Please tell me about your ten most favorite sempervivum, either past or present, and what you love(d) most about them.

I will probably not have a lot of them, but I'd love to hear all about yours.

If I do have some of them, I'd sure like to know of the good things I might see.

Thank you!!

You know this will take awhile for some of us since you want to know the whys and what Fors...kind of like an essay test instead of a multiple choice final at end of the semester

Hmmm. My intent wasn't to make it difficult, just an enjoyable recollection of why you love certain ones so much.

And I know there might be some who don't have ten, and that's okay, too.

I know rotting and long stolons are considered bad, but I really don't know much about what people consider good, other that what's opposite of bad.

Compact stolons or regular sized stolons, creating neat compact mounds.

I just shoot for a mix of sizes and contrasting color ranges for the most part. I'm not that fussy about looks. To make it easy I have done themed gardens and buy by name. I have gone through the space theme (Star Trek, Star Wars, astronomical names etc.). My most prolific results for those were with irises.

Now I look for names of eagles that have cammed nests. For semps, I have Baronesse, a white tailed eagle in Smola, Norway. Alas, Baroness the eagle has passed away but my semp lives on.

pardalinum said: I just shoot for a mix of sizes and contrasting color ranges for the most part. I'm not that fussy about looks. To make it easy I have done themed gardens and buy by name. I have gone through the space theme (Star Trek, Star Wars, astronomical names etc.). My most prolific results for those were with irises.

Now I look for names of eagles that have cammed nests. For semps, I have Baronesse, a white tailed eagle in Smola, Norway. Alas, Baroness the eagle has passed away but my semp lives on.

That's a very cool idea.

It depends on the day. I love each one of mine for different reasons. Shape, color, health record, type of colony it makes. Each one has it attributes.
Right now 'Choctaw' is a real standout in the bed.


This one is so very sweet. An old time favorite for color and texture. 'Pacific Mauve'.


Okay, what about this sweet little fuzzy/sparkly one? 'Whispers'.


Combos, 'Red Pluche' and 'Lemon Babies' creating their own drama.


And the list goes on.

Lynn.... are you reading my mind ? Are you going through my list? Out of those 5, I just got 3!!!
Whispers looks so cute; I really want it now

Red pluche is super fuzzy and very red for me.
PAcific Mauve is not doing anything yet. Are those stolons super thick, or are the rosettes small.
Lemon babies is adorbable!! Can't wait to see yours make a big clump. Mine is just 5-6 rosettes

I saw Whispers in the database earlier and thought it was super cute and put it on my love to have it someday list.

I don't think I'd gotten to the others, but Sedumzz is right; the stolons on Pacific Mauve look like they're considering macrame at any moment!

I will have to go read about it and about Choctaw.

Alex, you are going to love 'Lemon Babies' when it makes a colony. I had a large colony of it in Dallas, OR. It was beautiful. I've had 'Red Pluche' for many years, and still love it.
The photo of 'Pacific Mauve' shows young rosettes with their first crop of offsets. They will grow a lot this season, with the rosette and offsets sitting up against the momma.

It's predictable what ten I might list: semps rosettes that are velvety or cobwebby and are small-medium in size. I'm most satisfied if these semps give me no trouble and stay alive but really happy if they have offsets. I know, low expectations.

These are the ones I expect to always be there.

'Apollonia'


'Slate'


'Ohio Burgundy'


'Engles 13-2'


'Papucchini'


'Rose Madchen'


'Green Caro'


'Majestic'


'Bernstein'


'Burnt Embers' (had to include a dark one)


I know... beyond top 10, but one has to have some ROLLERS!


And lastly, here's a semp (named after the couple that owns a Semp nursery in the UK) of which the last rosette was given to me by Lynn who trusted that I would keep it alive. Fat chance...but I willed myself to care for it the best I could, check regularly to see if it's alive and yesterday I saw this:

'Howard and Sally Wills'

I love that! Thank you so much for taking the time and sharing that story! And what a success!!!

I'm excited to see Bernstein in your list as I just got it and it's so cute! I'm really happy to know it's not one prone to rotting!

Glad you enjoyed, FNP. Now to do something simpler: repot semps.

webesemps said: Glad you enjoyed, FNP. Now to do something simpler: repot semps.

Yay!!!
Enjoy!

Bev, you list is like a stroll down memory lane. Love them.

My top 10 are rollers and any compact clumping fuzzies ! I could give you a top ten sedum but not semps yet!!

I know...it's the old stuff, Lynn but so am I. I like the dependable, the familiar and the predictable. A shot of adrenaline can be too much for me nowadays. I lose a couple of years when I play video games...

sedumzz said: My top 10 are rollers and any compact clumping fuzzies ! I could give you a top ten sedum but not semps yet!!

You're ahead of me, then!! Because I don't have a top ten of either as they're all new to me although my mother had a sedum in the 90s that she liked. It never thrived though.

I like the idea of very colorful, non-rotting, rosettes that won't mind heat and like to offset. Unfortunately, there's not always that kind of information out there for the ones I drool over.

I figured it might be better to ask which ones you all love because they're probably pretty amazing.

FPF, all that are in my current collection have proven to be very heat tolerant. That does not necessarily translate to high temps plus high humidity.