Sempervivum Chick Charms Chocolate Kiss

With its large chocolate-purple rosettes, Sempervivum Chocolate Kiss is the star of the new Chick Charms series. Its colour, which intensifies in cold or sunny weather, accompanies and enhances all the other hens-and-chicks, especially the very pale varieties. Its pink-purple flowering, in small stars, occurs in summer, on mature rosettes. This perennial spreads spontaneously by producing numerous daughter rosettes, which can be taken and replanted as desired. It is ideal for embellishing arid and mineral areas. The Chick Charms houseleeks are very endearing perennials that quickly inspire the desire to collect them!

All houseleeks grow spontaneously in rocky grasslands, on rocks and scree, in open and sunny locations, mainly in mountainous areas. They are hardy succulent perennial plants of the Crassulaceae family that keep their foliage even in winter. The Chick Charms series sempervivums are carefully selected hybrids from the USA, chosen for their unusual colours and ease of cultivation. They are hardy and resist root rot.

Chocolate Kiss has thick and long roots that penetrate deeply into rock crevices, ensuring a good grip on the walls while drawing water from the depths. The plant quickly forms beautiful colonies of rosettes of different sizes, juxtaposed, reaching 10cm (4in) in height and 10 to 12cm (4 to 5in) in diameter at maturity. Over time, it can form a dense carpet of rosettes of all sizes, spreading on the ground for 30cm (12in), perfectly adapting to the terrain. Each pruinose rosette is composed of numerous broad, spatulate leaves with pointed tips, without petioles. They are glabrous and rather erect. Their colour changes depending on the season and climatic conditions, ranging from smoky grey-lilac to dark purple-brown. The flowering appears on rosettes aged 2 or 3 years, which will then disappear, having ensured the plant's perpetuity by producing several small rosettes on the periphery. The fluffy flower stalks, 15 to 20cm (6 to 8in) tall, develop from June to August, formed by thick stems that bear 1 to 8 star-shaped flowers with 8 to 12 petals in shades of purple-pink.

Sempervivum Chocolate Kiss is a boon for gardens where the soil lacks depth. It thrives where few species survive and colonises abandoned spaces. If your soil is poor, rather dry, stony, rocky, or even slightly chalky, you can still enjoy this hardy perennial (which withstands temperatures below -15°C (5°F)). It requires no maintenance and promises to enliven any pile of stones, a wall, or even a green roof. Chick Charms houseleeks are very easy-to-care-for succulent plants, offering flowers and foliage in various hues that will create stunning compositions. Magnificent in their pot arrangements, especially in low terrine-type pottery, they are irreplaceable in borders, troughs, or rockeries, alongside London pride (Saxifraga umbrosa), wall bellflowers, or Lewisia cotyledon. Consider choosing companions with staggered blooms (antennaria, small sedums, delosperma) and colourful foliage (Tanacetum densum subsp. amanii, Ajania pacifica, Hertia cheirifolia), for a varied and joyful rockery.