Sempervivumspp.
Hens and chicks is a funky lilliputian plant to lend to your garden , one that is at its best when you ’re too busy and ca n’t tend to the garden often enough .
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Sometimes referred to as houseleeks , they ’re ready to unfold leisurely around your garden .
It ’s a plant that mean a lot to me personally and I ’d enjoy to portion out a little about that , but if you ’re here strictly for the difficult fact , check out the table of contents below to find on the dot what you ’re looking for !
As a agile eminence , this guide will serve as a ecumenical growing guide for the most commonSempervivumspecies . Fortunately allSempervivumhave almost identical growing essential !
What You’ll Learn
What Is Hens and Chicks?
To begin , you might be marvel – which come first , the hen or the skirt ?
I was maybe four or five years old when I first discoveredSempervivum .
Hard to call up distinctly because I was so young at the time , but I do remember the fieldstone - lined garden - bed - above - a - ditch my aunt and uncle tended . It was populate with a compounding ofmarigolds , dusty miller , scattered weeds , and hens and chicks .
“ They ’re called hen ‘ n ’ chick , ” my uncle suppose . “ You got the female parent , the hen , ” – he pointed at the giant , succulent little potato in the ground – “ and you got the chicks ” – he tap one of the minuscule rosette , a toy of the mother .
Idiot me - as - a - four / five - year - old knock the giant russet scab of the hen and unexpectedly released a chick , sending it roll down to the ditch . Regret swallowed me whole by the clock time the little bird came to a halt at the bottom , but my uncle laughed it off .
He picked it up and placed it between two fieldstones and scraped some sandy dirt around it , patted me on the back , and told me not to worry . “ That ’s what they wanna do ! Do n’t be upset , you help ‘ em along the means . ”
I think it ’s bonnie to say this define moment was a deciding broker in my life ahead as a nurseryman .
Probably the Hen
It ’s been a farseeing fourth dimension since my two semester of Latin , but trust me when I say thatSempervivummeans “ always living ” andtectorumis Latin for “ roof . ”
Considering how easily houseleeks jubilantly take hold in even the least hospitable environments , I ’d say it ’s a very apt name .
They ’ve been cultivated for a very retentive time and originated in southern Europe and northern Africa .
It ’s funny how humans have always carried their gardens with them , because this plant travel the cosmos betimes on and was brought to to western Europe by the Romans . Since then , it ’s traverse the orb , and we ’re all the richer for it .
It ’s been a pop works in gardens ever since , especially in tilt garden and poor soils .
In my judgment , it ’s the consummate kind of plant for the gardener who like to crack open a beer at the remainder of a day at the task and get to work on what ’s really of import .
Propagation
Although it ’s potential to grow hens and chicksfrom source , it ’s incredibly Laputan compared to simply call for a few chicks from a bring out hen to circularise .
From Offsets
You ’ve got a few choice here :
have your mother “ hen”Sempervivumproduce diminutive child on its own , and permit those babies propagate around your garden as they wish .
separate from the mother , they will course settle down in cracks in or spaces between Stone , but the chicks are just as well-chosen to grow anywhere you ’ve got space for them .
Your other option is to snip a few “ chicks ” free when they ’ve constitute roots and set them precisely where you want more to grow .
The safe way to ensure both chick and biddy make it is to wait for the runner , or stolon , that attaches them to dry out completely and become brittle to the touch before separating the two .
These “ chicks ” are little outgrowth produced by the parent plant , distribute around the garden like the vines and spores that overrun the Upside Down in the fictional townspeople of Hawkins , Indiana in “ Stranger Things . ”
Each runner will produce some tiny leaves that it deem onto while the biddy is still indorse the biddy . Wait to move the biddy until the folio go and the blue runner grows wry , slight , and unannealed .
It does n’t get much easy than that !
Transplanting
You ’ll notice plenty ofSempervivumoptions from your local nursery , most of them sell in familiar one - congius plastic dope . When you take these plants out of their potbelly , do not be alarmed when most of the soil crumbles !
Hens and chicks do n’t have very vigorous root systems .
Dig a shallow hole using your pet digging tool – as always , I ’ll plug my favoritesoil knifehere , the A. M. Leonard Deluxe Hori Hori , available from Amazon – and nestle the plant at heart .
A. M. Leonard Deluxe Hori Hori
Lightly backfill the hole and give it a dependable drink of water . Voila , instantaneous gratification .
How to Grow
Sempervivumis one of those plants you risk killing only if you smother it with too much love and care .
All it want is to be left alone in an expanse that is never very tight , basking in as much sun as you may flip at it . It can produce in most type of soil but is at its best when the territory quality is generally miserable , rocky , and dry .
Houseleeks can grow in rich soil and more hospitable conditions , but they ca n’t tolerate much wet or any brook water .
I ’ve had success growing them in beds with some very nice soil that also supported gratifying fragrant bedstraw andfoxglove , but hens and biddy are plants well become to those neglected areas in the garden .
Do n’t care about fecundate . Sempervivumprefers to figure out the nutrients on its own , which is fortunate – because it does n’t need much . Seriously , this is one of those garden inhabitants that will spark over its own feet if it gets any sort of fertilisation .
Sempervivumwon’t die from extra fertilization and will likely bring forth more runners and puppy as a solvent , but generally , fertilisation is mostly an offspring of wastefulness – biddy and chicks just do n’t require it .
You ’ll be a very generous plant parent indeed if you merely provide some leaf mould or compost once or twice a year .
My favorite method of fertilizing hen and chicks is to simply make clean up the country instantly around the plantsconsiderably less than anywhere else in the garden in fall and winter .
Leaving healthy plant junk and leaves in shoes acts as sufficient mulch as well as compost .
Growing Tips
Maintenance
You do n’t necessitate to worry about maintenance here . care for your hen and chicks in the long terminal figure is about as easy as it gets .
Eventually , the mother biddy will have had her fill of this world , and in celebration of the life she ’s lived , she ’ll raise a couple of flower stalk to the sky .
delight that beautiful sight , because it ’s your mother hen ’s only exhibit of magnanimousness in a lifetime of slaked withholding tax .
After flowering , Sempervivumis done with the show and will die .
I ’m a devout believer in leave any utter plant in the garden rightfulness where it is when it died , unless it ’s something infected with disease .
I ’ve hear gardeners bump off the dead hen and bemuse it in thecompostor yard waste bin , but I think these understated , modest plants deserve to disintegrate at their own footstep .
out of doors of that , Sempervivumdoesn’t necessitate much sustentation .
you may weed around the rosettes if you ’ve got an obnoxious or strong-growing weed creeping in , but you may also go out those couple of sprigs of grass andpurslanethat are growing in the area if they do n’t bother you .
Trust me , they are n’t bothering the plant .
A Note on Flowering
hen and chicks can produce a lovely flower , but this is also a signal that your industrial plant is finishing its biography cycle and about to die out .
It ’s okay , because the flower produces seeds , and it has surely produced mountain of chicks in its lifetime to carry on the cycle . relish the flower as a final show of gratitude from your biddy , and get quick for a new rosette to take its place in the garden .
you’re able to read more about blossom inSempervivumplants in this guide .
Cultivars to Select
You ’ll find plenty of varieties ofSempervivumto conform to your style and gustation , as long as your style and taste favors rose window with thick folio overlay with flyspeck ashen hairsbreadth .
That means they all expect more or less the same with a few divergence between from one to the next . That’salsocalled a bad joke .
We ’ll take a gander at some of the more conversant varieties , and I ’ll keep ( most of ) the inane comment to myself .
Black Lotus
This hen ‘ n ’ chick says “ greenish is NOT cool ” and brandishesa red coloryear round .
The colder it gets in the winter , the darker the scarlet becomes until it ’s a dark maroon . The stem canker will grow as much as eight inch in diameter and are just as happy to get plenty of chicks as any otherSempervivum .
Mark Weller
Another option for adding reds and maroons in your garden , ‘ Mark Weller ’ will adopt a kind of colours based on how spicy or how dusty it is .
The rosettes maturate up to about five inches in diameter , and this cultivar tends to blossom earlier in the time of year than other hen and wench when the time comes .
It ’s also a act more sensitive to sunlight , so tender ‘ Mark Weller ’ some tint to handle the hottest parts of the 24-hour interval , and maybe a glass of lemonade while you ’re at it .
Royanum
In pleasing shades of light-green with purple - tipped rosettes measuring about five inch in diam , ‘ Royanum ’ is a common find in the garden center because it ’s get that iconic hen and chicks look .
Just as well-fixed to grow as other varieties , the two - whole tone leaves here make it an wanton fit among plants of a diverseness of other color .
Sirius
I like ‘ Sirius ’ for a couple of reasons , most of them being because I just remember the plant is cool and a perfect instance of hen and biddy .
The rosettes will reach a maximum size of about four in in diam . As a bonus , this type has leaf tips that take on shades of orange , ruby-red , and Burgundy wine while the residuum of the plants remains light green .
This isSempervivumat its best : a modest - maintenance works of unassuming size happy to cuddle itself into the corners of your garden where nothing else will grow .
Wendy
A fuzzy niggling plant , it has the same crimson - canted leaves as ‘ Royanum , ’ but the color is more marked with ‘ Wendy . ’
The more dumb covering of flyspeck white hairs gives the plant a much soft look than its cousin-german , which could make it just the right increase in your garden .
As a bonus , when you tell your friends about this one , you’re able to pose Jack Nicholson from “ The Shining ” when you call it “ Wendy . ”
For even more whimsical and intriguing suggestions , record our roundup of the best varieties of hen and chicks .
Assorted Hens and Chicks
Prefer to be surprised ? Four - packs of sundry hens and doll in quart - size pots areavailable from Home Depot .
Managing Pests and Disease
You will be delighted to discover your hens and chicks do n’t really face any vernacular pest or disease result , unless they ’re experiencing consideration radically different from what they desire .
As such , Sempervivumis very resistant to insect problem , though in the incorrect conditions it might grow stress and become host to a swarm .
I ’ve never experienced an aphid ormealybug infestationon hen and chick develop in the garden , but it ’s happened with every flora I ’ve tried growing indoors . Humid , wet surroundings with poor air flow are just not whatSempervivumwants to experience .
you may spray the infestation with any insect powder you opt but I think the good result is a little scratch alcohol on a cotton ball and some careful blotting of trouble areas in the rosette . Less is better in almost any spot – except in the case of icing cream , then it ’s never enough …
The effective room toprevent aphidsor mealybugs from striking is to keep some zephyr moving around your plant and to ensure they ’re growing in sunny , dry locations with fantabulous drainage .
Disease
Your works might contract a fungous contagion if they ’re raise in very wet weather condition , whether that ’s indoors or out .
rusting lean to be the most vernacular culprit but infections are rarified . you could ID this based on the telltale orange circles you ’ll see scattered over the infected plant .
A pig fungicide atomiser is the good solution when cover these outlet if they arise . But usually , it ’s good to dispose of the flora in the folderol to foreclose it from infect other greenery in your garden .
The ultimate pecker to prevent fungous issues from happening in the first piazza is ensuring your hens and chicks are planted in dry conditions with tight - drain soil .
Best Uses
Hens and chicks are quintessential rock’n’roll garden specimens . They will happily , readily , thirstily maturate anywhere that ’s mostly ironical .
That makesSempervivuma hone nominee for container and those ironic nook of the yard or garden where you ’ve got to havesomethingto fill in the space .
They will grow well with other succulents that are hardy in your zona , but I suppose houseleeks produce best in a relatively naturalise setting .
I ’ve had luck develop them withheuchera , ornamental grasses , andechinacea , as well as other hardy succulents likeprickly pear cactusorsedum .
Generally , the undecomposed arrangement forSempervivumis in a positioning with other plant that do n’t require regular impregnation , or really , any attention at all .
If you ’ve got an expert hand in garden negligence like I do , you may put together a great looking at , ego - sustaining garden using industrial plant like hens and chicks .
Quick Reference Growing Guide
Flocking Towards Hens and Chicks
I ’ve always loved these plants and look for any alibi to use them in the correct surround .
They ’re cute and quirky plant for the garden , something most people are going to instantly enjoy seeing and raise .
And these are perfect examples of that exceptional plant that demand minuscule and offer ample appeal and interest in exchange , as well as being the uncommon succulent that can bear growing outdoors year - round in regions with cooler winter .
By now you ’re scribbling notes on what to grow with yourSempervivum , I suggest checking out the follow growing template . Thesecacti and succulent might be right up your alleyas further additions to your indoor or out-of-door space :
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About
Matt Suwak
