Here is the snail riding gnome.

And the 2 that are growing semps.

I'm beginning to wonder what all the controversy is about. They look like very industrious, pleasant little fellows. And anything that can keep snails or slugs under control is appealing to me.

Chris your new photo entries to the Sempervivum Database are great. I especially love the close up of flowers on Shirley Temple. It is beautiful.
http://cubits.org/sedumandsemp...

Its kind of hard to tell in the pictures above, but the pots that the gnomes are watering are only about 1-1/2" high. There's nothing in the picture to relate the size too.

I'll try to get more flower pictures added to the database as they bloom. It's really hard for me to get a count on number of chicks because my plants are soooo crowded - I can't tell what chicks belong to what hens!

Chris, I couldn't tell that those guys are pretty small. Maybe a coin beside one of them? Or one of them holding the coin. Wow, those are tiny plants Chris.
Mine aren't at that stage yet. Next year will probably be more difficult to count chicks. What I might do is have one of each cultivar in a pot, or planted with clear space around it. Not sure yet. I hadn't thought about the problem of counting chicks once they form a colony.
One of my last year chicks of Irazou is going to flower without producing any chicks. : (
Bummer. That leaves me 3 others that are starting to make chicks. I read somewhere that some named cultivars are prone to having that problem. I will have to make a note of that for Irazou, it also doesn't appear to be a heavy producer of chicks.

I've noticed that some flower without having chicks too. Good thing you still have 3 other ones.

So, we've hardly had any rain in the last 2-1/2 months. I'm on vacation this week - to work out in the gardens - and they're predicting 3 days of rain. I sure know how to plan! Oh well, we really need the rain. I have stuff to do in the house too, it's just not as much fun.

We are cloudy, no rain and 77. Great weather for yard work. Maybe you can work outside in between showers Chris. I do that, and even stay out if it is just misty rain. Really feels good and I don't get over heated.

Dave gave us a new feature for our Forums. We can now have a picture ID for each Forum. Click on Forums in the Right Side Info area.

Its pouring pretty good out and supposed to keep up all day. Maybe tomorrow...

Sorry.

Here's a little Sempervivum that you all might like.

Sempervivum x barbulatum 'Hookerii' with a quarter for size comparison. I knew there was a reason why I took this picture last week.

I took care of the weeds a few days ago, needed tweezers.

That one is so cute! Even full of chicks its barely the size of a quarter! I can believe you needed a tweezers.

Twitch, that is absolutely wonderful. Would you mind putting that photo in the database? We don't have that one yet. I did add an entry for that cultivar. You may have to look over the entry to make sure I have it correct.

That's amazing. How tiny!

The small sempervivum interest me, so I have been gradually trying to collect the smaller ones. A couple of sites list sizes like Lynn does here and the Hookeri is rated as a "mini". They can be grown larger than I show in the picture, but that seems to be the size that they grow for me, outdoors and no fertilization.

I have this from a trade (since lost), from a group purchase and from private purchase, but there is a difference in the names I got for all three and some differences in appearance as well. So I am not sure the ID of the plants, whether this is the variety "Hookeri" or a hybrid with the variety "Hookeri".

So Lynn, please forgive me, but I don't want to get into the database stuff at this time. I just want to kick back, relax and enjoy some nice plants. [Subject to change at any time, of course]

Thanks all for the kind comments, here's another pic of a small one, may have posted it before. Sempervivum x barbulatum f/Valle Quarozzo. Note that it's in its messy phase, putting out lots of offsets. It settles down and become a nice clump most of the time. The largest rosette in the pic is 1-1.25", so this one is bigger than the previous. I'm always on the lookout for other tiny ones. Squaw Mountain has a couple of mini species semps listed, but my plant budget is busted badly this year.

(A note on nomenclature: I read the above name as "A Sempervivum hybrid of species 'Sempervivum barbulatum' that is from location Valle Quarozzo")

That one also appears to have a huge amount of chicks. Do you find that pot culture is easier for the minis? I have one very small one that nearly washes out of the soil (planted in the ground) every time it rains. When it stops raining here I'll post a picture and maybe you can help me ID it.

I love the mini's also. : ) I know that my Cebanese will grow as a very tiny plant if I have it in a pot with pour soil and gravel. I will take a picture of it. But if it is growing in garden soil it grows beyond mini size. One of the things that makes them such interesting plants to me. I don't fertilize mine.
While doing a small amount of research on Sempervivum x barbulatum 'Hookerii', I found it a very confusing one to understand how it should be listed. It does look like it can go by other names. When I have time I am going to see what else I can find out about it. Such a wonderful, interesting tiny plant.
Would love to see pictures of your other tiny one twitch.

Lynn - I posted that photo yesterday of that Sedum.

Thanks,
Clint

Here is my mini NOID. These are some that had washed away and I replanted them in another bed in the Spring.