Planting Hens and Chicks Outside My Winter House
It's always a joy to see beautiful potted plants displayed around the farm during the warm season.
Every year, I take out many of my outdoor ornamental urns and fill them with plants. They do so well outside in the summer months and look great arranged around my home. This week, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, planted the troughs in front of my carport with various hens and chicks - those charming mat-forming succulents with fleshy pointed leaves arranged in rosettes. These plants are among the first I see when I walk out of the house and some of the last I see when I return.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- Hens and chicks are members of the Sempervivum group of succulent plants. They are also known as houseleeks. Hens and chicks are so called because of the rosette shape and habit of the plant to produce numerous babies.
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- Before planting, Phurba and Ryan carefully remove the existing plants from the troughs. These similar succulents have been in these planters for some time and were due to be changed.
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- Most of these plants are varieties of Echeveria and Sansevieria. They are loaded into the back of our Polaris vehicle and will be taken to my main greenhouse for repotting.
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- The trough is filled with a good quality potting soil. Using a proper soil mix will help to promote faster root growth and give quick anchorage to young roots. Fertilizer is also added to the soil.
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- Osmocote prills contain a core of nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. As the plant’s root system takes-up nutrition from the soil, it also takes up the needed nutrients from the Osmocote.
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- Ryan sorts the hens and chicks by variety, so they can be planted in like groupings.
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- This is Semervivum ‘Twilight Blues.’ This variety features silvery, olive-green leaves shaded in pale lavender and purple tips. Hens and chicks need lots of outdoor sunlight to show their best colors and maintain their rosette forms.
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- This is called Sempervivum ‘Grammens’ – a pretty pink to orange shade with dark plum tips. ‘Grammens’ is a giant rosette which turns a deep purple in winter.
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- Sempervivum ‘Larissa’ has smooth, waxy leaves of light green rosettes that open to a light coral color. Here, one can see the parent rosette, or the “hen” and the smaller baby rosettes which are the “chicks.”
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- And this is Sempervivum ‘Mount Usher’ – a cultivar that shifts between silver-green, pink, and purple through the seasons. Hens and chicks belong to the flowering plant family Crassulaceae, native to southern Europe and northern Africa. They are low-growing perennials that stay close to the ground to self-propagate.
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- Ryan carefully removes the plant from its pot and places it into the planter soil at the same depth it was in its original container.
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- All the plants are spaced evenly in the trough. This planter is long enough to accommodate five plants each.
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- These drought-tolerant plants need very little water once they’re mature and can go weeks without watering. Once established, water them only when the surrounding soil dries out.
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- Once planted, Ryan lightly tamps on the surrounding soil to establish good contact.
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- Small wooden shims are used to lift all the planters off the ledge. This is very important for good drainage. All the pots around the farm are always raised. We save any usable pieces of wood from year to year for this purpose.
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- Next, Ryan uses this battery powered handheld blower from STIHL to clean the ledge of any dirt and soil. This blower is less noisy and perfect for around my Winter House.
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- The troughs are now filled with these charming hens and chicks succulents. They will stay here through the gardening season.
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- Once a hen plant produces a chick, that chick will begin producing its own babies after only one season.
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- Do you remember this planter of hens and chicks? I planted it several weeks ago on the Today Show. The plants filled out nicely in this container.
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- My trough planters sit on the stone ledge in front of my beautiful white garden. These plants will thrive here all season long where they will get ample sun and light shade. Everything is looking so lush and green this spring.
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