sequim rare plants | plant list

Cold-hardy Succulents — Sempervivum & Jovibarba

Sempervivum
"hens and chicks"

These love sunshine, and do not need much water to grow well. Spreading by runners, they are long-lived and can take severe winter cold, surviving to USDA zone 3 (-30° to -40°F). Showing each variety of these with a single photo is not completely accurate, because the colors change throughout the year. Not only do their colors change according to the season, but also according to how wet or dry they are grown, and also by how much sun or shade they are getting.

Sempervivum
'Atroviolaceum'

$5.95 A deep red violet is the color. The plants grow large. All of these Sempervivums are cold hardy to USDA zone 3 (-30° to -40°F).

Sempervivum
'Black Mountain'

$5.95 The plant is mostly a dark reddish maroon, with green are the heart of the plant. Cold hardy to USDA zone 3 (-30° to -40°F).

Sempervivum 'Blue Boy'

$5.95 Not truly blue, but the plant can have a grayish-lilac overlay to its rosy-pink coloring.

Sempervivum 'Bronco'

$5.95 The foliage is dark green that is edged and tipped a dark rich red. At times the leaves turn much more of a dark purplish-red. The leaves are long, narrow and are sharply pointed.

Sempervivum 'Bronze Pastel'

$5.95 This plant is a small to medium size, with the leaf color a russet chestnut.

Sempervivum 'Carnival'

$6.95 Wider leaves of various shades of red.

Sempervivum 'Direktor Jacobs'

$5.95 The rounded ends of the leaves come to fine points. The color is mostly red.

Sempervivum 'Flamingo'

$6.95 There are several colors in the plant, and pink can be prominent among them. It is not the pink of plastic flamingoes, but a much more subtle frosting of it through the plant.There are touches of a darker red to the ends of the leaves.

Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget'

$7.95 PP 28,284 During summer the leaves are green. During cold fall and winter weather, they turn to yellow and flame. The leaves can become much more vibrantly colored than in this photo, but you have to see it to believe how richly colored they can become. USDA zones 3 - 9.

Sempervivum 'Hopewell'

$5.95 Larger leaves than average for a Sempervivum, the leaves are a pinkish red at their base and green at their tips

Sempervivum 'Icicle'

$5.95 A selection of the species, arachnoideum, the fleshy leaves form rounded plants that are overlain with a coat of frost-like hairs or cobwebbing that is typical of this species. The inner, younger leaves may be green with rosy-red outer leaves. Or at times the entire plant will be mostly red.

Sempervivum 'Jeanne d'Arc'

$5.95 She stands in a fire of leaves in various degrees of red.

Sempervivum 'Kelly Jo'

$5.95 A very good mixture of green and red are the leaves.

Sempervivum 'Kosanii'

$5.95 The velvety, lightly furry leaves are a medium green with the tips touched with a purplish-red.

Sempervivum 'More Honey'

$5.95 Green at the base well flushed with orange-red shading, this plant grows large. Its orange-red color, that is reminiscent of honey, comes and goes depending on the season.

Sempervivum 'Oddity'

$5.95 The leaves are long and rolled into the shape of quills that are green with purple tips. The tips are cupped or slightly indented.

Sempervivum 'Rojin'

$5.95 Bright red are these smooth leaves, shading to a darker red at the tips and green at the center of the plant. In the Japanese language, rojin, is the word for an aged man. Jurōjin (寿老人), is the Taoist god of longevity. He is depicted with a scroll on which is written the lifespan of all living things.

Sempervivum 'Rouge'

$6.95 This grows to be the largest of plants among our sempervivums. 'Rouge's colors are the reverse of what we usually see, with 'Rouge' there is deep red at the center of a plant and green towards the tips of the leaves. Its leaves are thick and wide.

Sempervivum 'Rubrum'

$5.95 This is a form of the species, arachnoideum. A rounded plant that is overlaid with a fine network of cobwebbing that is typical of this species. The leaves are green that are often, but not always strongly colored in red.

Sempervivum 'Silver Olympic'

$5.95 Not growing large, the rounded rosettes of leaves are a green color and have a large amount of cob-webbing giving them a delicate appearance.

Sempervivum 'Silver Spring'

$5.95 At times pastel olive-green with red tips, or at other times a greater amount of red covering the leaves. Nicely tapering leaf blades.

Sempervivum 'Sir William Lawrence'

$5.95 This is a form of the species, calcareum. The leaves are green except for the tips that are a dark blood-red. And the contrast between the two colors is so dramatic that this can hardly be confused with any other.

Sempervivum 'Stanfeldsii'

$5.95 The coloring is a solid, pure light green, and a welcome change from all of the muti-colored sempervivums.

Sempervivum 'Starshine'

$5.95 This selection produces medium sized rosettes of smooth pinkish-red to near orange leaves. Short spikes of pastel-pink flowers in summer.

Sempervivum 'Teck'

$5.95 This has a subtle blending of colors, pastel green and violet, with a light touch of a dark red at the very tips.

Sempervivum 'Thunder Cloud'

$5.95 The leaves shade from green to a violet-red with dark tips.

Sempervivum 'Topaz'

$5.95 The gray-green leaves are shaded in a rosy purple. The coloring can be much darker and much more reddish sometimes.

Sempervivum 'Tracy Sue'

$5.95 The color is a velvety green that has a grayish, furry texture to it.

Sempervivum 'Unicorn'

$5.95 A rosy-pink flush blends into green leaves that have a golden, downy appearance.

Sempervivum 'Virgil'

$5.95 Grayish-green leaves shaded with a haze of soft pink. The leaf tips are darker and turn purplish during winter's cold.

Jovibarba heuffelii

(Yo-vee-BAR-ba hew-FELL-ee-eye)

   Some people classify these as Sempervivums, although there are some important differences between them in the way they grow and in their flowers. The dried leaf tips of Jovibarba turn into sharp little barbs in their old age to protect the younger leaves, that can surprise you if you're not careful when handling them. It's a reason why the name of Jovibarba is especially appropriate.

   During part of the year the following succulents have more subdued coloring than shown in these photos, with leaves of green and plum, and not looking so different from each other. However at other times of the year the leaves become more colorful, with a greater variety of hues.
   These drought-tolerant plants require soil that drains well and a location with a fair amount of light.They survive both summer's heat and winter's cold. Popularly known as hens-and-chicks, which is also the popular name for Sempervivums, this grows as a tightly clustered group, connected at the roots, and doesn't spread by runners. Cold hardy, -20° to -30°F (USDA zone 4).

The Jovibarbas are not always as brightly colored as shown in the photos below. They can also be more subdued, with leaves of plum and green.

Jovibarba 'Apache'

$5.95 The colors of 'Apache,' are a dark purple-red. During winter and early spring the dark purple-red will be more pronounced, while at other times the green will cover more of the leaves, with purple-red tips. Native to the the Balkans and southern Carpathian mountains, all of the jovibarbas listed here can withstand winter temperatures down to -20° to -30°F.

Jovibarba 'Beacon Hill'

$5.95 'Beacon Hill' combines rosy-purple and gray-green on its satiny leaves.

Jovibarba 'Beatrice'

$5.95 'Beatrice' has green leaves with reddish tips during the summer months, however during winter, her colors darken.'

Jovibarba 'Blaze'

$7.95 The colors of 'Blaze' change during the seasons, sometimes being a bright red and at other times being a dark maroon/brown. Limited quantity.

Jovibarba 'Bronze Ingot'

$6.95 A rich bronze-purple overlaying green. As with several other jovibarbas, small short stiff hairs line the edges of the leaves. From a distance this edging appears as an elegantly thin line, contrasting to the leaf color.

Jovibarba 'Fandango'

$6.95 The leaves are green with red tips, the red becoming brighter in winter. A colorful contrast between the green and red.

Jovibarba 'Gold Bug'

$7.95 The photo was taken on March 1st, and is golden. At other times 'Gold Bug' will be green with reddish tips. Limited quantity.

Jovibarba 'Greenstone'

$5.95 Lime green at the leaf bases, with reddish maroon leaf tips.

Jovibarba 'Hot Lips'

$6.95 the leaves are outlined in a silvery color because of the fine hairs at the leaf edges. Dark red with green at the base are the leaf colors.

Jovibarba 'Inferno'

$6.95 This plant can grow large, and has maroon-red leaves, and some green deep in the heart of the plant.

Jovibarba 'Irene'

$6.95 The leaves are mostly a rich, medium red, being a lighter red closer to the center of the plant and a darker red towards the leaf tips. The leaf edges standout with a lighter coloring, due to the small hairs lining the edges.

Jovibarba 'Jakupica'

$5.95 Green stained a red-brown on the tips. Cold hardy to USDA zone 4 (-20° to -30°F).

Jovibarba 'Jowan'

$6.95 Red tips with green at the leaf bases are the coloring of younger plants. On older plants, and especially during their cold season dormancy, the red can cover more of the leaves. Plants need to be grown in lots of light for their strongest coloring.

Jovibarba 'Lemon Sky'

$7.95 'Lemon Sky' is a bright yellow, especially when grown in bright light and during springtime -- at times it is more of a chartreuse green.

Jovibarba 'Melanoheuff'

$6.95 Richly dark colors of deep rose to purple, with a fine stitching of white cilia lining the leaf edges.

Jovibarba 'Minutum'

$5.95 Mostly greenish leaves throughout the year, with reddish leaf tips.

Jovibarba 'Mystique'

$6.95 The proportions of the leaves tend to be shorter and broader. Their coloring is purplish-red and green. The purplish-red covers more of the leaf surface during the winter months,

Jovibarba 'Orion'

$6.95 At times the leaf colors are darker violet-red and green, and at other times become a glowing bright red. A combination of influences cause these color changes, such as the season of the year and how much light they receive.

Jovibarba 'Palaisii'

$6.95 Pointy leaves of green at the leaf bases and reddish burgundy toward the tips.

Jovibarba 'Passat'

$5.95 For part of the year the leaves are green with darker leaf tips, and at other times their coloring is a vivid red.

Jovibarba 'Purple Haze'

$6.95 The leaves are mostly a gray-green, and having a cast or shading of muted red during part of the year. However its colors intensify towards the end of the growing season as the days become cooler.

Jovibarba 'Sun Tan'

$6.95 Green leaves shaded reddish towards the tips, become tannish-pink at times.

Jovibarba 'Sundancer'

$6.95 The green leaves are tipped in a blood red. At other times of the year the leaves are more golden or yellowish.

Jovibarba 'Tan'

$6.95 There are dramatic changes to the leaves of 'Tan' throughout the years. At times a bronzy red with a little bluish-green at the base. Towards the end of the growing season, coral orange to pink with chartreuse green at the bases of the leaves as shown in the photo here. Then in winter, turning a dark purple overall that highlights the silvery thin line of cilia along the leaf edges.

Jovibarba 'Torrid Zone'

$6.95 Similar to the variety, 'Tan,' in the transitions the coloring goes through during the year. Sometimes a blazing red.

Jovibarba 'Xanthoheuff'

$7.95 To our eyes, this is identical to 'Lemon Sky,' however we did receive both as separate plants, each with its own name attached. So we would like to believe that they are not identical. At times it is a bright yellow, at other times, more of a chartreuse green.

Propagating Jovibarba

A group of the round, leafy rosettes are usually tightly clustered together, more tightly than you might expect -- and they generally do not produce long runners as Sempervivums do. So instead of simply pulling them apart as with other succulents you must cut them with a knife, as has been done with the plant in the picture. And it is important to let the freshly cut tissue air-dry for several days before replanting.

Another critical step is not watering them very much when the divisions are replanted into fresh soil. So in our greenhouse, we only lightly mist the plants and soil once a day, for three or four weeks. We only want to wet the leaves and the surface of the soil. If the soil is watered deeply and remains wet before new roots have begun to grow, the plants may rot. It’s better to err on the side of being too dry than too wet when dividing one of these succulents. At some point, more water can be given to the plant so that it can regrow.
We tend to propagate these at the beginning of summer, so that they have the rest of summer to recover and regain their size.