What direction does the hill/slope face Calin? Can you take some photos to show us?
If it is south facing it should do well with the sun loving semps and many of the sedum that are sun lovers.
If is is facing north, and getting a lot of shade that would be a problem for the sempervivum. But there are other plants that would do well in shade, just not the sempervivum.
What are your summer temperatures like?

There are many sun loving alpine plants that would grow in the same conditions as the semps, with only small amounts of water in the summer. Specie tulips, armeria, gentian, and some of the saxifraga. There are many more to discover that would be wonderful on a hillside. http://garden.org/ideas/view/v...
Go to the database and click on Search all plants by characteristics, check the box for alpine/rock garden plants. It brings up a nice list of some plants that might work for your hill.

We are at 37 degrees this morning. How wonderful, not going to complain about the rain. Well, at least not for a few days. : )

Kevin I am so excited about all the new crosses for the clinic in May. And it will be great to see the progress in the ones from this last may.
I promise to keep silent on what new stories/information you have in store for the next clinic. : )

Love the idea of you owning land for a "Calin Garden"...
Hope you can make that dream come true!

Calin,

AS long as you have good sun I don't think even a north-facing slope is a problem. In my garden I have a large hill that faces north but has no trees and i get very good growth of irises and daylilies, both of which are sun lovers. Even in a bed on the north side of the house, but away from the building, I have great growth on the Sempervivums and Sedums. I'm betting you will too.

Best of luck in your new venture.

Lynn, I'm glad you'll be keeping my secrets until May. I think they are a useful tool for teaching about hybridizing.

Kevin

Calin can't wait to hear updates!!
Kevin - you're making me very curious indeed!

Here are some watery photos...sorry my beds/semps need some cleanup, but I love the colors - so even though some of them look "not so good!" please enjoy!
Here is 'Topaz'...the photo of course isn't getting the color quite right...

'Black Prince'

'Emerson's Giant'

'Cresta'

'Fame Montrose' (sans the "Montrose" )

'More Honey'

tectorum f/Costigliole

Cheers!

'Black Prince' is so pretty with all the little white hairs, such a contrast to the deep purple. 'Emerson's Giant' is nice too, interesting coloration.

Thanks Spring...they are all so colorful right now! Many of these were large clumps that I lost and these are the remaining chicks, so I'm glad to see them coloring up and "doing their thing!"

Thank goodness looks like they will pull though and they will be clumps soon.

So beautiful Greg. One of my favorites is Topaz, for it very unusual color. It really stands out in the beds.
Black Prince is new for me, so really looking forward to seeing it through an entire year.

Last summer I was unimpressed with Black Prince, its pretty but not THAT pretty...but now its so dynamic! Love the cold for the colors!

Greg,

Thanks for the images. To me the winter colors are never as quite as bright as they are in the spring. The one exception is one I named 'Michael' that was a brilliant raspberry in winter but was more like 'Lilac Time' in the summer.

You have 'Emerson's Giant'. I have always wondered if it was the same as 'Emerald Giant'. I do have both now but the 'Emerson's Giant' was a plant from the UK and hasn't gotten to the bigger size as of yet.

Speaking of, what is the largest semp that you grow? This is an open question, not just to Greg. Of course I'm obsessed with making some ones at least a foot across. 'Dark Cloud' and 'Plumb Rose' both get enormous for me here in Oregon but they weren't as big when I grew them in MA. (And yes I have crosses between them in the seed pots just planted.) Anyway get out your rulers (and no nuns invited..)

Kevin

This year it would be 'Red Lion'. It was enormous. This photo was taken in May of this year. Starting to sing it's Swans Song.

Kevin I've had Emerson's Giant for 1.5 years and its NO giant the biggest its gotten is 3.5" But it has good color!
My largest Semp was Henry's Black 7.5

Lynn, Yes I saw the 'Red Lion'; it was gargantuan. The biggest rosette of 'Dark Cloud' was 9" and those of 'Plumb Rose' and 'Frost and Flame' just a bit smaller.

Greg, interesting on 'Emerson's Giant' NOT being a giant. I grew 'Emerald Giant' back in MA and it did get ~6" across there. Helen's 'Jade West' was in that same size range for me. I have 'Emerald Giant' again and it's growing, but slowly. Had wanted to use it in crosses this year but no blooms either.

Last year I bought seed from the North American Rock Garden Society seed exchange and grew a package of seed labeled "Sempervivum largest forms". One of the seedlings has grown very fast, producing 16 rosettes less than a year from seed but it's difficult to judge its size from a seedling growth. Vigorous it surely is. It even made Lynn nervous!!

I do have seed from 'Dark Cloud' X 'Plumb Rose' that should give a lot of big rosettes and dark ones too. As encouragement to the semps, I keep a pot of Echeverias so they can see how cool a 12" rosette would be. Hopefully they're looking at the competition and thinking "I can be that big too!". Maybe i need to cross 'Red Lion' with 'Dark Cloud' too.

'Springael's Choice' is the biggest of the heuffeliis for me and such a lovely color. It may be my favorite of them.

Kevin

Kevin I remember your pot of echies!! Certainly a show pot!! And I hope your semps do "get the hint"
All the heuffs that I've seen are not very large, how big is Spring...Choice?

Now I will dream of 'Red Lion' x 'Dark Cloud' offspring. Oh my goodness that brings beautiful possibilities to my mind.
Kevin, maybe you can trick them with an agave? And yes, I do remember the semp with an abundance of offsets. Very impressive.

JungleShadows said:
I have always wondered if it was the same as 'Emerald Giant'. I do have both now but the 'Emerson's Giant' was a plant from the UK and hasn't gotten to the bigger size as of yet.

Speaking of, what is the largest semp that you grow? This is an open question, not just to Greg.

Kevin;

I have both of them since 5 years - Emerald Giant and Emerson Giant; never seen any differences between the two....and both are not giants;

there are some big cultivars here like Packardian, Brock, Bimm, Centurian, Iwo and some more; but the biggest is a new one - named in 2012 at the meeting of our german Sempervivum-Group - called 'Thors Hammer' and getting up to 12'' and more;

the bloom is up to 30'';



Peter

Oh WOW!!!
Who is the hybridizer Peter?

Lynn

it's a seedling by chance - nothing known about the parents

named by Jens Lachenmaier / DE / 2012 after some discussions with a few german breeders and owners of big collections; nobody has seen a similar cultivar before;

Peter,

'Thor's Hammer' looks very cool. Almost has the look of 'Packardian' for color, but not the velvet. Ed thought 'Packardian' might be from 'Sanfordii' and Patty Drown had some big seedlings out of 'Sanfordii' too.

Thanks for the information on 'Emerson's Giant' vs. 'Emerald Giant' too. I had wondered although mine aren't big enough to tell for sure.

'Springael's Choice' has gotten to 5" across Greg. It has started to split now. I'll make sure to point it out when you're at the clinic.

Kevin

Kevin,

we have 'Cleveland Morgan' as mother-plant of Packardian...

and 'Sanfordii' we haven't listed in our database; is it the same as 'Sanford's Hybrid'? a cultivar-name with ii-ending is just irritating because that's the ending for natural forms!?

we also have 'Sanford', 'Sanford's No. 1' and 'Sanford's No. 2' in our list; but we don't know for sure about this group of cultivars because there are a lot of confusion about the names;

do you know for sure about the details of this names?

Peter