Hi, I am from Zone 5 in Ontario, Canada.

This is the first winter for my outdoor sempervivum plants. They are in well drained soil and clay pots under the roof. They only get drifting snow and rain.

I thought I should not water, but they look very shriveled and lost the bottom leaves.

Any insights will be greatly appreciated!

My understanding with Sempervivums they can endure very well down to -30C in snow, it insulates them. That is why they are called alpine succulents.

I don't have snow here on my side, but they do love colder temps here, happier when it gets intermittent rains, but I have made sure the media is very gritty and well draining.

So same for your side, if it does rain, hope the Semps are planted already in well draining, gritty media, so it does not sit too long in wet media. That is why it helps to shore up pumice, or insoluble crushed granite at the base of the plant to protect the base from too soggy conditions.

Do you have any photos?

They should take the cold fine, although they will sometimes look a bit raggy, but they will recover in Spring. They're tough!

tarev, thanks a lot for your reply.

I wonder if I should ever water the semps in winter. If I do, what is the safe temperature range?

Tonight, the temperature will be at 3F, it will get a lot colder in January and February.

Here is a photo of one of the semps today. I would normally remove the dead leaves. Now I am not sure. Should they be left alone to insulate the plants?

kniphofia, after I posted the photo, I saw your message. Here it is.

To be honest, I hardly water my succulents if they are outdoors here during winter since Mother Nature takes care of it for me.

Your Semps looks so pretty! Getting those colorful hues They should still be fine with your temps there even at winter's peak in Jan to Feb.

With succulents, the colder the temps the less to no watering. Their stomates are open at night, so they do active air exchange at that time and they store quite well moisture in their leaves.

tarev, thanks for the assurance and liking my plant. I will not water then.

This semp looks different in every season. I have seen it in the spring, summer and autumn. This is their first winter with me.

I too would leave them alone. They should be fine.

Let us know come Spring how they did!

So pretty! On my side, I do not keep many semps. My location is the flipside of yours, we get super long dry and hot period here, no rain for 6 to 7 months and temps soar to 95F to 100F and higher during the peak of summer. So I have to water them frequently during the long dry months. Winter is rest time for me from watering them, and they grow much better as I have mentioned earlier at this time of the year.

Just to remind you though, with Semps, once they start to make bloomstalks, it is on its final phase of life. They are monocarpic, so do not be surprised if the plant languishes and starts to die off after blooming. As it does that, it may make new pups, so that will continue the line, as mother plant gradually fades out. Or you can harvest the seeds and grow new ones out of it. You will see this more towards late Spring to Summer as it warms up more on your side.

So have fun and take as much photos you can...it will remind you how they do through the seasons!

Charinex,

I grew them outdoors in MA in a very cold Zone 4 garden. We hit -32 F on several occasions. Mine were in a large rock garden so plants were in the soil and were frequently covered by snow. Lots of snow some years. The only plant I ever lost was 'Commander Hay'!

The plants do sort of lose outer leaves and the whole rosette sort of grows with incurved leaves in the winter there. In Zone 8 Oregon they do that a bit but mostly stay more wide open in form.

In being kind to your plants under a roof you may have set them up for more stress. Snow is a great insulator and also because the water is unavailable it keeps them dry.

Hope that helps!

Kevin

Charlinex, how would you describe your snow there? When I lived in Winnipeg, our snow there is more of the dry powdery kind. Air being just frigid dry cold, unlike the snow in BC where it is damp wet stuff...is it the same on your side there in Ontario? Are you more to the north of Ontario, or more to the south where it is slightly warmer.

It will not be too bad for your semps to be out in the snow there if what you have is more of the dry powdery snow, then they will get really nicely insulated. But if it is more of the damp one, then your protection under your roof line is okay. You did say they do get some snow drifts, so that will be their source of water and soil will be damp cold enough for your Semps.

It is also normal for older outer leaves to die out first, so I would not worry about them either.

Tarev is right on ICE being bad for semps. If it's a thick sheet they will die.

I have had friends that swear by Remay to cover their plants. Plants in pots are a bit more vulnerable than those in the soil as the chances for freezing the entire plant is greater. The Remay protects down to 23 F and gives a nice layer of ice-free layer above the plants.

I don't trim off the dead leaves even here in winter-wet Oregon. Of course I have over 20 K plants so that would be worse than cleaning the Aegean stables.

Kevin

Hi tarev and Kevin, thanks for your messages.

The snow can be dry or wet, but I'd say mostly dry. My semps will not get much because they are roofed.

That is okay then, cold and dry is better than cold and too wet. They can also enjoy some mornings when it is foggy, so they can also get moisture through that as well.

The weather will continue to be sunny and mild until Christmas Day. I have watered some semps lightly today.

Charlinex said:tarev, thanks a lot for your reply.

I wonder if I should ever water the semps in winter. If I do, what is the safe temperature range?

Tonight, the temperature will be at 3F, it will get a lot colder in January and February.

Here is a photo of one of the semps today. I would normally remove the dead leaves. Now I am not sure. Should they be left alone to insulate the plants?

Do you happen to know what variety of Semp this is?

It looks like Chris Hansen's 'Gold Nugget'.
Hen and Chicks (Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget')

I thought about that but I have never seen so many chicks on mine like that. I'm lucky if I get 1 chick a year. What's the secret to get more than 1-2 per year.

Nathaniel, how long have you had yours? And what are the growing conditions? Can you show us a photo of yours?

ndmpkt13, sorry I was not able to respond earlier. Valleylynn is right. It is Gold Nugget.