Sempervivum 'Oddity'

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• common names: “hen and chicks”
• flowering season: summer
• height: 2 to 4 inches
• Light requirements: full sun; hot baking sun is even better
• Soil requirements: average soil that drains well
• Water requirments: very drought tolerant after it establishes itself
• Growth habit: low growing, with offshoots slowly spreading wider
• How to propagate: cutting one of the “chicks” from the parent clump in early summer is the best way; the chicks might already have roots of their own so that they re-establish themselves quickly
• Leaf type: succulent leaves that grow in a rosette
• Ways to use it such as in a pot or otherwise: useful in a sunny rockgarden or planted in a dry stone wall; it grows well in pots; because it only needs infrequent watering, you will sometimes see it planted in some strange but interesting places, such as a group of several planted inside a pair of old boots hanging on the side of a sunny wall -- in such a situation, it will live happily for several years, receiving little upkeep
• Special characteristics: when this plant grows into a wider clump it is more likely to start flowering; when it does flower you will notice that the rosettes that have the flowers will die after flowering, however the rest of the clump will not die, and continue to grow, filling in the spaces
• Other points of interests, such as historically: one common name for this plant is “house leek” -- historically, in some places around the world this plant has been planted on the roof, since it needs little, if any soil to survive well and likes the hot sunny aspect of a roof