Hens and Chicks are hardy and can be grown outdoor for sure.

:) tulip :) yes, they're the ones that got me interested. I have the ordinary ones and they're great ... they even survived in pots inside my garage ...I have an outdoor pot and that survived really well too .... I did buy 8 red tipped ones from the nursery and something ate them and they did not survive the winter, maybe they weren't as hardy or something might have eaten them in total.

I will keep an eye out for more when I go to the nurseries and this time I will keep them in the garage for winter.

Elizabeth: Do you find them online or just lucky when you go to nurseries?

I suspect your interest is in the indoor succulents? ... I might get some indoor ones too ... I just have to decide what to give up for them ...I have a lot of African violets (with sun protection) and geraniums. :)

I am in Australia at the moment and my mother has some that I find beautiful .... My godmother does too ... I will photograph them and share on the succulents forum ...unfortunately I can't bring them back to Canada .... not sure about customs... but again I don't think they'd do well as indoor plants.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/cacti it includes succulents

Hens and chicks (houseleek) are definitely hardy here, hardy to zone 4, at least. I have a red one - Firebird - and it is almost invasive :-) One thing that can kill them is water... make sure they have good drainage. The English name "houseleek" is because it likes to grow on slate roofs.... exposed, dry and poor "soil". I think you might be coddling it to death.

I have iceplant, delospermia, that is hardy here (zone 5), but it's less hardy than houseleek... if you get some (how close are you to Hamilton?) give it some winter protection or overwinter a rooting indoors. Again, it likes it dry, bright and hot. Iceplant is generally available at nurseries, in different colours.

Also hardy are a metric buttload of sedums.... check the garden centres.

I too am looking for zone 3 succulents of all kinds. I have a 100 yr old tree stump my son hauled home I want to plant. I'm looking for trailing kinds as well. I know they sell plugs at most nurseries. I currently have hen and chicks that are doing great! This stump has character now, but I want to plant the top for hair and hen and chick for eyes and so on. There has to be a woodpecker around with a terrible headache! Lol! Any ideas of succulents are welcome.

hi Jane .. i'm sorry I just saw your post .... thanks for recommending Firebird, I will absolutely get some...they are beautiful. As for Ice plants ... I hadn't thought of those and I wasn't familiar with them but I looked them up and they're gorgeous too. thank you ..... :)

Hi Cheryl ... that is a beautiful stump ... 100 years old??? wow.... your son did really good!

I don't know what you can do about hair ... and honestly I would be hesitant to plant anything that would help further deteriorate the stump ... but it's 100 years old and it's a stump ... and it's meant to deteriorate and rot away ... I know that ... soooo .....

I'm not sure what you could use as hair ... I was thinking sedum sunsparkler firecracker because it's long ..about ? 12-15 inches I think ... I just bought one .... but I just checked and it's not hardy to zone 3 especially in that situation...(sitting on a stump.)

By the way do you mean US zone 3 or Canadian zone 3 because it does make a difference here (near Toronto) and i'm not sure if it makes a difference where you are.

Pink Mongolian Stonecrop is another I've just gotten and it's very pretty and might work ... it's hardy to zone 2 (US) but it's shorter. All the best :)

ps: what are those bushes on either side of the stump? (the purple flowered one and the reddish one?)

Thanks for the info! I'm Canadian zone 3. Good ole Manitoba. That shrub garden has filled out so much since that photo was taken. The two shrubs your asking about are, to the left of the stump miniature lilac, and to the right is a Coppertina nine bark. Both are beautiful shrubs. The Coppertina is a favourite of mine. In the spring the foliage is orange in colour, it flowers pink and then throughout the summer months it's foliage turns a burgundy colour.

I'm interested in collecting more succulents! I have 3 atm but idk what they're called

At my local terra green house they get in a flat of succulent plugs that are about an inch or so across soil the flat is assorted types of succulents so you can get more types to see if they would be hardy in your zone