Some show plants at the 2025 San Francisco Succulent Expo

As promised, here are some of the plants entered in the juried show at the 2025 San Francisco Succulent Expo. More than anything, they showcase the wide range of plants that fall under the umbrella of “succulents:” soft-leaved succulents like haworthias and echeverias, rigid-leaved succulents like agaves and aloes, cacti of all sizes and descriptions, and a large variety of caudiciforms. In fact, it seemed like cacti and caudiciforms made up a good ¾ of the entries.

What you see below is only a fraction of the plants in the show. As is so often the case in venues like the San Francisco County Fair Building, the artificial lighting produces an unpleasant color cast. I tried to correct it as best as I could, but none of my photos would win any prizes.

Speaking of prizes, the three judges selected their top picks in the three categories that made up the theme of this year’s event: “Leaf, Stem, Base” (i.e. the ways succulents store water). The judges’ overall favorite received the top award, “Best in Show.” In addition, each judge had 10 awards they could give out at their discretion — plants they liked personally, no justification needed.

Let’s take a look!

For me, this Astrophytum asterias was the most intriguing plant in the show. This is what it’s supposed to look like.

Nobody I talked to had any idea why the center was caved in. The plant looked perfectly healthy, with no signs of rot that could explain this deformation. Whatever it was, it looked cool.

This Deuterocohnia brevifolia was my second favorite

It was so perfectly integrated with the hollowed out rock that the two appeared to be one

Haworthia springbokvlakensis, another great fusion of plants and rocks

Gasteria ‘Purple Piggy’, the best name of any plant in the show

Conophytum ficiforme ‘Worcester’ looking like miniature alien egg sacs

What can I say, I have a weak spot for white dudleyas

Matucana madisoniorum, staged a bit like a Fabergé egg

Some sort of ant plant

Not just collector plants, arrangements featuring common succulents, too

Another entry with common succulents

One of haworthia breeder Jim Smith’s hybrid

Jim Smith haworthia

Mammillaria gracilis var. fragilis is a common miniature cactus (my mother had one growing on her windowsill for 30 years), but that doesn’t mean it’s boring, as this simple but effective staging shows

Puna clavarioides, a prickly pear relative from Argentina

Puna clavarioides

Gymnocalcyium spegazzini f. inermis looking like a ceramic

This hollowed out rock was another favorite of mine

The plant is a medusa-type euphorbia

Euphorbia enopla

Mangave ‘Praying Hands’, still small but already folded into its signature shape

Variegated Quesnelia marmorata ‘Tim Plowman’ (part of the Bromeliad Society of San Francisco display)

Gravity is real. But it didn’t stop the flower from opening up (Echinopsis ‘Mostina Franca’).

My friend Justin had several interpretive signs at his display table

Calibanus hookeri, aka the Mexican grass boulder

Sometimes cacti twist themselves into crazy shapes, for no apparent reason

Aloe vanbalenii, so red it almost looked fake

The wittiest entry, a dormant Dioscorea elephantipes in an IKEA trash can

Fouquieria purpusii. The leaves look fluffy and soft — and they are, but there are nasty spines hiding in the foliage.

Fouquieria purpusii trunk

As the Best in Show, the three judges picked this bonsai’ed Mestoklema tuberosum entered by Nick Wilkinson of GROW Nursery:

Mestoklema tuberosum, in nature a small shrub to 2 ft. in height

I was particularly fascinated by this miniature crevice garden featuring more than a dozen rainbow cacti (Echinocereus rigidissimus var. rubrispinus). It was entered by Richard Sullivan of Enchanting Planting. I visited his private garden in Orinda in 2021 (see here). Richard is also an accomplished photographer specializing in time lapse movies of cacti (earlier this year, Richard gave a fascinating presentation on this topic).

Stylized yet naturalistic rock landscape featuring Echinocereus rigidissimus var. rubrispinus

I like the almost monochromatic look...

...and the dramatic verticality

Only 350 days until the 2026 San Francisco Succulent Expo. It’s not too early to make plans to attend!

© Gerhard Bock, 2025. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.