I was so disappointed when the snow melted. Last summer I put in a raised bed for my semps. Something - rabbits, voles, ? - had chomped on quite a few of the semps in that bed, pretty much killing them. I've never had anything eat them before. Unfortunately they were all new ones that I got last year. None of the sedum were touched though, which I thought was rather strange.

And it looks like I lost some due to freezing too. Maybe in my zone a raised bed wasn't a good idea because they weren't insulated enough from the cold. So guess I'll make that bed just for sedum. Guess I'll have to find a new spot to dig up for a semp garden.


Chris, I added a winter photo to your post. If you have one you would like to replace this one with that would be great. : ) This will show a thumbnail for this thread.

Oh no, Chris that is heart wrenching. I think mice will do that also. I did have a couple varieties of my semps that didn't do well this year. My fault though, they had been in the same pots for about 4 years without redoing them. Just crowded out and the soil compacting. I did manage to save a few of each variety. Won't do that again. That's why I started redoing my pots yesterday. Hopefully they will forgive me.

They do recover pretty quickly if they're not too far gone.

Are things looking any better after a week? A bunch of mine shriveled up to absolutely nothing. I went out and looked this afternoon and they are all starting to come alive.
I was taking a close up picture of one of semps that came through winter in pretty good shape and was playing with the photo and inlarging it. You could have knocked me out of my chair, there were chicks starting up. I couldn't believe it.

My raised bed is still looking sad. Now I had a problem with squirrels digging up some semps. That bed seems to invite trouble! If I ever get to it I plan to order some replacements for that bed and try one more time. If they still struggle I'll just leave that bed to all sedum.

It is amazing how early chicks show up. In the semp bed next to the house I have some starting up too. Hopefully next weekend I can get out there and remove the leaves that blew in there. Need to clean it up.

I didn't even notice mine were starting chicks until I enlarged the photo showing in the right side info bar. I put it in and went to look at it, and there are the tiny baby chicks. Two tiny green spots. : ) Maigret is very tiny, must be why I didn't see them until I enlarged the photo.

Well, I am happy to report that my winter damaged plants are begining to snap out of it and are starting to grow. The sedum didn't seem to have any problems, except Ogon. The semps having trouble were the ones in old plantings in pots. Should have redone those last summer. : ( I have the survivors potted up individually until I decide what to do with them. Poor little babies.

I envy you that you can grow Ogon - it's an annual here in my zone. Glad you're plants are happy again! We're finally getting some rain so I'm sure that will perk mine up fast too!

Oh no, I am not having luck with Ogon, it does very well here in our area, just not for me so far. I keep trying because I love it. Those that it does well for say it is a hardy, tough plant. Either mine just haven't come out of dormancy yet, or I have killed them again. Only warm weather will tell.

Chris, do you have any photos you can post in the first post, of the winter damage?

Here is some winter damage I had this year. It was from months of rain and no snow cover. Several other varieties had major problems with rot but have since pulled out of it and are growing nicely.
S. tectorum 'Triste' 12/31/2010 showing signs of beginning rot and here it is in June of 2011, fully recovered. It did sustain a large amount of damage before the rains finally stopped in May. Sorry I didn't get a photo of how bad the damage was by then. But they sure were quick to recover once drier weather arrived. : )

• Hen and Chicks (Sempervivum tectorum (triste))
• Uploaded by valleylynn

I don't think I have a picture Lynn....

That's okay Chris.
Guess what I saw in my back yard last week. A VOLE. And I thought I didn't have them. It ran right in front of the lawn mower. No I didn't run it over. It sure startled me though.

Oh no! They are evil, evil monsters. Too bad you didn't run over it.

Isn't that funny, I seem to handle it okay if the dogs or cat catch the critters, but I feel terrible if I do it.

However, I have been known to shoot a critter or two with a 22 when necessary!

Some how doing that from a distance doesn't seem so personal.

Exactly.

Here's a suggestion for those of you with mouse damage. A common mousetrap, baited with peanut butter and placed under an upside down bucket with a stick or rock under one edge to allow the mice to get under the bucket. I had a regular trap line going here last summer and most of the winter, even in freezing weather, and caught 1-5 every night for about 6 months! That's a lot of mice! We have 2 outside cats, a family of great horned owls and several varieties of hawks all catching mice as well. I was truly surprised! I trapped them in the hay shed, storage sheds, next to the back door where I feed the cats, next to the house foundation where I am sure they were accessing the basement via an old tunnel somewhere under the old siding which was covered with new siding about 18 years ago, around the greenhouse and in my vegie garden. At times I would move a trap and bucket and forget where I put it. Did you know that mice are carnivores? I have no problem removing a mouse or even half a mouse from a trap. Probably more info than you wanted but the point here is, You Can Trap Them and lessen your problem with mice munching on your plants. I got a few voles too. After the nightly catch had slowed way down, I thought about keeping track. Last Jan I got 68.

Wow, that's a lotta critters! Do voles actually go in your traps? We've never caught them in ours and we use peanut butter too.

Mine may have just blundered in out of curiousity. We had them running all over in the hayfields when we were picking up broken bales, so for entertainment we had a spearing contest with our pitchforks! Very difficult! In the winter they make tunnels just under the soil surface, and when the snow melts there are humps (like pipes on the ground) running everywhere! They might have tunneled up into the raised beds, so putting hardware cloth on the bottom would keep them out.