Gardening
Top Ideabooks
- Delight in Summer's Garden Glories — Here's What to Do in June
- 11 Perfect Plants for a Moonlit Garden — in Pots
- 6 Beautiful Plants for a Shady, Wet Site
- 6 Captivating Roses for an Alluringly Fragrant Garden
- 5 Essential Considerations for a Landscape Design Project
- Get on a Composting Kick (Hello, Free Fertilizer!)
Great Design Plant: Hens-and-Chicks
Plant Sempervivum succulents for fuss-free garden color and character all year
Low-water landscapes filled with colorful succulents continue to surge in popularity as architects and nurseries discover extraordinary species and hybrids. Topping the list as one of the most popular are "hens-and-chicks," a common name given to two species that look similar but are suited to very different climates.
This story focuses on the cold-hardy Sempervivum spp. Native to the mountains of Central and Southern Europe, these tough plants thrive in snowy winters and temperate summers. If the desert landscape of the Kaufmann House is your aesthetic ideal but your climate is more like that of Pennsylvania's Fallingwater, then literally thousands of Sempervivum spp. are good choices for you.
This story focuses on the cold-hardy Sempervivum spp. Native to the mountains of Central and Southern Europe, these tough plants thrive in snowy winters and temperate summers. If the desert landscape of the Kaufmann House is your aesthetic ideal but your climate is more like that of Pennsylvania's Fallingwater, then literally thousands of Sempervivum spp. are good choices for you.
|
by PixelFänger
»
|
| Botanical name: Sempervivum spp. Common names: Hens-and-chicks, houseleeks USDA zones: Typically 4-9 (hardiness varies between species) Water requirement: Little to moderate Sun requirement: Full sun Mature size: Mature rosettes vary from ½" to 6" in diameter Tolerances: Frost resistant, drought Benefits: Crushed leaves used medicinally to treat burns, warts and other skin irritations |
|
by PixelFänger
»
|
| Distinguishing traits. With roughly 50 species of Sempervivum currently identified, their ability to cross easily means that there are thousands of hybrids and cultivars to choose from. Their shapes and sizes range from the dense rosettes of Sempervivum tectorum to long fleshy leaves of Sempervivum 'Rubikon'. Colors include bold chartreuse to bluish gray, deep magenta and frosty mauve. Some varieties of Sempervivum are covered with fibrous webs. |
|
by Far Out Flora
»
|
| Each rosette flowers once before the plant dies. Luckily, Sempervivum also reproduces extremely efficiently. Through the production of offsets, the original plant produces more tiny rosettes that will eventually live independently of the original plant. These offsets enable the plant to live indefinitely — hence the name Sempervivum. |
|
by PixelFänger
»
|
| Witness the mother hens-and-chick offsets in action. |
|
by Far Out Flora
»
|
| How to use it. Plant Sempervivum in rock gardens and planters, and in gaps between rocks, boulders or on garden walls. In their native regions, Sempervivum are traditionally grown on roofs. |
by David Edwards
»
Sempervivum do great indoors or out, so for those of you with rainy winters, consider taking your Sempervivum indoors for the season. Place on a nice bright window sill or empty shelf for beautiful winter decoration.
Keep it growing. As with most succulents, Sempervivum prefers gritty and well-drained soil and cannot tolerate overwatering.
Remove spent rosettes after flowering, and you can expect a long and maintenance-free planting.
More great design plants:
Snake Flower
Toyon
Black Mondo Grass
Feather Reed Grass
New Zealand Wind Grass
Red Kangaroo Paw
Blue Chalk Sticks
Catmint
Slipper Plant
Great design trees:
Manzanita | Japanese Maple | Persian Ironwood | Smoke Tree | Bald Cypress | Tree Aloe
Remove spent rosettes after flowering, and you can expect a long and maintenance-free planting.
More great design plants:
Snake Flower
Toyon
Black Mondo Grass
Feather Reed Grass
New Zealand Wind Grass
Red Kangaroo Paw
Blue Chalk Sticks
Catmint
Slipper Plant
Great design trees:
Manzanita | Japanese Maple | Persian Ironwood | Smoke Tree | Bald Cypress | Tree Aloe
Comments
gerrycabc I wonder if this plant would be a good choice for directly under the eve of a house....a very dry area.....limited sun. This is the only dry place I have in a rainy climate Pacific Northwest.
18 months ago · Like
CJ Sebert My favorite in the garden!
18 months ago · Like
franki7 I "cluck" over mine here in VA and they do not do well....franki
18 months ago · Like
sedafi me facinan esta plantas, yo tengo unas cuantas pero, tomare nota para hacer mi jardin.
18 months ago · Like
marjeanne I had succulents in my wedding bouquet which I stuck in the ground 2 weeks after our wedding. It has thrived and I now have beautiful succulent plants which remind me of my wedding day every time I look at them.
18 months ago · Like
· 5
5
Ideabook updated on Dec. 30, 2011.
What are you working on?
News From Our Partners
Latest Ideabooks
People found the photos in this ideabook after searching for:
View over a million photos:
basements · bedrooms · dining rooms · entries · family rooms · garage and sheds · halls · home offices · landscapes · laundry rooms · powder rooms · wine cellars and more.
