Great info Brian. Thank You.
Photo of Semp growing in its native habitat in mountains of Italy. Notice the grass growing with the semp. I have seen this in many (but not all) photos of semps. in habitat. Some are right out there on the rocks but I think that even some dried up grass provides some shade and protection against the strong sun. We try to keep the "weeds" out of beds and pots
Crawgarden, that is an interesting article on greenhouse growing. This is how Chris Hansen is doing it in a very controlled environment. However, that soil mix is death to semps grown outside where they get rained on. It holds way way too much water. It works in a controlled environment where water application is measured very carefully and can be held back during cold winter weather. Most of us are growing outside in beds so we need a very free draining soil, especially in the PNW.
