Sempervivum Chick Charms Cranberry Cocktail

Sempervivum Cranberry Cocktail, from the Chick Charms collection, bears large, two-tone rosettes that add a beautiful touch of colour to this new series of hybrid houseleeks. Its wide leaves of a dark purple-Bordeaux colour bear bright chartreuse green tips, creating a colourful and changing mosaic throughout the year. Ideal for enhancing arid and mineral areas, this small succulent plant requires nothing more than an open location and dry, poor soil. The 'Chick Charms' houseleeks are 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 houseleeks have recently been selected in the U.S.A for their originality and resistance to root rot.

Cranberry Cocktail 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 superb colonies of rosettes of different sizes, juxtaposed, reaching 8 to 10cm (3 to 4in) in height and 12 to 14cm (5 to 6in) in diameter at maturity. Over time, this houseleek can form a dense carpet by means of its stoloniferous stems, spreading over 30cm (12in) on the ground, perfectly matching the terrain. Each pruinose rosette is composed of numerous spatulate leaves with pointed ends, without petioles, imbricated with each other. Their colour changes according to the season and climatic conditions, always in a combination of dark red and green tones. 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 pink-purple.

Cranberry Cocktail 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.