Sempervivum Emerald Explosion® - Houseleek

Sempervivum ‘Emerald Explosion’ is an attractive variety from the Chick Charms® Giants range, a collection of large-growing Houseleeks. This hardy, evergreen perennial forms rosettes that can exceed 20 cm in diameter. The elegant foliage is deep red with an emerald green border. The very elongated leaves seem to explode from the centre outwards, like a firework, hence its name. Very easy to grow and requiring no maintenance, this houseleek can be planted in a rock garden or on a bank, or in a pot to decorate a balcony. A sun-loving, very drought-tolerant plant.

Sempervivum (or Houseleek) belongs to the Crassulaceae family, which includes many other ornamental genera, often succulent plants well adapted to dry conditions, such as Sedum (or Stonecrop), used in green roofing, or the superb but not very hardy Aeonium. While Houseleeks are equally drought-tolerant, they have the great advantage of being very hardy. Rich in about forty species, the Sempervivum genus is widespread from Europe to Asia Minor. They are small perennials with succulent leaves, highly prized by breeders and collectors, and come in around 4,000 varieties, both natural and horticultural. The Chick Charms® Giants range was launched by Chris Hansen (Garden Solutions) in 2022.
Sempervivum ‘Emerald Explosion’ has oversized leaves that can stretch up to 10 cm long and 2 cm wide. Very slightly spatulate at their tip, the leaves are almost the same width from one end to the other, giving a truly geometric style to the plant. Their tips taper to a point with a very small tip slightly curved downwards. Emerging from the heart of the rosette, erect and only a few centimetres tall, the succulent leaves gradually spread horizontally as they gain in length, forming a superb, well-spread rosette 20 cm in diameter, or even more, with a height of about ten centimetres. The deep red of the leaf surface is marked with an emerald green border, proportionally larger in the young leaves at the centre, then very fine in the adult leaves, giving the plant a small green pit at the centre, creating a lovely contrast with the dominant red.
In summer, after several years of cultivation, the rosette produces a flowering stem about 10 cm tall, covered with small scale-like leaves, and bearing a cluster of small star-shaped, pale pink flowers. This relatively insignificant, though pretty, flowering signals the end of the rosette's life, which then dries up. Fortunately, numerous daughter rosettes develop all around the main rosette, ensuring the plant's longevity.

The XXL Chick Charms® Giants series is well-suited to container cultivation, as these generously sized houseleeks have enough volume to fill the space. Obviously, Sempervivum ‘Emerald Explosion’ will also be perfectly at home in a rock garden. In non-chalky soil, you can accompany it with a few plants of Lewisia, other rosette-forming plants with bright and attractive spring flowers. If your soil is chalky, opt for Cheddar Pink 'Kahori', a miniature perennial that is extremely floriferous from June to October, forming pink carpets over fine green foliage.