Hens & Chicks

Deliver personality and pizzazz to your garden with enchanting hens and chicks (Sempervivum). Low growing, lovely rosettes cluster around a parent plant like a brood of chicks round a hen. Their plump, fleshy leaves come in charming shades of green, pink, purple and blue. These plants add texture, character and colour to almost any indoor or outdoor setting. They multiply readily and are easily divided; a chick may simply be broken off and placed in new soil, where it will sprout roots and produce a brood of its own. Hens and chicks flowers appear in summer, when a hen plant produces a spike with a lovely cluster of blooms at its tip.

Hens and chicks are resistant to deer and drought and are tolerant of neglect. During the winter, they may be left outside or brought indoors in containers as attractive houseplants. Hens and chicks plants make excellent ground cover, and, when placed on a berm or slope, they establish quickly and discourage erosion. These easy-care plants add colour and form to rock and succulent gardens and container plantings. They also bring life to otherwise barren spots; they can be tucked into small pockets of soil in rock walls or gravelled areas.

Those who like bolder colours might favour Mexican hens and chicks. These striking, fanciful plants come in particularly vivid colours, such as electric blue leaves edged in hot pink, or sparkling chartreuse fading into splendid midnight blue. Choose your favorite variety and perk up your home or garden with the personality and charm of these endearing favorites.