Sempervivum tectorum 'Royanum'

Scientific Name

Common Names

Houseleek, Hen and Chickens

Synonyms

Sempervivum 'Royanum'

Scientific Classification

Family: Crassulaceae
Subfamily: Sedoideae
Tribe: Sedeae
Subtribe: Sedinae
Genus: Sempervivum

Description

Sempervivum tectorum 'Royanum' is a mat-forming succulent that bears rosettes of yellowish-green leaves tipped leaves. The rosettes grow up to 5 inches (12.5 cm) in diameter. Flowers are star-shaped, reddish-purple, and held in flat cymes on the terminal ends of hairy, upright, up to 20 inches (50 cm) long stems. The rosettes die after flowering but are replaced by new rosettes on lateral runners.

Hardiness

USDA hardiness zones 5a to 9b: from −20 °F (−28.9 °C) to 30 °F (-1.1 °C).

How to Grow and Care

Common Houseleek can be grown from seeds, seedlings, or by dividing offsets.

Don't plant your Common Houseleeks too deeply. Dig a shallow hole and spread the roots. Cover the plant's crown and tamp the soil gently so that it is firm in the ground. Water lightly, but you don't need to water newly planted Common Houseleek every day, the way you would with non-succulents. Common Houseleeks need to let their roots dry out between waterings.

Seeds can be sprinkled on top of a soil, gravel mix, and kept moderately moist until they germinate. Once they sprout, sprinkle some fine gravel around them as mulch. Seeds are usually started in pots and then transferred to the garden as seedlings. You can start your seeds in the fall and transplant them in the spring.

Common Houseleeks will spread by underground roots. Each plant multiplies by at last 4, in a growing season, by producing tiny offset plantlets all around the perimeter of the "hen." These are the "chicks." The chicks can be snapped off and replanted elsewhere at any time.

Learn more at How to Grow and Care for a Common Houseleek (Sempervivum tectorum).

Origin

This succulent is a cultivar of Sempervivum tectorum.