Fernando / Flickr
We ’ve brought all our potted plants indoors yet again , thus begin my yearly attempt to keep everything live until it can be ready alfresco in the spring . It ’s so unenviable to admit that my green pollex seems to only work alfresco . I ’ve never been very gifted with houseplant . I tend to keep my potted plants on the porch for as long as potential and when thinking about my indoor breeze character at other time … well , that ’s what open windows are for .
I often reap through the alien plant catalogue count for specimens whose descriptions mention “ voiceless to kill . ” The plant I have had the most success with in this section is a plant my mob cry hens and chick . It is better that we use the scientific name , Sempervivum tectorum , for this plant life , as in reality has hundreds of common names , having been the focus of human captivation for well over 1,000 years .
Prolific And Hardy
Ezequiel Coelho / Flickr
S. tectorumalso has hundreds of cultivars of the plant . It ’s is a succulent that spreads by offshoots that seem to be perfectly formed miniatures of the parent . The grayish - unripened leaves grow in the frame of a rosette , and the plant be given to put up a purpleness - hued flower . My nan always had a Henry Clay strawberry muckle maturate with hens and skirt and everyone in the family before long had his or her own kickoff of this very prolific plant .
In the realm of unfearing plants , it ’s hard to do well . A phytologist in the former 1900s is even said to have seek to dry a specimen ofS. tectorumfor his herbarium . After a year of workplace , it still was n’t quick for bestride , so he give up and put it back alfresco where it happily go back to growing unflustered . That ’s the plant for me ! Unfazed by drought or freeze , this beautiful petty succulent is the best industrial plant for anyone in your family who has a dark-brown indoor ovolo .
A Must For Green Roofs
Roberto Verzo / Flickr
Perhaps its hardihood is what has so catch human imagery . Also called the houseleek , S. tectorumis traditionally grown on the roof as a protection against lightening strike in many European countries . In Latin , sempermeans always , vivummeans survive andtectummeans cap . So loosely translate , the Latin name paint a picture an always living roof . The name is rightly given as it was successful as a roof overcompensate historically and is even now one of the most pop material in the green roofing industry . For a fleeceable roof to process it needs plants that are low maintenance , able to withstand high temperature and are also lightweight . Sempervivumis perfect because it does not require deep , punishing soils , instead preferring a coarse-grained , bumpy substrate .
Succulent Soother
Dan Kristiansen / Flickr
While the houseleek is not used for food , it has a long history of medicinal use . Just like an aloe , if you slice open one of the succulent leaves you will be rewarded with a gummy liquid . This liquidity has been used as an astringent for eye and skin issues . The cold shoulder leafage can be applied directly to insect bites and stings , sunburn and even warts .
Dioscorides , Pliny and Charlemagne believed the lowly hens and chicks in my grandmother ’s hemangioma simplex pot were of majuscule grandness . They all played a part in ensuring that the plant live on to today so I could give it the ultimate test : caring for it indoors over winter .
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