Patty said:Greg, I'm in the same boat My semps, for the most part, are looking horrible! Even clumps I've had for years are looking mushy and dying. The only ones looking good are the few I have in pots on the porch. It's so depressing I am pretty much refusing to even look at them anymore. I have the 2 Round Midnight you gave me, planted together...one is totally dead! Go figure In spring maybe we can all trade survivors.

Sorry to have been away -- and I probably will be again: Getting ready for Christmas and then 12 days of celebrating! Lots of extra chapel time, end of year bookkeeping, etc. etc... So don't worry if you don't see me here for awhile...

And yes, with our crazy winter weather it looks as if I've lost some semps, too. I think my beds are OK; and I haven't lost all of my seedlings, but they are taking a beating. I'm hoping to be better prepared next year!

Be well everyone, and if I'm not here until later, Have a very Merry Christmas! Christ is Born! Glorify Him! MR

Happy holidays MR! Be well

Noticed the blackbird pie aways back there (a few pages earlier)... Reading a book that is set in England during the 13 hundreds, when the plague has just gone through again. And how hungry they were -- one chicken makes a good pot pie... I cleaned the pigeons my kid brother used to bring in and I remember how much work that was: as much work as a whole chicken for a mouth full of food... Can you imagine being hungry enough to pick and clean 24 blackbirds to make a pie? There are times I wish I lived in another century, but reading things like that makes me glad I'm here! We just think about it when they pull up our favorite plants; they really did it!

And of course there is the authentic recipe for pre-baking a big pie and then when it's cooled lifting the top crust and dumping a bunch of live birds in -- so it would be a bit like having a chorus girl jump out of a cake... Beats skinning a swan or a peacock and putting the skin back on the roasted birds. They really did that, too! Is there a section in ATP for cooking as a side activity of gardening?

The edibles forum has recipes as well as some in the "sandbox"

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Paddy,

Yeah same weird bloom here. The heathers and Iris unguicularis are both blooming. The latter looks very beat up from the storms. I am NOT complaining about the temperatures though. It's 57F here right now, which is quite comfortable and much better than the Arctic cold others are experiencing. NO THANKS!

HAVE A COOL YULE ALL!

Kevin

Yes, fairly warmish here, and the rain let up (hurray!) so I tackled one of my small beds. Removed all the dead leaves on the undersides and added more rock. It didn't look so bad after this and I'm more hopefully about recovery. The really marginal ones went to the ICU (aka patio pots) for some TLC. So much for tuff luv

Before the day is out .
I forgot to mention today is the shortest day of the year , I wonder did they cultivate sempervivums then ?
Tomb of Newgrange: http://youtu.be/P6XAFJ_FdOA

Hello everyone! It's been a while! I thought of you guys this morning when I sent a friend of a friend away with far more semps than she was bargaining on, if the look on her face was anything to go by lol.
She messaged me on fb to say she was looking for a Christmas present for her husband. They have a present game they play where by they have to spend exactly £10 on a gift, it has to be something they've not asked for, but will like.
When they were away on holiday in Cornwall this year there was semps growing in the wall of their holiday cottage. Her husband was so intrigued by them he made her take a picture, hoping to find out more about them when they got home. He never managed to find out what they were called and it was forgotten. Until she saw pics on my fb wall and thought it would be the perfect Christmas gift! She asked where she could find some, so I told her she was welcome to some of mine. She asked for one plant........
As I can see from the wall, lots of us have soggy semps at the moment, and I didn't have a ''nice' enough looking clump to dig up for her, so I took a selection of different ones. They didn't look many in the bucket until I brought them inside to clean the mushy leaves off, but there were were far more than I thought i'd picked oppps! A bit like a child at the pick n mix sweet counter, I'd gone a bit over board! They'll look fab in her home cast concrete pot come spring when they have lots of pretty colours, but I wouldn't want too be the one to have to plant them all in this weather I hope I may have just created a new Semp fan, someone to share plants with. Me? An enabler? Never........

Wishing everyone a very happy holiday season, I hope everyone has a peaceful break. xxx

Kate, what a naughty elf you are. Great to see you back on ATP. We miss your stories and pictures.
I hope your friend will become a Semp buddy for you.
Sorry you are getting so much rain. Colorado is getting a little bit of snow here in the metro area, but tons of snow up in the mountains where they love it. It makes for pretty pictures. Am hoping to get a few shots today.

Merry Christmas to you in Jolly ole England as well.

Just last night I was wondering where some of our Semp pals were. Kate glad you had a bit a time to check in. Your semps must be doing wonderful and your friend is a lucky one to be the receiver of your gift. Rainy and wet here in Washington as well. However not that cold so had some time to work outside, sure felt good. Need to really wrap gifts but still time yet.

CDsSister said:Kate, what a naughty elf you are. I hope your friend will become a Semp buddy for you.

a new semp buddy for Kate! Have a good Holiday Kate!

It's like a scene from world war one in my prize semp container . Looks like there was heavy shelling overnight and my poor little semps didn't stand a chance .
I'm of to the hardware shop for a roll of netting wire . Bring it on blackbird.

Oh no Paddy! Sorry to see the destruction I hope the netting helps.
I had a similar mess in my newly made rockery around September time. My cat has never been very interested in my semps, other than nudging the pots out of the way to claim the sunniest spot in the yard, but once they were out of pots and planted in the rockery they suddenly became footballs, the Jovi's were worst hit, although I'm still not 100% sure that some of the new semps which didn't have many roots are with the correct labels, I'll need to do some detective work in the Spring when they start colouring up.

Kate , many of my semps have lost their labels too . Not that I have too many or anything . Actually I've only about fifteen so far as I'm only new to the sempervivum world .

Greg , The Oregon Grape or Mahonia is widely available from garden centres but as far as I know it s not found in the wild .

Happy Christmas everyone , the shops are crazy here today , must be the end of the world or something.

Hope the netting works Paddy. Kate, hope you have time to post pictures of your semps and new yard after the first of the year.

Paddy,

I had the same problem with chipmunks and birds and the bird netting right over the plants seems to have stopped virtually all of the nonsense. The chipmunks still occasionally find an edge that is exposed and make a mess planting millet and sunflower seed from the neighbor's bird feeder.

It is odd too as one bed will be decimated and another remains untouched!

Kevin

Kevin, sounds like you do have some critters that are discriminatory...Better looking/ sizeable/interesting colored semps in the bed that they do touch?...

Paddy, the newly made "trenches" do remind one of "world war one" in your container. Hurry with the netting!

Spring, I'm not sure if I posted these a while back, but this is my new rockery, taken last Sep/Oct time when I first finished it. There are a couple of new ones gone in since these pics. It's going to take a year or two to fill in bit.
And also the yard, but since we've had a lot of rain I've noticed a real drainage problem. So because of that I'm going to dig the whole thing up in the spring and start with a brown patch, level it all off and put in a new (possibly curved?) path, same paving for the greenhouse, a large bed for my arum and day lilies, roses etc etc It's going to be a huge project but I can't wait to start!

I'm working on some very rough designs at the moment, I'd love some input on them once I've drawn them up to scale.







I did start with some small beds before I realised how much of a problem the drainage was

But back to the drawing board again lol

Kate, those are gorgeous, fabulous and spectacular!!!! Love the first 3 pictures, are these having drainage issues? If you posted these pictures I missed them. This is so great! You have been very busy in your yard.

Kate , your rockery arrangement is fantastic.
Are those stones sandstone ? Its all limestone and granite in my area.
I'm really impressed with your two tin baths, I've been searching for one myself for ages . I still remember being washed in a big tin bath on Saturday nights ,girls first and then the boys .
Actually all your containers are beautiful, keep up the good work.