I've only had the O. spinosus one year (got it from Cavendish in September 09), and I put it in the worst place I could find - crummy sandy lean soil with a small amount of steer manure mixed in and mulched with lava rock (what else!?). The drainage is excellent as it's right on the edge of the rock wall along the driveway - not 100% full sun, but a fair bit through the afternoon especially. It was looking sooo good all summer, and now just looks sorry for itself.

I got O. minuta earlier this year, and they look somewhat better, so hoping they make it through the winter. They certainly aren't as easy as the Semps and Jovis, are they?

I really don't know how difficult they will be here, as this is my first year to have them. I read somewhere that they tend to close up and look puny during winter. I know some of my semps do that also. Hope spring time shows happy, healthy Orostachys.

Look at the change taking place in this Orostachys with this colder, wet weather we are having.
Orostachys fimbriata

Pretty cool looking!

That colour is amazing!

The color change happened almost over night, it was amazing. I have since moved it onto the covered deck, as this one needs to be kept fairly dry during winter freezes. It can take very cold temps as long as it is not wet.

I'll have to wait until the spring to see if mine make it

We will both be holding our breath until next year.

Orostachys eburnifolia 9/11/2010 Orostachys eburnifolia 11/9/2010

Orostachys fimbriata 9/11/2010 Orostachys fimbriata 10/25/2010

Orostachys spinosa 9/11/2010 Orostachys spinosa 10/25/2010

Wow, love the peachy/pink color in the first two! And the centers sure changed form too. I assume Orostachys spinosa stays in a tight round form all the time?

The O. spinosa opens out almost completely and looks like a green sunflower - very cool! Then it bunches up again as it opens up during the summer. You can see the longer ring of leaves around the outside on the pic below. I feel better now, Lynn, as mine looks similar to yours. Very, very cold here - an unusual cold snap, thankfully we did get a few inches of dry powdery snow before it came. Fingers crossed!



This pic taken November 1, 2010

Jacki is correct on spinosa opening to look like a green sunflower. Very unusual looking. Here is a link with photos showing their different stages of growth. Love this plant.
Here is what O. spinosa looks like this last week. Something is either pulling the leaves off, or eating them one by one. No rot present.

Here is a link to a most awesome site. Interesting info on Orostachys. http://sempervivum.aforumfree....

Lynn, Can you put a shield around it. I have some plastic storage crates that I press into service from time to time. A good winter project is to make critter shields out of hardware cloth - not hard to do and you can make in various sizes.

I am beginning to think it's birds pulling the leaves off. I don't find anywhere that it has been chewed on, and now stray leaves laying around either. The cage idea is a great one. I will look around and see if I have something that will work until I can get some hardware cloth.
Thanks twit, I would hat to lose this plant.

One of my odd collections is old bird cages, even gerbil and mice cages, I take the plastic bottom dish off and use them to protect plants as I have such a problem with chipmunks in the fall in the greenhouse.

This is one of my favorites - it looks like a Victorian elevator - someone gave me a cheapie plastic water feature which I threw out as the plastic had rotted, but not before I salvaged the little cherub - he sits on the swing, and I call this 'Going Up?'!

Jacki, what a grand way to protect plants. I may have to start watching for them at garage sales.

I have a list of things to look for - old rusty stuff, tools especially any gardening or woodworking tools, bird cages, old wooden stuff...I even have HH trained