Herself’s Houston Garden

Hens and Chicks Sempervivum May 2010

Sempervivum originated in Europe and western Asia. In Rome they were planted on the roofs of homes. It was believed they would prevent witches from landing on your roof. Today they are gaining popularity in water wise gardens.

Leaves are small to conserve water, flowers can be quite showy to attract pollinators.

Plant in full sun.

Plant in well drained sandy soil.

In time these will have pink, yellow or white star shaped flowers. After flowering the rosette will die but babies will come up from the ground where the rosette was located.

There are over 40 different varieties.

I’m told this plant does well in dry, shady areas, but it will also handle moist, well drained soil.

It can handle shade to part sun, but no direct sun. Yet some people report growing it in full sun. This one is planted in a very sunny area. We’ll see how it handles that. It is one of the few plants that has bright colored blooms in shady areas.

Protect from cold, but it should return from the roots if we have another bad winter. It’s really only rated to zone 10a.

If it dies back during a drought, it should re-appear once we start getting rain again.

Should reach 3′-5′ in height, can reach 10′.

Supposed to be a butterfly attractor, it’s too soon for me to tell, I’ve only had this plant since March Mart.

Blooms non-stop in Houston.

Loves to be pruned frequently.

Does not transplant well, choose a planting location carefully.

Like most plants that grow here it is toxic.

Propagate from stem cuttings.

Go easy on the fertilizer.

Susceptible to whiteflies, spider mites ( shouldn’t be a problem with the humidity here ), scale( keep branches from touching the ground, prune up ) and mealy bugs.

This was a Mercer March March purchase two years ago, last year it settled in, the beginning of March this year it put out its first bloom. I had a terrible time trying to id it. Luckily I found the tag buried under several inches of soil.

This plant is in mostly shade, some dappled morning sun and in a bed that is more dry than damp. I’m told it will also do well in full sun, I haven’t tried. I’ve also read it prefers moist to damp soil.

As well as ‘flaming torch’ it is also called ‘paintbrush lily’, ‘blood lily’, ‘African blood lily’.

Scadoxus is a bulb, native to South Africa.

As it ages we should see several more flowers each year growing up from the base of the plant.

Dormant in the winter, died back to the ground this winter ( 2009-2010 ) but did not die back in previous warmer winters.

This makes a good container plant.

Cold tolerant through zone 8a, heat tolerant through zone 11.

May be propagated from fresh seed, but will take about 5 years to reach flowering size.

All of this plant is toxic.