Plant of the Week
Hens-and-Chickens
Latin: Sempervivum tectorum
Since childhood rocks have fascinated me. From informal polls taken at
various talks, I’m not alone in this infatuation because about half the people
readily admit to purloining roadside rocks as they travel about our great
nation.
Rock gardening is a gardening style where a natural affinity for rocks and
plants intersect. Hens-and-Chickens (Sempervivum tectorum) is but one of
the thousands of plants that can be grown in the rock garden.
Hens-and-chicks, a name soon to become obsolete as city dwellers loose the
visual inference it implies, is a member of the Crassulaceae family - the same
group to which sedum, jade plant and many desert succulents belong. Succulent,
sometimes purple-tinged leaves are produced in a rosette from 2 to 5 inches
across, but only a couple inches high.
In late spring, the main rosette produces short runners from its base, each
terminating in a miniature rosette. By this slow, steady spread the plant can
form a small colony if conditions are to its liking. While the plant is capable
of flowering, it seldom does so in our climate.
I have a theory that gardening attracts two kinds of people into its embrace.
One group is attracted from a purely artistic standpoint. These gardeners see
plants as the medium they use to create the artistry their soul requires. To
them, the form, texture and color of the design are critical with the choice of
plants almost insignificant in the process.
The second group of gardeners is those with a biological leaning, the
left-brain people. They are as apt to be as fascinated by the bugs in the garden
as the plants, and not coincidentally, they are the ones who come home with a
trunk full of rocks after every vacation. For this group, plants make the
garden. Design considerations are secondary.
Rock gardening seems to attract more of the left-brain thinkers, but a good
rock garden must have artistry to be effective. For want of a better term, I
refer to rock gardens as a "habitat garden," where the gardener grows plants
suited to specific environmental niches while blending the rocks into their
overall landscape scene.
Though originally started during the middle of the 19th century in Europe to
grow plants from alpine areas, rock gardening has evolved into a garden form
where a wide number of native and introduced plants can be grown.
The North American Rock Garden Society is the 60-year-old gardening society
devoted to the interests of this group. The society is international in scope,
but it also has over 20 regional chapters that meet to discuss the hobby. With
such an abundant supply of natural resources - namely rocks and gardeners - it
seems our area is ready for a rock gardening club.
Several of the NARGS members in Arkansas are exploring the possibility of
establishing an Ozark Chapter in northwest Arkansas.
By: Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist
- Ornamentals
Extension News -
November 1, 2002
Back to Archives E - H
|
