I am really going to order some this spring.Both of the pieces are just bisqued so they are porous and breath, but I think I will put them in a place where they wont hold moisture all winter.

Did anyone ever find a source for the roosters?

It really helped that the rains where absent for the past couple of weeks, so the succulents are ably enduring the chill.

Good idea tarev. I learned that from you 2 years ago. Since I have left most of my tender succulents out on the covered deck, with great results. I am so impressed with how winter hardy some of these are if kept dry. I may give them a sip of water a few times during the winter.

Jo Ann, those containers would do great outdoors if kept under cover, away from rain. And just a sip of water around the base of the semps. Just a sip, not enough to really wet the potting mix. That should keep them from freezing and breaking the pots.

Teresa, here's a few frames but planted only with sempervivums. Photo is of them in Fall. They look slightly different now as some semps have gotten too wet and rotted but I hope they bounce back in the spring with better weather and a few planting of replacement semps.

Wow Bev!! I love the wall of frames! In the top left frame upper middle part it looks like S. arachnoideum tomentosa?? If that is and its one of the ones you lost, I have some of those, and in spring could send you some - because of the webbing they get soggy very easily I found!
Jo Ann I really like your pots! Beautiful, I think things will look great in there, whatever you decide to plant in them!

Bev those are beautiful. I can only imagine the burst of color come spring.
Do you lay them down for winter? Or leave them hanging?

I know Lynn, it seems like if they're hanging they should be fine???

I actually don't leave the frames hanging because of the cold air surrounding them.(I can hear Lynn now: "They should be able to take the cold...!") but I put them down especially when the winter sun is shining somewhere else from where the rack is. There's windows and glass doors everywhere so can't lean rack just anywhere. Maybe I will try hanging them longer in the winter weather, but the taking on and off and back on and off because the sun moves is tiring so I leave it where I know the sun will hit the next day.
Greg, I noticed the sensitivity of the hairy semps and just plucked the majority of them out of my semp bed and put them into a flat where it is not as exposed to the elements: rain, summer sun, winter cold. We had a lot of rain right before the cold temps hit and I don't think the soil dried out too much. I've counted 31 semps lost from rot. Though our rain doesn't compare to what Lynn has described at her semp paradise...

Bev, I'm sorry to hear that you lost so many semps I know those webby ones are touchy - but they are cute, I'm hoping they do okay in my "green wall" because I put lots of them in there

Sometimes you got to do lots just to get some going and under your watchful eye, I expect you to tell us all which are the more durable so we can run out and get those. I figure with all the help Lynn and Chris gave you, your wall should be quite incredible come Spring. BTW, have you weighed that sucker?

I haven't weighed it, but I have been able to move it - not lift it on my own, just move it on its little table
It is heavy - partly because the "head" is made of cement and is very heavy! I'm planning on hanging it in concrete using chains or something equally heavy and durable
I will take lots of photos, and come spring I'll be posting those! There were also several that look large enough that they may bloom this year (I know I know, so I will have to replace those, or hoping they send out babes) I think the blooms on the wall though will be an eye catcher I've never been this excited for spring! Also, unknown on this forum, I've planted lots of bulbs in pots (probably 50 or so, several crocus, grape hyacinth, scilla (wood hyacinth), checkered lilies, Peruvian oxalis (pink buttercups) and I'll be planting 40 ranunculus of mixed colors this spring, once the rains dye down (late March)
of course I'll take lots of photos! and I'm hoping everything looks great!

My Word. How do you have time to do all that green work? My unknown on this forum is : My French for Dummies lessons get sacrifcied just to give me time to do all this posting.
You will be making some folks mighty happy with the coming Spring photos...

haha! Bev, I know this is a time stealer isn't it! But its fun chatting and getting ideas! I have truly learnt so much on here! I find myself now saying "sempervivum" rather than "hens and chicks" etc. I've never been into using latin names because I learnt some spanish, italian and french as a kid and the pronunciations for plant names seem so random, I find that as I'm getting older it matters less it still riles me though to pronounce several different ways the letter "e" or "i" within the same plant name

Well, I guess you are at the point where you can now pull out those semp pics at parties without a second thought.
Have a good one!

Good night! (I'm a type of person who always has second thoughts, I go to a therapist for that!!)



Cheerio Bev!

Bev, I agree with taking the frames semps down for winter. I know Chris does also. I think they handle the changing weather better if they are down on the ground.
Plus it give them a chance to grow in a more normal direction so come spring they will be ready to hang again.
I only have on small wreath and it is laying down flat for winter. I've already added a few more things to it last week.

Wow, Greg that is a lot of bulbs. Where do you keep all those pots?

Bev, you learning French? That was my mother's favorite language, she loved when she would be around my DIL who speaks fluent French. It was so wonderful watching the two of them together. I didn't understand a word they said.

I have had S. 'Cebenese' for years. It has survived except when I put it in pots and the drain holes plugged up.
S. 'Cobweb Button', Red Cobweb. I know there are others in my beds, just can't think of them right now. Oh yes, Pekinese. But it doesn't have webbing for much of the year.

Bummer that you lost so many semps Bev.

I had no idea your frame had cement in it Greg. Well, nobody is going to steal if!

Edited to add that I'm doing a little experimenting this winter with leaving some wreaths hang, but they're only a few feet off the ground. Will let you know how that turns out.

This was at the beginning of the thread
"Valleylynn asked me to post this picture here. It was in one of the AHS (daylilies) tour gardens this past weekend.
I just ordered sempervivums and would love to find where they sell these.



Thumb of 2012-07-16/Lilydaydreamer/6c6b88"

I found some similar planters here:
http://www.thefind.com/garden/...

What a fun link Greg. I love the vintage roosters. I wonder if the wire frame rooster would topple over once planted?

I found this site. http://www.greenpiecewireart.c...
The frames really look good.
Wow, those things are spendy. http://www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/...

This one looks more reasonable http://www.sktopiary.com/roost...
Catalog, just click on the tiny first page, from there you can go the the pages of the catalog. http://www.sktopiary.com/catal...

Lynn that link was done by Jo Ann (credit where do and all that!)