winter pleasure: sempervivums and jovibara

Sempervivums used to bore me. They always looked the same to me, blooming sporadically and not particularly attractive in bloom. They survived in neglect, but to what point? Their tough constitutions and easy reproduction made them easy to overlook. They were beginner's plants (horrors!). I planted them in my Albuquerque garden as substitutes for Echeveria, which isn't hardy here. But I thought of them as boring.

I don't think that anymore. I love their variation in color and form. Although they are indeed (for the most part), easy to grow, they aren't foolproof by any means here in Albuquerque. The curved-billed thrasher pulls them up, they can be damaged by the hot summer sun, and they require some regular water. But they do respond to care in a very satisfying manner.

Although they shrink with the winter cold, the winter brings out a different color palette, similar to the color change of junipers. This pot shows a half dozen varieties. Sempervivum arachnoides f/Gorges DeDaluis shows off with the small silver balls characteristic of the "spider web" sempervivums, so named because of the webbing between the fleshy leaves. 'Cupream' shows the reddish copper color that it is capable of, more brown in the summer, and more red in the winter. This plant stays colorful in the warmer months, but is sensitive to burning in the hot summer sun, probably because the pigment absorbs the intense sunlight. 'Jolly Green Giant' Hasn't grown as big as I thought it would, but It may be crowded out by the S. calcareum 'Pink Pearl' which is vigorous, tolerant of sun, and develops a bright flamingo pink heart in the spring. Typical of the calcareum varieties is the dark tip to the leaves. ‘Silverine' has also been sensitive to the summer sun.

The sempervivum relative Jovibara comes in two varieties: J. heuffelii which doesn't reproduce by stolons, but by clustering, and the Jovibara known as "rollers" since they reproduce with plantlets at the end of stolons, the plantlets easily breaking off and rolling to new locations. There are many cultivated varieties, ranging from grey to green to shades of red and bronze, and with some variation of form. I think some forms of J. heuffelii look quite similar to echeveria.