Assorted observations

Sempervivum calcareum ‘Limelight’.  This seems to be a very good doer and, so far, has grown very vigorously without any afflictions.                                                          

The rosette at the bottom of the picture on left shows the plant trying to escape from the confines of a rather overcrowded pot.  Did a root squeeze through one of the drainage holes and develop into a rosette to start a life on its own?The rosette at the bottom of the picture on right shows the plant trying to escape from the confines of a rather overcrowded pot.  Did a root squeeze through one of the drainage holes and develop into a rosette to start a life on its own?

This is the first seedling I ever selected now grown to quite a large size and with one rosette starting to run up into flower.  The brother and seedling sisters were a very varied bunch so, if I save seed from this one, I might get even more complex variations.

A problem with Anaemia

I have a very pale seedling which seemed to have been doing very well, but now is developing pale brown spots on its leaves and, I think, may not be long for this world (unless I can rescue some of the several offsets).

When I showed it to my granddaughter the other day, she said “it looks a bit anaemic” so, if it survives and thrives, I might try to name it Sempervivum ‘Anaemia’.

Sudden rosette death

Occasionally and apparently healthy rosette on one or another of my houseleeks will suddenly turn yellow or orange and die very quickly, over just a few days.  Rosettes nearby are unaffected.  The affliction does not spread from a given point: the whole rosette suddenly capitulates.

Below is an example on Sempervivum ‘Sir William Lawrence’ with one rosette affected

I would be grateful if anyone can tell me what this condition is, though I somehow doubt there is any way of stopping it and it only affects single rosette a few times each year..

Some of my seedlings

Over the last several years I have raised hundreds of seedlings from plants in my collection and am now able to select the betters ones that are not only interesting colours, but have good habits of growth and seem to do well in our rather damp climate.  I am, for the moment, giving them numbers (I am not sure how one goes about officially naming a new hybrid or checking that the name is not already in use elsewhere.

This one is 20140430 SV, SV standing for South View, the name of our house:

The rosette is quite large with an open, bowl shape like a water lily flower.  The next one is 20120616 SV has smaller, but very neat rosettes with a dark centre contrasting with the outside leaves: