13 Different Succulents & Cacti With Orange Flowers

Are you looking for a few succulents that have beautiful orange blooms? There are many different orange flowering succulents to choose from, blooming in all shades of orange. In this article, gardening expert Melissa Strauss examines her favorite succulents that have beautiful orange flowers.

Succulent With Orange Flowers Blooming in Garden

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Orange is an energetic color associated with warmth and happiness. It evokes the tang of zest from peeling a tangerine, and the warm glow of candlelight. It’s also a fabulous shade to enliven a garden or floral arrangement. It happens to be a common color of succulent blooms, as well.

So if you’ve started looking for an orange blooming succulent, you’ve come to the right place! If you are looking to liven up your garden, or bring a little nature indoors, succulents are easy to maintain, and require almost no attention as long as they have a sunny spot and good air circulation. Plus, flowering succulents are extremely unique looking and can add a conversation piece to your garden!

Read on and take a look at some of our favorite succulents for your home and garden that produce brilliant orange flowers.

Bitter Aloe

Orange Blooming Flower of Succulent Aloe Ferox. The flowers are elongated, blooming in clusters off a primary stem. The succulent leaves are growing green as foliage at the base of the plant. They are long, firm, tendrils that branch from the plant base and are a blueish green tint.
Bitter Aloe is one of the most popular choices when looking for a succulent with bright orange flowers.
Scientific Name: Aloe ferox
  • Bloom Time:  Spring and Summer
  • Geographical Location:  South Africa
  • Sun Exposure: Full Sun
  • Plant Zone: 9-12

Also known as Cape Aloe, Bitter Aloe is an imposing species that resembles an agave or century plant. The leaves are thick and fleshy and produce a gel that is commonly used in cosmetic products, herbal remedies, and supplements. It is one of the larger species of aloe, growing 6’-9’ tall and 3’-5’ wide at maturity.

Bitter Aloe produces spectacular plumes of brilliant orange inflorescences. The spikes are covered in small, tubular flowers with visible stamens that attract plenty of nectar loving birds and insects. This impressive plant does well kept outdoors but doesn’t tolerate temperatures below 25°.

Candelabra Aloe

Candleabra Aloe Blooming in Garden. The focus of the image is the deeper orange blooms that have almost a red tint to them in appearance. The background is green foliage, but is out of focus.
Similar to Bitter Aloe, Candleabra Aloe also has deeper orange-red colored flowers.
Scientific Name: Aloe Arborescens
  • Bloom Time:  Winter
  • Geographical Location:  South Africa
  • Sun Exposure:  Full Sun
  • Plant Zone: 9-11

Another aloe species with many cosmetic and medicinal uses, Candelabra, or Torch Aloe is a pretty bloomer as well. This species can tolerate more water in the summer, making it more versatile than other types of aloe in terms of soil composition and drainage. When given the space to spread, this plant produces clusters that grow up to 6’ tall and make a spectacular hedge in zones 9-11.

Candelabra Aloe produces flower spikes from the center of rosette form leaf clusters. The spikes are long, elegantly curved, and form large clusters of bright reddish orange tubular flowers in wintertime.

Cleistocactus Icosagonus

Cleistocactus Icosagonus Blooming in the Sunlight. This is a small cactus with a single orange bloom, that has multiple yellow stamens in the center of the flower.
A unique cacti, Cleistocactus Icosagonus has beautiful reddish orange flowers.
Scientific Name: Cleistocactus Icosagonus
  • Bloom Time:  Summer and Fall
  • Geographical Location: Peru
  • Sun Exposure: Full Sun
  • Plant Zone:

These clumping cacti are of visual interest year-round with their glowing yellow spines, particularly when backlit by the rising or setting sun. They top out around 2’ tall, but spread well, creating pretty clusters of slender, finger-like structures that work well in rock gardens and sandy spots.

Cleistocactus Icosagonus begins blooming during the summer and can produce flowers continuously through fall. The blooms sprout near the top of the cactus as bright orange tubes that flare open at the top like small flames. This Peruvian native is perennial and also produces fruit.

Lobivia Jajoiana

Lobivia Jajoiana Blooming in the Sunlight With Open Flowers. The blooms are the focus of the image, and you can see a small part of the cactus it blooms from. The flowers are orange, with many yellow stamens on the interior of the blooms.
This cacti is typically solitary, but can be found in groupings out in the wild.
Scientific Name: Lobivia Jajoiana var. Nigrostoma
  • Bloom Time:  Summer
  • Geographical Location: Argentina
  • Sun Exposure: Full Sun
  • Plant Zone: 10

This petite plant is native to rocky mountainous areas of Northern Argentina. The primary structure is only a few inches tall and is usually a solitary grower, although they can be found in small groupings. These little guys make great potted plants. The spines are long and curve around the surface of the plant.

Although small, their blooms are quite beautiful and range in color from yellow to a tomato red, with all shades of orange in between. They appear at the top of the spherical plant and open many petaled blooms to reveal a dark center, speckled with pale yellow stamens. The flowers resemble a poppy.

Mountain Aloe

Mountain Aloe with Tall Tendrils of Flowers. The blooms are coming off branches that is coming out of the top of the center of the plant. The plant is large, and grown outdoors.
More suited for outdoor gardens, Mountain Aloe can grow quite large.
Scientific Name: Aloe Marlothii
  • Bloom Time:  Fall and Winter
  • Geographical Location:  South Africa
  • Sun Exposure: Full Sun
  • Plant Zone: 9-11

This giant aloe species grows up to 10’ tall at maturity, quite a grand plant! It grows on a central stem, and the large gray-green leaves leave a skirt around the base as they dry out.

The leaves are dotted with reddish spines and grow in an upward fashion with the look of a giant artichoke. When planted in ones 9-11, Mountain Aloe needs little to no additional irrigation.

Multi branched flower crowns appear at the top in fall and winter, rivaling the entire width of the plant. These branches are coated with golden orange, tubular flowers. The overall effect is quite spectacular.

Orange Crown Cactus

Rebutia fiebrigii Flowering in Bright Orange on Table. The flowers are bright orange, and the center of the flower has yellow stamens in clusters.
This small cacti is well known for its beautiful orange flower blossoms.
Scientific Name: Rebutia fiebrigii
  • Bloom Time:  Spring and Summer
  • Geographical Location:  Bolivia
  • Sun Exposure: Full Sun to Part Sun
  • Plant Zone: 9-11

This small cactus, also known as Flame Crown, may be my favorite on the list. These 6” round ball like structures are native to the Bolivia Andes where they grow on rocky terrain. Over time, they multiply to form piles of small round balls covered in spines and silky white hairs.

Orange Crown Cactus is a very popular ornamental. Its lovely, balanced shape is pretty year-round and when in bloom it is a beautiful contrast of shapes, shades, and textures.

A winner of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit, flowers appear in late spring and last into the summer. The blooms are daisy shaped, bright orange, and open to clusters of golden stamens. They grow around the top of the spheres like a flower crown and are positively delightful.

Orange Flaming Katy

Orange Blooming Flaming Katy Succulent Plant. The flowers are bright orange and the succulent is healthy, with deep green leaves visible in the flowering areas of the plant.
Orange Flaming Katy is one of the most common and popular orange blooming succulents.
Scientific Name: Kalanchoe blossfeldiana ‘Orange;’
  • Bloom Time:  Winter
  • Geographical Location:  Madagascar
  • Sun Exposure: Bright Indirect Light
  • Plant Zone: 9-11

Kalanchoe are a charming genus of succulents native to the island of Madagascar. They are easy to care for, with beautiful variations in shape and size, and the ones that bloom are prized for their abundance of colorful flowers in wintertime.

Flaming Katy, also known as Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana – is a prolific bloomer that thrives with lots of bright indirect sunlight.

This succulent has large, waxy, bright green leaves and clusters of tiny, orange flowers with a rosette petal formation. Deadheading will encourage the plant to produce more flowers, and they can continue to bloom during other seasons if well cared for. These plants make a perfect hostess gift around the holidays and are certain to bring cheer to any sunny window.

Orange Ice Plant

Trailing Ice Plant Blooming in Summertime. The blooms are smaller and more pronounced. Underneath you can see hundreds of tendrils of pale green succulent foliage.
Orange Ice Plants are both common, and popular in outdoor and indoor garden spaces.
Scientific Name: Lampranthus Aurantiacus
  • Bloom Time:  Spring and Summer
  • Geographical Location:  South Africa
  • Sun Exposure: Full Sun
  • Plant Zone: 5-9

This small succulent shrub tops out around 14” tall but can have an impressive 5’ spread. It has a branching growth habit and branches are heavily sprinkled with long narrow green leaves. Orange Ice makes a beautiful ground cover and requires little care once established, it is heat and drought tolerant.

In late spring, Orange Ice is covered in bright orange, nectar rich flowers that attract swarms of butterflies. When this plant likes its space, it will be positively rife with long lasting blooms. This succulent is also cold hardy and survives in freezing weather. Ice plants are incredibly hardy, and very versatile.

Orange Snowball

Rebutia muscula sitting in Terra Cotta Pot. The cacti is healthy and blooming with several orange flowers all over the cluster of cacti plants that are sitting in a pot on a countertop.
Orange snowball blooms profusely in season with bright orange flowers.
Scientific Name: Rebutia muscula
  • Bloom Time:  Spring
  • Geographical Location:  Bolivia
  • Sun Exposure: Full Sun
  • Plant Zone: 9-11

Orange Snowball is a pretty, little cactus that likes lots of sunlight and will reward growers with abundant, reddish-orange blooms in the springtime. Deriving its nickname from its shape and appearance, this small succulent is a rounded mound covered in fine hairlike spines giving it a frosted appearance.

This cactus begins reproducing after about 2 years and has a mounding habit. Leaving the offsets intact will create a pretty pile of snowballs with a mass of lovely flowers. The blooms are a fiery shade with a burst of bright golden stamens in the center. Repotting annually in a well-draining succulent mix will keep this plant performing at its best.

Peanut Cactus

Peanut cacti sitting in a pot that is resting on a table. The cacti is small, and clustered together. There are hundreds of cacti tendrils clumped together in one pot. There are single bright orange blooms coming off about six tendrils of cacti.
Aptly named, peanut cactus plant tendrils cluster together, and bloom in dark orange.
Scientific Name: Echinopsis chamaecereus
  • Bloom Time:  Spring and Summer
  • Geographical Location:  Argentina
  • Sun Exposure: Full Sun
  • Plant Zone: 10-11

Peanut cactus makes a wonderful, low maintenance hanging plant with its clumping and trailing habit. The finger-like structures grow to about 6” long and are covered in soft white hairs, making this an easy cactus to handle. It enjoys full sun and modest watering and needs some cooler temperatures in order to set buds, but is not frost tolerant.

In springtime, deep rust-colored buds peek out from among the fingers with their own coating of white downy hairs. These buds bloom into deep orange perfection. The flowers are not unlike straw flowers in appearance and last into the summer.

Prickly Pear

Opuntia rufida Blooming Outdoors During Flower Season. This cacti is flatter and larger, with several blooms protruding off the top of each section of cactus.
This cacti is common in the southwestern United States outdoors.
Scientific Name: Opuntia rufida
  • Bloom Time:  Spring
  • Geographical Location: Texas, USA and Mexico
  • Sun Exposure: Full Sun
  • Plant Zone: 8-11

This nice, mid sized cactus is best known for the edible fruit it produces, and lends it flavor to many commercial treats. It makes a nice, shrubby addition to the desert or rock garden and is quite low maintenance if you don’t mind the spread.

It lacks spines but has many red brown glochids covering the paddle like structures, which can be dangerous to humans and animals.

In spring, Prickly Pear produces plentiful flowers at the tops of its paddles. The flowers start out yellow but deepen to a pretty apricot color over time. When the flowers fall, they are replaced by attractive red fruits that are edible for humans and animals.

Red Echeveria

Echeveria pulv-Oliver Blooming with Red-Orange Blooms Outdoors. The succulent is smaller, and the blooms are a deep orange with hints of red.
This succulent has red rosettes with deep orange blossoms.
Scientific Name: Echeveria pulv-Oliver
  • Bloom Time:  Spring and Summer
  • Geographical Location:  Mexico and North America
  • Sun Exposure: Full Sun
  • Plant Zone: 9-11

This variety of echeveria can be kept indoors or out but is unlikely to bloom when kept as a houseplant. It needs lots of bright, indirect light, or it will become leggy in an effort to grow toward its nearest light source. With those caveats out of the way, Red Echeveria is a simply beautiful variety.

The plump rosettes of leaves are green, tipped with a deep red shade and covered with soft velvety hairs that protect it from the hot sun and help it to retain water. When it blooms, generally in summer, it sends up a long spike, up to 1’ tall. Small buds form all along the spike and open successively to reveal bright coral-colored flowers with yellow interiors.

Woolly Rose

Echeveria Doris Taylor Blooming Outdoors. The image is a close up of the soft small blooms at the end of the succulent rosettes.
‘Doris Taylor’ has brighter orange blossoms than some of its plant relatives.
Scientific Name: Echeveria ‘Doris Taylor’
  • Bloom Time:  Summer
  • Geographical Location:  Central America
  • Sun Exposure: Bright Indirect Sun
  • Plant Zone: 9-11

This tiny echeveria gets its name from the wife of its creator, and its nickname Wooly Rose from its appearance. Petite rosettes or fleshy leaves are bright green, and coated with fine, white, downy hairs. This plump little plant looks a little like a children’s stuffed toy.

It blooms any time between spring and fall, generally during the summer months. A tall spike is formed with velvety nubs along the length, and at the top, a cluster of bright orange buds. When the buds open, they look like tiny flames, deep orange outside with bright yellow interiors. A charming species that looks great in any succulent garden.

Final Thoughts

These lively, orange flowering succulents are a wonderful low maintenance way to bring cheer and warm up your garden and home. Whether you’re searching for some color to spruce up a desert garden, or have a sunny window in need of a little green friend, succulents are a great choice.

Brightly blooming and with interesting textures, succulents are interesting conversation pieces that require very little effort to maintain.

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