Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum)

How to choose hens and chicks

All Sempervivum grow the same way, so the choice comes down to rosette colour and how you plan to combine them. Hens and Chicks Coral Red is named for its warm red tones. Appletini Succulent, Cranberry Cocktail Succulent and Key Lime Kiss Succulent are named selections that sit well together in one bowl, and the Mint Marvel Houseleek and Onyx Succulent extend the range again. Colour in every houseleek shifts through the year: it is usually strongest in cold weather and bright light, and greener in summer or in shade, so judge a plant over a full year.

A single rosette is typically 5 to 10 centimetres across. The clump keeps widening as offsets form, and a mature mat can cover 30 centimetres or more.

Where hens and chicks grow

These are alpine plants. They suit cool temperate and warm temperate climates, including Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Tasmania, the tablelands and the ranges, and they take hard frost and snow without damage. Dry inland cold suits them well. What they dislike is the combination of heat, humidity and wet soil. In the subtropics grow them in pots under cover from summer rain, with plenty of air movement, and expect them to be shorter lived. They are not plants for the tropics.

Give them full sun in cool districts and light afternoon shade where summers are hot. They are at home among other rockery plants, in a collection of succulents, and anywhere you need frost hardy plants.

Planting and spacing

Drainage matters more than soil quality. In pots use a cactus and succulent mix with extra coarse grit, in a shallow container with open drainage holes. In the ground choose a raised spot, a slope or a rock crevice, and work gravel into heavy soil. Set rosettes 10 to 15 centimetres apart and they will close the gaps within a couple of seasons. A top dressing of fine gravel keeps the lower leaves dry and stops soil splashing into the rosettes. Autumn and spring are the easiest times to plant.

Care basics

Water when the mix has dried out, then water well. Through a cool, wet winter they need little or none, and in a humid summer it is safer to keep them on the dry side. Feed sparingly: one light application of a slow release fertiliser in spring is enough, and rich feeding makes soft, open rosettes.

Pull away dead outer leaves so they do not hold moisture against the plant. To make new plants, detach offsets with a short piece of stem in spring or autumn and press them onto gritty mix, where they root in a few weeks. Rot at the base in warm, wet weather is the main problem, and mealybug can shelter between the leaves.

Common questions

Why did my rosette flower and then die?

Each rosette flowers once, sending up a tall stem of starry flowers, and then dies. That is normal. The offsets around it, the chicks, fill the gap, so remove the spent rosette and leave the rest.

Can hens and chicks take frost?

Yes. Sempervivum tolerate heavy frost and snow, and cold weather often deepens their colour.

Do hens and chicks grow indoors?

Not well. They need strong light and cool nights, and indoors they stretch and lose colour. A sunny, open position outdoors suits them far more.

How often should I water hens and chicks?

Only when the mix is dry. In pots that may be weekly in a dry summer and hardly at all in winter.