Hello Cat, lots of different Sempervivums and great for the rock garden, alpine scree and the troughs and tubs. Some will flower during summer and some into autumn. As you describe your climate I would suggest some winter protection my means of cloche or other clear glass or plastic cover - or carefully lift and place into a coldframe or box up and place in a glasshouse or porch etc. They are fully hardy here in a the UK but we seldom experience temps bellow -8C. They are succulents and the less hardy types have been transfered to other genera. However, even so called hardy succulent have a bottom line and a 5b climate may prove to severe.

I hope someone will have more localised information for you.

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Hi Cat,

Semps are tough little things and will withstand almost anything you throw at them. They are perennial and do not require any special winter treatment. If you are lucky enough to have reliable snow cover they will survive quite nicely. They may prefer a bit more sun, but you can only do so much, right?

I am in zone 3 without reliable snow cover, and my semps do just fine nestled between rocks and growing in small alpine troughs. Occasionally I'll find one of the 'chicks' that a bird or squirrel has packed off and left for dead, I simply plunk it back in the soil and it recovers quite nicely.

There is a ton of info on the net about semps, albeit mostly from overseas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Martha's semps

and another:

Squaw Mountain Gardens

Thank you gardenchicken for the links. I think I have gathered enough information now to rest easy that my "chicks" will return next year. Cat.

Cat:

I second everything that GardenChicken said. I live in Northern Alberta, 1B.

Semps do very well here with adequate snow cover. ThatÂs usually not a problem. The winter before last, however, was brutal, with one extended minus 40 snap with no snow cover at all. We had never experienced a winter like that one.

We lost about one-fifth of the over 120 types of semps that I had ordered from Cavendish Perennials, Burlington, Ontario. But the majority pulled through fine. We had heavier than usual snow last winter, and all the semps made it.

So I wouldnÂt bother with mulching semps unless your zone is characterized by extreme cold coupled with sparse snow.

GardenChicken points out what I think is the neatest quality about these tough little guys. They can be transplanted with such ease. They are truly plug and play plants. ItÂs only a matter of time, I think, before they really catch on, especially with beginning gardeners.

IÂll be taking most of the semps with me when I move to Nanaimo, B.C. (zone 7) in Feb., and I look forward to growing those semps that we lost during that freak winter.

Rand
Slave Lake, AB

Sempervivums (neaning 'ever living') have to be the toughest things around. You needn't worry about them having to 'come back' They'll never leave! We don't even have adequate snow here, and they just sit there looking like they are made out of plastic right through minus forty. They are also the only thing that I know of that reliabley will live in a container through winter (to zone 3 at least).
The only way to kill one is to let it sit in mushy winter or early spring wet too long.