Hen's & chicks do not do well for me either. I get some from a friend, dug out of the soil in her garden. Put them in mine and they slowly die or just sit there, not growing and spreading.

I put some in a container but the squirrels keep digging them out.

I grew them from seed a few years ago and they were easy germinators. Cutest little things, about the size of a baby pea, with perfect form. We got a lot of rain that year and they didn't make it.

A friend gave me a container full this year but the chickens kept pulling them out of the soil. I put them on a stump out of their reach, I hope, and one of the survivors is blooming.

If you'd like to WS some, I will save seeds. Haven't saved from that plant before, but it looks easy. The blooms and seed pods are obvious. I can try at least. As well as I remember, the seeds are tiny and dustlike.

Barbara in Virginia zone 7

Perhaps this is one of the cases where the common names cause a lot of confusion and problems. See Hen and chicks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Plants commonly referred to as "Hens and chicks" include ground hugging species of Sempervivum (Houseleeks) such as Sempervivum Pekinese, Sempervivum arachnoideum (Cobweb Houseleek), and Sempervivum tectorum (Common Houseleek); and the related genus Jovibarba. The name is also used for some species of Echeveria, Sedum and Bergenia although these plants differ significantly from, and should not be confused with, Sempervivum and Jovibarba."

These plants need great drainage, wet feet in winter will kill them. They will grow in plain dirt, but it still must drain well. I find they do as well in full sun as part shade, but full shade is not going to produce many chicks. Feed them lightly in spring and again at the end of summer.

Thanks for that link Albert. I am also generally strict with myself regarding botanical terms, but this one escaped me. Doesn't matter for the purpose of my question, however, because nearly every clump has died.

Same with ice plants.

I think mine grow from neglect. I have them in containers with drainage. I had two bloom this summer. I'm going to try wintersowing seeds. I think I'm becoming a hens and chicks addict.

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My two newest.

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One of my summer blooms.

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I give many away, too. They keep having babies.

Don

Bakemom, I suspect your problem is what Trudi mentioned- winter wet- in our Ohio heavy clay.

I've not tried chicks + hens, but last year I did try delosperma (floribundum Starburst) in summer. Summer sowed them in a jug, outside, in mid summer. They sprouted and grew well, and planted out in fall, they even bloomed a little. But they didn't return after winter.

I do have one small very dry spot in my front garden. I ordered a Delosperma nubigenum (yellow) that I'm going to try there. The plant should arrive from Santa Rosa Gardens next week. Fingers crossed on this one.

Karen

If you try again, put a few around the yard to see which do better in certain locations. I put mine in well drained, compost-rich soil that gets about 6 hours of afternoon sun/day, and in two years lost most of them.They just kept dying. I took the few that were left, put them in a 4" pot this spring, and I now have many more, and they are overflowing the pot. I kept the pot in a location that gets morning sun, dappled mid-day shade for a few hours, then total shade from about 3PM on, and watered only when I could remember to do so. I'll keep mine in containers from now on, in that back part of the yard.

Beatrice

Sorry-you did say you have tried different locations, I meant to keep trying, in pots and in the ground.

Good luck!

Several years ago, a friend gave me one "chick". It did really well - I was able to give away quite a few to other friends. I ended up with a beautiful pot full of them -

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But a particularly wet spring did them in - I neglected to put them into a spot where they wouldn't get waterlogged.

I have tried WSing some, using store-bought seeds, with no luck.

This year, a 'Black' I bought actually flowered:

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I'll be saving those seeds and giving them another try. They are such pretty little plants, and carefree (as long as they're kept DRY!)

PV