Some might know Mexican snowball, Echeveria elegans, as hen and chicks. However, a few species of Echeveria and related Sempervivum have the same name. Foliar rosettes produce smaller rosettes that resemble chicks around their mother hen. Smaller rosettes, or pups, are easy to separate and grow into new plants. Some might already have roots.

Individual rosettes seem to be nearly spherical, but are a bit wider than high. The biggest are only about four inches wide. The evergreen foliage is very pale bluish green. Leaves are plumply succulent. Their arrangement is neatly symmetrical like scales of pinecones. Rosettes form colonies, which resemble stashes of snowballs more than hen and chicks.

Mexican snowball prefers sunny exposures with regular irrigation. It can tolerate a slight bit of shade and lapses of irrigation, though. It is popular as a component of mixed small perennials in large pots or urns. For low stone retaining walls or berms, it can grow from crevices. Its small pink flowers with yellow tips usually bloom as winter becomes spring. Although small, the color contrasts nicely with such pale foliage.