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jaro_in_montreal

flowering sempervivums

jaro_in_montreal
16 years ago

Needless to say, these have not been attacked by starlings....

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Comments (13)

  • HomeMaker
    16 years ago

    Gorgeous! I hope mine will do that someday. I planted mine about a month ago and they are growing fast - most of them are busy having babies...

  • wildie
    16 years ago

    It takes 7+ years for the "hen" to flower, then it dies and the "chicks" continue the circle!!!

  • jaro_in_montreal
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    "It takes 7+ years for the "hen" to flower"

    Is that counting from seedling stage ?
    ...because mine have been there for maybe 2 or 3 years only! ....and I already had a few flowers last year, though nowhere near as much as this year.

    I expect that in another year-or-so, they will completely fill up the space they're planted in -- which was my goal to begin with, to displace some weeds that I keep having to pluck out, to make room for the sempervivums....

  • ianna
    16 years ago

    I've observed mine to flower almost every year but can't say how old the hens are. Gorgeous plants.

  • clairdo2
    16 years ago

    I don't know what kind of plant this is but i call it chicken and hens. It is similar to yours.
    {{gwi:531445}}

  • bonniepunch
    16 years ago

    Beautiful jaro!!!! If you want to trade some babies this fall or next spring, drop me a note and I'll send you some photos of the ones I have (local trades are always easy).

    I think the old "it takes x (x=lots) years to flower" statement is usually used to mean it can take a while :-)

    I have some two year old sempervivums and some new ones I bought this year. One of the ones I got this year is flowering, which is kind of a pain since it hasn't put out any babies yet. Oh well - maybe I'll try growing some from seed (if it sets any)!

    BP

  • Mystery_Gardener
    16 years ago

    Hi All:

    I find stress causes them to flower (which is not necessarly good). We move ours around in pots alot, plus we store many of them beneath the eaves during the rainy winter. The ones that are moving from shade to sun (or get dried out) will often get stressed and flower shortly afterwards. The patches (and pots that are not moved) flower far less frequently.

    It would be nice to find someone locally to trade with, not a lot of opportunity as we live in a small community. (although that may be the only drawback I can think of after living / working in a city for many years)

    Cheers,
    MG

    Here is a link that might be useful: A couple of our hens and chicks

  • jaro_in_montreal
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    That's quite a nice variety of plants you've got there MG !
    I don't have quite as many different ones, but when I see some interesting ones occasionally, I do buy more.
    I haven't noticed that bit about stress causing them to flower (certainly not the ones in the photos above), but now that you mention it, one of the ones that was being attacked by starlings went into flower....
    BTW, the starlings finally lost interest -- no more having to replant the sempervivums in the back yard every day.
    They did a real nasty job on them, but it seems the plants are amazingly resilient, and will likely recover by the end of the seazon....

    As for trading, thanks for the kind offer BP, but I think I will have to wait until next spring at least -- to increase my stock, as well as the inventory of varieties....
    It seems to me that some of the more interesting or less common varieties that I have, tend to multiply much slower (and don't flower either).
    Maybe by next spring the situation will improve.
    But if you can post a few photos, I'm sure we'd all love to see what you have !

  • tiffy_z5_6_can
    16 years ago

    Jaro and other sempervivum growers,

    What kind of conditions do you have these growing in? Your post has given me an idea about a particular space I need to fill. I just recently took out some creeping phlox which was at the edge of a rock wall and all of a sudden just died. Not sure what the problem was... Very, very root bound they were, but the soil is still really nice. For now I've added compost to the soil and planted some annuals.

    This area gets full sun and sometimes gets dry. Up against rocks. In the winter, the area gets hit by north winds and barely has snow coverage unles we get major storms.

    Would they do well there?

  • jaro_in_montreal
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    tiffy,
    The ones in my photos above are planted in the front yard, in a small rock garden (I hesitate to call it that -- it came with the house) next to the front door.
    This is the west-south-west side of the house, so lots of sun in the afternoons, but none in the morning.
    The ones in the back yard get sun pretty much all day, except that a good part of that time its just dappled light filtering down through the enormous crown of the neighbor's huge poplar tree....
    As I said, I think these plants are extremely resilient, and will put up with just about anything....

  • tiffy_z5_6_can
    16 years ago

    Thanks Jaro! I'll try a bunch there. A friend of mine offered me some a couple of weeks ago and I think I'll take her up on the offer.

    I had to giggle at your remark about the rock garden. Go ahead and call it as such even if it 'came with the house'. I have boulders that came with the house, so I call mine 'Boulder Gardens'!

    {{gwi:375325}}

    Nicole.

  • reneeslovenia
    15 years ago

    It is rather impossible to prognose the flowering of Sempervivum. Some will take 5 or even more years to flower, while some can flower in as little as two years. I know that form my own experince.

    I have a collection of 1.700 sempervivum plants, mostly named varieties. Some of theym you can see on my photo blog.

    Here is a link that might be useful: my sempervivum blog

  • ianna
    15 years ago

    Lovely plants especially when contrasted with that great looking decomposed gravel. What sort do you use? I love sempervivums too and have had several in pots around my property. I mix match them with other succulents. I also have echeverias which I've been fortunate to have managed to keep alive for several years now. In winter though I have to bring these plants in and they tend to look rather poorly when indoors, but they thrive once more when I bring them out.

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