Jo Anna, they do look great. Your method seems to be working for you in your special conditions in Texas.

with Lynn. They look great in their bed with all your care. I showed my hubby the photo of the bed made by your hubby! Good job.

Hen and Chicks (Sempervivum braunii)
This is the only Semp I've been successful with. It has grown a little since the last picture I posted. I noticed a few dead spots though. It probably needs to be reported, but I'm scared I'll kill it! I have not been able to get any of the babies to transplant successfully. I'm thinking of just putting another pot beside it and see if they'll take root on their own. PS: looks like I already tried that! Didn't work I guess.
Last year and this year:

Sondra, I've never seen this type of subtle manipulation of plants moving themselves into another pot. Before I read your result, I was getting excited about it working! I think your plant could stay in that pot but if you find it aesthetically unpleasing, you could just take the entire clump and divide into two and put one clump back into original pot and other clump into new pot. That way you aren't fussing with the babies still attached to the mother. You would be just moving the mothers.
BTW, where did you get such a great group of matching BLUE pots with a matching tray to boot????

Sounds like it really is taking some effort on each of you trying to grow these I guess another option is to think of them as annuals in your area, winter annuals rather than summer - then maybe less heartbreak if they don't make it

The pots came from Breed & Co. in Austin, TX. They always had a great assortment of pots, especially smaller ones, so I got a lot of my cactus pots there. They are a local hardware/gift store with a small nursery on one side. They don't sell online, as far as I know.

Johanna,that is great info on keeping semps alive and might I say thriving!
Sondra, I think the advice from Bev is good. I think your chances will be better if you do it when it is a bit cooler in October

Greg...thinking of them as annuals would make me happy if they made through the summer!

For all you folks in Texas, what are your night temperatures like in summer? Sempervivums grow fairly well here in the Mojave with a bit of pampering, I am wondering if perhaps our cool nights help. I've heard that a lot of Texas has pretty warm summer nights where it never really cools down?

Hi Paul.. Here in my area , Last August when we hit around 104F, it was about mid 80's
at night time. Usually it's in the upper 70's or low 80's for our lows..

Ours is probably upper 70's to mid 80's, but it can stay in the 90's well past dark. And the humidity! We are very close to the coast. I actually brought the only Semp that I have with me when I moved from Austin. The nights do get cooler there, more often, because it's a drier climate.

That was a great question Paul. I think the cool nights work to revive them from the hot day time temps.
Wow, Sondra and Johanna, that is some really hot daytime temps to deal with. You might try to water your semps at night using ice cubes. See if that helps.

Hi folks... now that it's a little bit cooler, I can post some of my semps that have survived those hot summer months. I have not lost any hens or chicks on these plants... you might consider growing the same variety in our weather conditions....these are probably some of the "Texas summer hardy" sempervivums.

They look good, Johanna. That's also good info. I think the variety does make a difference. Some I grow do better than others.

A couple of things have helped me, I think. One is keeping them in the shade during the summer. Texas sun and heat is just too much. Some do better than others, but they all do better with shade in the summer and even in the shadiest part they didn't show any etoliated growth as a result of the shade. In the winter they are in full sun since my trees are deciduous.

The other thing that has helped is having a lighter than usual potting mix than I usually do for succulents. Receiving water when it's really hot is how I've killed some. It's pretty much an overnight phenomenon when it happens. They can go a long time without any water at all, even with the heat. It does rain once in a while, though. That means I need to redo some of my containers to correct the mix they have. It's still a learning process for me. In a way they are a winter/early spring plant which makes them nice since that's a different peak than most of my other plants.

Donald and Johanna, both of your reports are great. This is information that will be so helpful to others in Texas that want to grow sempervivum.
A thumbs up for each of you. Way to go on your experimenting.

Your semps are looking good, Johanna Maria Laach and Larissa have done well for me too. I'm happy to see Canada Kate did well in the Texas heat! I was debating whether to buy more after that squirrel ate all of mine but seeing how good yours look I'm going to order another batch.

Wow those look great Johanna! Don that is good info! I have found even here in Seattle during the summer mine do better with a bit of shade - they just don't color up as nicely without full sun. But as soon as the weather begins to get cold again, they color up, so I'm okay with less color at height of summer

That is great information! I need to make a list of the successful ones, Joanna. What kind of soil mix do you use?
Donald, what is your lighter than usual soil mix? Are you adding perlite? I am learning too. I actuality found the opposite : to add more substance to the soil mix, atleast in the summer...but that might back fire in the winter.
That is an interesting observation of killing your semps with water.

Anna, water and extreme heat/humidity stem cooks semps.

canadanna said:
Donald, what is your lighter than usual soil mix? Are you adding perlite? I am learning too. I actuality found the opposite : to add more substance to the soil mix, atleast in the summer...but that might back fire in the winter.
That is an interesting observation of killing your semps with water.

Yes - by adding perlite. I think the benefit has been that those in that mix don't have moisture hanging around when it gets so hot. It allows me to provide some water with more safety. One I lost this summer wasn't in the lighter mix. It was doing really well, but was crinkling a bit for lack of water. I gave it water and it collapsed completely overnight. That happens with succulents here when the temperatures get too hot. It's really hard to discern when giving water is necessary for the life of the plant and when the temperatures are going to make giving water lethal instead of helpful. If you miscalculate, there's no taking it back.