylor is an attractive pale green succulent plant. The leaf tips of this echeveria are sometimes dark and leaves are always quite fuzzy. It has a charming rosette shape reaching 7 to 8 inches (18-20 cm.) around and just 3 to 5 inches (7.6-13 cm.) tall. Try growing a woolly rose in a white container to best display its attractive, diminutive persona.

As with most fuzzy leafed plants, little water is needed and leaves propagate more slowly than smooth leaved varieties.

Woolly Rose Plant Care

When growing a woolly rose indoors, place it where it gets full morning sun or at the least bright light. Outside, morning sun may be filtered or dappled, but best performance of this plant results from a few hours daily of direct sun. As always, slowly acclimate to a full sun situation. Sources indicate the plant can maintain in shade. Keep Doris Taylor in afternoon shade in the hottest days of summer.

More water is needed during the growing season; however, waterings should still be infrequent. Water even less in winter while the plant is dormant. Doris Taylor succulent info advises growing this specimen in a mix of half potting soil and half coarse sand. Whatever potting mix you plant it into, water should quickly drain past the roots and exit the container.

Fertilize in spring and summer with diluted cactus and succulent food for warm weather growth.

Dark leaf tips appear from sunlight and low water conditions. Showy orange blooms may appear on the contented specimen in late spring and summer on 8- to 10-inch (20-25 cm.) stems. Trim stems when flowering is finished.

If you notice aphids swarming the new flower growth, as they sometimes do, move the plant from the sun and treat with 50 to 70 percent alcohol. Try to avoid getting alcohol on the foliage of the plant below. The best way to do this is to tilt the container and then spray the bloom stalks and buds. Alcohol mix may be diluted. A stream of water may also work for dislodging these pests.

You may collect seeds from the faded blooms, but since this plant is a hybrid, seeds don’t come back true to the parent. A cross between Echeveria setosa and E. pulvinata, it might be interesting to see what, if anything, develops from the seeds. Propagate this plant from cuttings for a replica of the parent.