I just recently starting into the plant hobby and have some hens and chicks. They were doing fine in their pots but now that I removed them and planted them amongst my rock bed outside they are looking worse. Anyone care to give any tips on them? I thought they did better amongst rock beds? I did lay down some soil underneath the rocks for the roots too. Moderator message: Split from topic http://www.gardenstew.com/about6105.html
As I live in the UK, I am quite curios about what hens and chicks are. Do you know the correct name for them or possible a photo?
The plant is a type of Sempervivum. Mum used to have them in her garden. There's a nice pic here: http://static.flickr.com/53/153333968_42075cee22.jpg Hope this helps.
Semps usually do far better when planted out. Certainly mine have. In what way are they doing badly? The old way of planting them on roofs was to take a cow pat (not sure what you call the dried result of a cow's internal workings in the USA), fasten the said article to the slates with wire and plant the semps in it. This was supposed to keep lighning from striking the house.
Palustris, we call them cow pies, and I agree we would have to know in what way they are doing bad. Then we could help find a solution.
There are several variaties called Hen and Chicks, they are all related tho. I have are Sempervivum tectorum. The links show a Sempervivum globiferum aka Jovibarba globifera Snowy, they will do well either in pots or the ground as long as the soil is on the sandy side and you let the soil dry out completely before watering. Also, make sure there is no soil between the petals you can use a small paintbrush to clean it out. They do prefer full sun but will do well in part shade. I tried mine in the ground a few years ago the squirrels kept pulling them up and running away with them, so I put them back in pots. Most died off about three winters ago, this is the only Mom and baby I have left.
Ah, I would say that they are in fact not Sempervivums, they look more like Echeveria to me. Or Sedum or Graptoveria or one or two other things. Most Semp leaves come to a point with a tiny hair on it.The ones shown are too tender to grow outside in most parts of the UK, so not something I have much experience with. The National Collection of Sempervivum has around 800 forms in it, though there are probably only a about 17 species. There are also Jovibarba which are very similar, but are always yellow flowered and the rosettes do not multiply in the same way as Semps do.
Palustis, mine are Sempervivum...they have pointed petals and fuzz along the margins. The Echeveria is a ball shaped plant whereas mine is spreading out. Sedum pedals are stubby and rounded. Graptoveria has mostly rounded petals, some with tiny points. They are all four in the same family... Crassulaceae and the Echeveria elegans is sometimes called Hens and Chicks.
Sorry Toni, your post arrived in between my seeing Glendann's pictures and managing to write an answer. The one's in your pics are indeed Sempervivum, the ones in Glendann's do not seem correct to me. Apart from the shape of the petal I do not recall ever seeing a Semp with that colouration. I had over 200 semps at one time, but sadly a lot have gone now and worse still many of the remainder have lot their labels and they are notoriously difficult to name. I also collected Sedums and still have a large collection of hardy ones, again many without labels now.
Mine are like yours toni. The damage is the leafs are turning yellow, not the green they are supposed to be. Maybe they're in too much sun or maybe the rocks around them heat up too much and burn them? I'll put some in a pot outside and see how they do there instead. Thanks for all the replies!
Almost impossible to give Sempervivums too much sun, they are cold climate cacti! (loosely). They usually suufer only if they are too wet rather than anything else. It takes a long time with no water for them to shrivel up! Give them time and they may well settle down and produce new roseetes. By the way, you do realise that each rosette that flowers will die?
Thats sucks that they all die. I think it's too wet for them now that you mention it. It's been raining almost daily here for the past week so i have nature aggainst me for now.
