Or The Cobweb Houseleek
I used to have a vast collection of Sempervivums and grew them in shallow eathernware bowls. Trouble is that the resident Blackbird population of this garden used to take great delight in plucking each rosette of sempervivum out of its planter in search of a tasty morsel of worm or beetle. In frustration, I gave-up semperivivuming and now only grow a few varieties planted out in the ground. One such is Sempervivum arachnoideum or the Cobweb Houseleek which has tiny rossettes each one covered in fine hairs like a cobweb. It starts to flower at this time of year and I can never quite decide if the flowers add to the overall effect of a clump or detract from it. Depending on my mood, sometimes I remove the flowering rossettes (which will die anyway) and sometimes I leave the flower spike.
ah this is something very similar to what I have just bought to plant around 'stumpy'
ReplyDeleteHe (she?) might like them. They like sunshine. Birds like to peck them out - for some reason - perhaps some tasty bugs like to live under them. This is why I gave up trying to achieve National Collection status.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, I was having a small, medicinal beer during the week and chatting to the head brewer of my local brewery. Turns out that he is the curator of the National Hop Collection situated about a mile from here. Fancy that! Of course, I discussed with him the evil of mildew on hops. My Humulus Lupulas Aureas (Golden Hop) is a martyr to mildew.