I know, I know: I'm supposed to cut them apart. BUT, they grew so large and mounded together that they just pulled/fell apart in my hands.

Some backstory. I'm in the process of topping off all of my raised beds with "manufactured sand": a product of finely pulverized ledge. It's essentially granite fines but made from ledge rather than granite. It is necessary to lift every single semp & jovi, shake off the soil (another long story), set 'em aside while I put down the fines, clean 'em up, then replace the semps and bed them in. I'll post pix when I'm finished.

Anyway, I'm wondering whether there is any downside to allowing them to separate naturally rather than cut 'em. I was quite astonished at how many of the jovis there were. The mounds didn't look all that massive, but, wowie, zowie, I had to shift a great many things around to make room. Anybody wanna trade?

Wait Kate, you are saying you "were astonished at how many of the jovi's there were" when in the past you've showed us pictures of some of the huge semp colonies grown under/at the foot of your trees in the (still yours?) nursery up north? Wish I could remember where your photos of that was posted, but you having "a lot of something" in your place is not a surprise to read about.
I would think a mound/bunch of Jovis falling apart would be a good thing for dividing to propagate/sell/trade etc.
Wish I could trade, but I have so little of everything. Glad to hear from you that you are still keeping busy with semps!

Sounds like a good problem! It has happened to me as well and it does just make it easier to spread the Heuffs around! Good luck with your project, sounds very major and a good thing!

I was surprised at how many heuffs were in a single clump. With the semps you see more than exponential lateral growth. I'd never had heuffs before and didn't know to expect them to make so many - but with a somewhat more vertical growth habit.

Am glad to know that allowing them to separate pretty much by themselves is NOT a bad thing. I wish I'd thought to take some "before" photos.

Will post some pix tomorrow.

Here are the pix














Last photo is J. h. 'Torrid Zone'

WOW Kate, how the heck did you get so much increase in those gorgeous heuffs? Just look at those awesome squares of each heuff cultivar, I like how you have them planted and the diagonal-bisected square in one case, looks like very efficient planting.

webesemps said:Wait Kate, you are saying you "were astonished at how many of the jovi's there were" when in the past you've showed us pictures of some of the huge semp colonies grown under/at the foot of your trees in the (still yours?) nursery up north? Wish I could remember where your photos of that was posted, but you having "a lot of something" in your place is not a surprise to read about.
I would think a mound/bunch of Jovis falling apart would be a good thing for dividing to propagate/sell/trade etc.
Wish I could trade, but I have so little of everything. Glad to hear from you that you are still keeping busy with semps!

Here you go Bev. This was sure a fun tour. The thread "Tour of Labor of Love Landscaping" in Sempervivum forum

Looks like you got your question answered. Nature did the separation for you. So much easier and faster.
Wow, they all look amazing. By next year those sections will be filled in.
I had to look up ledge stone:
Ledgestone is an all natural stacked stone used for siding,veneer and cladding. It is used in residential and commercial architectural construction for both exterior and interior applications. Thin Veneer is cut from real, all natural New England stone.
How interesting and beautiful. Are the photo showing the top dressing of crushed ledge stone? If so it is very nice to look at. Will it compact over time?

valleylynn said:

Here you go Bev. This was sure a fun tour. The thread "Tour of Labor of Love Landscaping" in Sempervivum forum

Looks like you got your question answered. Nature did the separation for you. So much easier and faster.
Wow, they all look amazing. By next year those sections will be filled in.
I had to look up ledge stone:
Ledgestone is an all natural stacked stone used for siding,veneer and cladding. It is used in residential and commercial architectural construction for both exterior and interior applications. Thin Veneer is cut from real, all natural New England stone.
How interesting and beautiful. Are the photo showing the top dressing of crushed ledge stone? If so it is very nice to look at. Will it compact over time?

Here, ledge is a type of natural stone that gets in the way of everything. It's always here - either exposed ot underground. Most construction cannot proceed without an excavator pulling up (and away) the ledge that is so often just below ground. It's used for rip rap (large pieces), sta-mat (med. pieces crushed to specific sizes) and manufactured sand (tiny bits). Of course, there are other uses - these are just the most frequent local uses.

Yes, the pix show the finished work. I expect it to compact a bit, but the sand and gravel place (they actually crushed the ledge to make the sand) told me that it's most often used to bed pavers. Thus, it must drain well and not compact too much. Time will tell.

Kate, would you give us a report on how it performs over time?

Kate, also in New England here, but more southerly (I'm in MA, near NH border), digging a hole in my yard to plant a tree or perennial requires a pick-axe and pry-bar, to break up the just-underground ledge, I tend to build raised beds on top of the underlying ledge accordingly.

valleylynn said:Kate, would you give us a report on how it performs over time?

Of course.

Thank you so much. Love the look of it.