Alpines loving the rain

July was a month of two halves. The start lovely and warm with the hottest July day on record, the end cold and wet.  It is interesting watching how the plants reacted to these different conditions. Some agaves loved the heat, others stopped growing. Almost all the alpines struggled, with the heat and are loving the colder wetter weather.

There are quite a few sempervivums in different stages of flower,

Sempervivum 'Green Dragon'

Sempervivum 'Lilac Time'

Sempervivum 'Lion King'

Sempervivum 'Engles'

Sempervivum 'Virgil'

Thankfully all have offsets, so no need to replace them.

Those that are not flowering are looking good as well, I'm liking this small form at the moment, such perfect little rosettes.

Sempervivum ciliosum

This trough was only recently planted so they still look a bit un-natural. It's a good offsetter though, so next year should cover that end.

It is not just the semps that are happy, remember my poor little orostachys fimbriata. The foxes dug it up scattering tiny bits around the garden. The original post can be found here. These were planted up in the hope some would survive.

My first flower.  It doesn't look as interesting flowering on its own, but then I am trying to re-build the clumps to fill the entire trough, so good to only loose one. This is much smaller than the normal form, part of the charm, so it's going to be a while before that is filled.

I finally I may have cracked my other nemesis, scleranthus biflorus. I think I killed three of these in the last garden, then found out the problem was treating them like succulents and not watering them.  These now get watered and so far so good.

I've just spotted the label is still there, sorry Loree. These are usually either buried or removed once I have photos and can place what is where. Anyway, it has doubled in size since being planted a few months back, and has already filled the space nicely. If the success carries on and it survives winter, I have plans to use them more widely in the front garden.

While the alpines may be enjoying the cooler weather, we could do with getting the sun back again now. It is meant to be summer not Autumn.

Spring Alpines: part 1.

This is a great time of year for the alpines; lots of flowers and the sempervivums are waking up. Over the last few years I have been adding named forms to my collection and have been keeping track of how they perform. Some

Some like S.'Titania' look great right now and make you think they have grown loads. (Photo below taken yesterday)

Until you look back at the summer photos and see that they have actually lost lots of leaves and actually look their best later in the summer. (Photo below taken last August)

Often you buy the at this time of year and they look spectacular, like S. 'Rosie' (photo taken yesterday)

So lush and a great colour, sadly it doesn't last and being alpines they may not like summer sun and lack of water. (Next photo taken last August)



Then you have the ones those that look good in summer, like S. 'Virgil' (next photo taken last august)

You think they look good all year only to see their spring colour, which really blows you away (next photo taken yesterday).

Finally you have the ones that look good all year and just keep growing. S.'Lion King' was slow to get going but has settled in now.

No matter which group they fit in, at this time of year they are all sending out runners with new plants on. Some snake out long distances, S. 'Lively Bug' sends out some of the longest. These are just getting started and will be two to three times as long in the end.

Others cluster their offsets forming tighter and tighter clumps. S. 'Green Dragon', is one of my favourite clumps right now.

And sometimes it is just good to look at them. This is S. 'Ohio Burgundy'

Update on the sempervivums in the alpine rockery

The alpine section of the rockery has been planted up for a few months now, so time for an update on how the plants have been doing.  It should probably be re-named the sempervivum bed as that is pretty much all that is planted in it currently.

Semps should be fairly easy, but you never know with a new rockery and location, especially when known how hot, shaded, or dry it was going to be.  In the end it was a hot, dry summer, and the rockery is extremely quick draining.  So this should show which varieties cope best in drier locations.

First up semp virgil.

 This was the fastest grower at the old house, so I expected the same here

It has filled out and formed very tight rosettes, but not spread as much as expected.  It has gone more lilac in colour, instead of the dark purple, but still a pretty plant and hopefully will have filled that space come next year.

Many of the plants seem to have done the same

Semp 'Packardian' in June

Semp 'Packardian' in September

Sempervivum 'Red Devil' in June

Sempervivum 'Red Devil' in September

Some on the other hand have struggles to cope with the heat and lack of water. This is Sempervivum 'Apple Blossom' back in June.

I expected it to form a nice big clump, instead the rosettes shrunk right back and left a fairly ugly clump.

Sempervivum 'Rosie' did exactly the same, here back in June.

Then in September, only the main rosette seems to have suffered this time.

Then are those that have done well and started to bulk up. Sempervivum 'Lavendar and Old Lace' back in June

Then in September, both parent and pups have done well. It hasn't held it's colour though and back to a pail green.

Others that have done well, Sempervivum 'Engles' back in June

And here in September, the parent has not grown much, but the offsets have put on a fair amount of growth.

Sempervivum Othello, one of the biggest varieties and suppose to hold it's colour well.

Then in September, lots of growth, but gone a disappointing green. 

The real surprise has been sempervivum 'Titania' shown below in June

The main plant flowered last year so it was only offsets being planted and here they are in September.  Not only lots of growth but how good do they look. Not a single sign of stress, the colours have got stronger.

No guessing which is my favourite sempervivum now. It is so much happy than at the last house, I can see what all the fuss is about.

And I'm sorry Loree and others who don't like labels, they are on view so I know which plant is which in photos, but are out of sight the rest of the time and will be removed come spring once I have got plant locations sorted in my files..

The return of Sempervivum Sundays

One of the groups of plants I have most been looking forward to getting back in the ground are the sempervivums.  With the alpine section of the first rockery planted (you can find the post here), some of my favourites were given their new homes. Most have settled in better than I could have hoped, even though this is a low time of year for growth as it is a little hot.

The s. virgil has coloured up perfectly and is gunning to be top semp in the bed.  I'm expecting it to fill in those gaps quickly as it was one of the best all-round performers at the last house. The only problem with it, are it can over pup creating an unruly clump. Not a bad problem to have I'm sure you'll agree.

I have also started planting some semps into gaps in the main succulent bed.

This little one is s. arachnoideum x nevadense. It has never quite looked as good as when I first bought it.  The clump is good, but they are not growing to their full potential as shown below.

I'm not sure if it needs more heat or what. Hopefully the new location will suit it better and it can flourish and give me rosettes like that again.

Some are showing their contentment by flowering.

S. packardian is a strange one.  I understood it was one of the larger forms and yet I have never got them to grow beyond about 7cm.  They have a good colour, just disappoint in their size.  Again I am hoping the new location will give better results.

With a bit of luck all the semps will bulk up nicely and will be a major feature in the garden come spring.  I have quite a few more ideas for using them around the garden, so unlike many of my succulents, I can continue to search out good varieties to increase my collection. 

A new home for the sempervivuvms

The in-laws coming to stay, three birthday parties and a 50th wedding anniversary party all meant it was not a very productive weekend in the garden. The great thing about it's current state though, is that I can now potter around doing little jobs, or just water and weed the pots. So in between everything I got the alpine section of the rockery planted up.

I decided in the end to make it a home for some of the sempervivums I have accumulated over the last few years. It looks a bit empty at present as they have been given space to fill out, but in a year or so should look good.

I have selected some of my favourite varieties and it is good to get them out of their pots and give them a bit of space.

Sempervivum 'Engles'

Sempervivum 'Green Dragon'

Sempervivum 'Apple Blossom'

Sempervivum 'Lavender and Old Lace'

Sempervivum 'Rosie'

Sempervivum 'Virgil'

I have put some of the big boys in as well to see how they do with space

Sempervivum 'Orthello'

Sempervivum 'Packardian'

Sempervivum 'Titania'

There was also room one of the dwarf pines, it gives a bit of variety and will provide shade from the strongest of the summer sun. Apparently it only grows to 3 - 4 feet and should take a long time to get there.

No doubt I will add more rocks of smaller sizes and swap out any of the sempervivums that don't perform. There is also one more alpine to go in, my alpine nemesis scleranthus biflorus

Having failed twice in pots, I am hoping that it will be more successful in the ground.