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Name: Pat Indianapolis, Indiana (Zone 6a)  Pat72 Jun 8, 2013 6:53 PM CST |
I was thrilled earlier today when I planted six delosperma cooperi's around my parents mailbox. They are aware of my love for learning how to garden, even tho they know I'm fairly new.  Well, Mom approaches me with 8-10 Hensandchicks, and wants me to plant them somewhere, and she has given me full authority on doing this. I'm reading everything I can in this forum on ideas (and I don't want to say, ummm Mom? This may be over my head...  ). I guess she got these from her 5th grade teacher who just passed, and would like to see them growing and thriving. They have beautiful plants around their home, but just don't have as much patience as I do when it comes to plants  So I am reading everything I can here, as there is so much to read! I guess I just want to make something beautiful yet simple, and based on what I've learned, I have already picked the spot that gets plenty of sun. In this plot, should I dig a deep hole, fill it up with a sand/pea gravel mix? The plot I have chosen is about 5x5 plot, but I can make it bigger if necessary, I just have no clue about Sempervivums. Any all suggestions will be very well received, thanks so much in advance!  "I am a drug. People take me." ---Salvador Dali Take a look at my blog here on ATP, "Balcony Bliss" |
Name: Bev Salem OR (Zone 8a)       webesemps Jun 8, 2013 9:03 PM CST |
| The soil you picked for the delosperma could also have the benefit of sand /pea gravel mix as the hens and chicks have similar soil needs as delosperma. Before planting the hens and chicks in sunny spot keep in mind where they were before so that you don't put plants that were might have been in a milder exposure to a more extreme exposure. Just suggesting to be cautious as some of us here have fried our succulents because we did not acclimate them before putting out in hot dry sun. If I remember right, cooperi is a large delo with wide growing pattern that may overrun the semsps in due time depending on how big the semps will get. One approach is to put the semps on a slight mound so that they can be above the delosperma and not get overrun by it. |
Name: Greg Colucci Seattle WA (Zone 8b)            gg5 Jun 9, 2013 12:01 AM CST |
| Bev that's a good idea! Pat if you know how large each individual semp gets that will give you an idea of how much space they need. They're very easy plants in this way. If you didn't give them enough room, they just cluster up!! Enjoy the project, it sounds fun! Remember that even though these are succulents, in the hot summer they do like some water, they have short roots typically so they don't need "deep heavy waterings" Cheers |
Name: Patty Washington State (Zone 8b)    Patty Jun 9, 2013 12:27 AM CST |
| A lot of areas have places that sell dirt processed from local yard debris (here, its a nursery) and I buy the 50-50 mix for semps (and iris, any other plant that likes well drained soil) it's half premium planting mix and half loam. Most areas have something similar, and I like it because it's cheaper (I have had yards of it delivered $$ but you can also have tubs filled) and it's free of pearlite, which I dislike. We are on heavy clay so I have made raised beds of about 6" of 50-50 mix that I plant things in or on. Good luck, and welcome! Patty 🌺 |
Name: Lynn Dallas, OR (Zone 8b)           |
 Pat. Nice to meet you. And I love the vision of delosperma and sempervivum growing around that lovely mailbox pillar.  Delosperma, even the cooperi is easy to control since it has such shallow roots. Just pull/dig it from where you don't want it to go. These pieces will start easily any where else you may want it to grow. I agree with with the other suggestions here, give it good draining soil and an area that does not sit in water at times of the year. That would be lethal to both the semps and delosperma. Would love to see photos of your semps. What a great memory story behind them. |
Name: Pat Indianapolis, Indiana (Zone 6a) Pat72 Jun 9, 2013 4:35 PM CST |
| Ok, project completed! With all information I found here, your answers and websites and videos suggested by my Mom, here is what I did: I pushed back all the mulch, tore out all weeds and miscellaneous plants and dug a hole about a ½ to ¾ inches deep. I then poured half of this   to fill the bottom of the hole I dug. I then covered it with generic pea gravel, a very light coating, but enough to cover the soil. I then repeated this step, and it looked like this:  I then poured an entire small bag of the soil over this next layer of pea gravel, and was ready to cover it over yet again with a coating of more pea gravel. But I ran out, so I had to go back to the store, lol. This pea gravel for my top layer I bought was not generic, and was instead a “designer” type of pea gravel:  Then, to give it a distinguishing top-cover look, I covered the plot with this, and here is also the final product:    All I know about these plants, I have learned from all of you who have posted here on ATP, and about a dozen sites that feature hens and chicks. Did I do ok? Should I change anything? Did I over do it? I just wanted to make sure there was good drainage for the 11 plants I ended up planting. Please tell me how it is, where I messed up or could have done better, it is the only way I will learn in the future. Thanks a billion all!! "I am a drug. People take me." ---Salvador Dali Take a look at my blog here on ATP, "Balcony Bliss" |
Name: Pat Indianapolis, Indiana (Zone 6a) Pat72 Jun 9, 2013 4:50 PM CST |
valleylynn said:Hi valleylynn, nice to meet you too The delosperma really caught my eye while I was looking for something to plant around the mailboxes, and it seems to be a great fit. Plenty of sun there for it, simple enough where my parents won't have to do a tremendous amount of work to maintain it, and it is pretty  "I am a drug. People take me." ---Salvador Dali Take a look at my blog here on ATP, "Balcony Bliss" |
Name: Lynn Dallas, OR (Zone 8b) |
 Great job Pat. Just one thing, you must be downsizing your photos before downloading them to ATP. If you click on the photos to see them up close, they stay very small.We don't have to re-size our photo here, the system will do it automatically for you. Then when we click on your photos we will be able to see them in great detail. I would love to see your photos in full size. Now all you have to do is watch your sempervivum, to make sure they aren't getting to much sun/heat. If they show signs of suffering from to much sun it is an easy thing to move them to the shadier side of the pillar. The delosperma can take the heat, so don't worry about it. |
Name: Pat Indianapolis, Indiana (Zone 6a) Pat72 Jun 9, 2013 5:35 PM CST |
| Yay I did good!! But hmm, that's weird. With my pics, I took them with my phone. Then sent them to my email, then saved them to 'pictures', then uploaded to ATP. On my screen, without clicking on them looks big, but yah, they get smaller if I do click on them lol. I'm learning all kinds of things, I blame the 15 and growing grey hairs on my head lol. The sempervivum gets at max 6-8 hours of sun where they are, but is easily increased if I cut back more branches of the tree that is over them. It is also during the heat of the day, i.e. afternoon sun. Is this ok, or should I do a bit more work? Also, I was curious if it was ok to go ahead and cover with mulch. My fear is that it will retain moisture, and not encourage draining? Yay!! "I am a drug. People take me." ---Salvador Dali Take a look at my blog here on ATP, "Balcony Bliss" |
Name: Lynn Dallas, OR (Zone 8b) |
| No mulch, other than the grit/pea gravel. No organic matter, it will hold moisture up around the bottom of the leaves and crown of the plant, this could cause rot. I don't think you would need more sun, just watch them for getting to much sun in the hottest part of the day. Hope you can figure out why the photos are minimizing when we click on them. Seems to me there is a thread on the Site form for problems with photos taken with phones. I couldn't find it. Pat can you go to this link and post a new thread asking about what to do with the phone photos, so they won't be small? http://garden.org/forums/view/... |
Name: Pat Indianapolis, Indiana (Zone 6a) Pat72 Jun 9, 2013 7:56 PM CST |
K, and yep, will do  "I am a drug. People take me." ---Salvador Dali Take a look at my blog here on ATP, "Balcony Bliss" |
Name: Greg Colucci Seattle WA (Zone 8b) gg5 Jun 9, 2013 9:36 PM CST |
Pat it looks good! You really have a great bed there now! Hmmm maybe a couple more semps and another delosperma are in order!   If you're not having rainfall, be sure to water a little bit! Also remember what Lynn said about taking cuttings from the delosperma - all you have to do is stick them in the ground, they root super easy! Enjoy!  |
Name: Lynn Dallas, OR (Zone 8b) |
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Name: Pat Indianapolis, Indiana (Zone 6a) Pat72 Jun 10, 2013 6:50 AM CST |
Is this pic any better? "I am a drug. People take me." ---Salvador Dali Take a look at my blog here on ATP, "Balcony Bliss" |
Name: Lynn Dallas, OR (Zone 8b) |
| A little, but still on the small side, bigger than it was though. |
Name: Pat Indianapolis, Indiana (Zone 6a) Pat72 Jun 10, 2013 7:36 AM CST |
Ok, this one?  "I am a drug. People take me." ---Salvador Dali Take a look at my blog here on ATP, "Balcony Bliss" |
Name: Lynn Dallas, OR (Zone 8b) |
| Wahoo, it got big. Now, do you have a setting on your phone to select high quality of your photos? |
Name: Kate S Wales UK (Zone 9a)       Eviesmummy Jun 10, 2013 7:52 AM CST |
| Looks great Pat Kate UK |
Name: Pat Indianapolis, Indiana (Zone 6a) Pat72 Jun 10, 2013 8:41 AM CST |
valleylynn said:Wahoo, it got big.I'll check to see, but I think Fred Flintstones' youngest son built my phone, it's an old one, lol. I'm on it "I am a drug. People take me." ---Salvador Dali Take a look at my blog here on ATP, "Balcony Bliss" |
Name: Pat Indianapolis, Indiana (Zone 6a) Pat72 Jun 10, 2013 8:42 AM CST |
Eviesmummy said:Looks great PatYay! Thanks Kate "I am a drug. People take me." ---Salvador Dali Take a look at my blog here on ATP, "Balcony Bliss" |
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