Sempervivum Collection - Houseleek

This Chick Charms® houseleek collection brings together three varieties of remarkably colourful Sempervivum. These small hardy perennial plants charm with their resilience and sculptural appeal. They offer persistent foliage in rosettes ranging from blue-green to red and yellow, with colours evolving throughout the seasons. Well-suited to well-drained soils and very sunny exposures, these houseleeks are ideal for embellishing rock gardens, walls, or even in pots on a terrace. Easy to cultivate, they tolerate drought and withstand cold down to -20°C.

The collection consists of:

1 x Sempervivum Chick Charms® 'Berry Blues': its large rosettes are formed of long incurved leaves that gradually change from grey-blue to mauve purple under the influence of cold in autumn and winter. Its pink to purple flowering, with small discreet stars, occurs in summer, on rosettes aged 2 to 3 years.

1 x Sempervivum Chick Charms® 'Chocolate Kiss': its beautifully sized rosettes are made up of wide, glossy leaves in a rich, deep chocolate purple. It flowers with small pink stars in summer.

1 x Sempervivum Chick Charms® 'Gold Nugget': this variety boasts a unique colour, its rosettes are formed of fleshy leaves that are bright green in summer, turning golden with bright red-orange tips in autumn, a reddish-orange hue that intensifies in winter. Summer flowering with small pink flowers.

The houseleek requires no maintenance; it spreads spontaneously by producing numerous offsets, forming extraordinary sculptural mats in the sun. It is hardy and thrives in dry, poor, siliceous or calcareous soil, relying on rainwater, even if it is scarce. The Sempervivums in this collection are ideally planted in spring or autumn, in full sun, in a rockery, a raised border, above a wall, or in a large pot. Position 'Gold Nugget' in the centre to draw the eye with its changing colours, framed by 'Berry Blues' and 'Chocolate Kiss'. Plant them 15 cm apart. Allow for approximately 12 plants per m² for a dense mat.

Pair these houseleeks with perennial plants that share the same soil and exposure needs. Creeping Sedums, such as Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco', and Delospermas, such as Delosperma 'Wheels of Wonder White' with pure white flowers, will make lovely companions.