Fuzzy Flowers

I'm a sucker for fuzzy succulents and when I bought this plant, I thought it was some kind of Kalanchoe but once it flowered, I realised that it is actually Echeveria and google came up with Echeveria coccinea

Most succulent plants have evolved to use their leaves as water storage organs but some succulents are also hairy. The hairs on the leaves trap dew, which runs down the leaves towards the roots. In general though, the fuzzy-leaved plants get sunburned easily and need to be kept out of direct sunlight at my place or they will be roasted. They do really well in winter sun but the summer sunlight kills. The brown stem at the side is somewhat sunburned.

This one has started growing new plantlets at the base of the stem

The flowers up close: red and fuzzy and very attractive to ants. At first I thought the black female floral parts were aphids because ants and aphids go together on echeveria flowers: the little black aphids really seem to find them irresistible. Looking closely, it's not. Aphids don't often attack the indigenous succulents in my garden but they love Aeoniums and Echeverias. My indigenous plants mostly get mealiebugs and other forms of woolly aphids instead.