Hi Glenn
Great to have you here!
To increase your odds of getting correctly identified plants, it's important to purchase from a reputable dealer, and/or trade with people you trust. Once the correct ID for a sempervivum has been misplaced, it's almost impossible to correctly ID it again because of all the changes they go through.
It's true that one sempervivum can look extremely different from one picture to the next and they could all be the correct plant. They change in color and shape throughout the growing season and as they mature. Many other factors influence this including soil, temperature, amount of sun, stress (wind, ice, drought), season, etc. The same plant can even look different when planted in different areas of my yard, or in the ground vs. a pot. When I first started growing them I expected them to remain looking like the picture when I bought them. Was I in for a big surprise! But it turns out that's part of their charm and the excitement of growing them and you'll soon be looking forward to see what changes they're going through.
Do you currently have any sempervivum?
