Sempervivum erythraeum Red Velvet

Sempervivum 'Red Velvet' is a hybrid houseleek which is rare in cultivation and stands out for its tightly packed leaves, covered in silky threads at the centre, offering a delicate combination of changing pastel colours. Starting with a soft grey-green in winter, sometimes touched with lavender, its rosettes gradually turn pale green-yellow, pale red-pink, or plum tones in spring and summer. Mature rosettes have beautiful pink flowers with a darker centre. This lovely perennial is easy to grow and transforms even the smallest pile of stones, softening the contours by covering it with rosettes. Houseleeks thrive without care once established. These plants are a boon for enhancing areas regected by all other plants.

Sempervivum 'Velvet Red' is a beautiful descendant of a botanical species called Sempervivum marmoreum subsp. erythraeum. This species is native to Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, and Russia. It is a highly variable species in appearance due to its wide distribution range. All houseleeks grow spontaneously in rocky meadows, on rocks and scree, in open and sunny locations, mainly in mountainous areas. They belong to the Crassulaceae family.

This succulent perennial has thick, long roots that penetrate deep into the crevices of rocks, ensuring a good grip while drawing water from deeper sources. The plant slowly forms beautiful colonies of rosettes of different sizes, reaching 5 to 7 cm (2 to 3in) in diameter when mature and no more than 10 cm (4in) high. Over time, this houseleek can spread loosely or densely through its stoloniferous stems, forming a mat up to 40 cm (16in) on the ground, perfectly adapting to the terrain. Each rosette is composed of numerous spatulate, pointed leaves, bordered by hairs, without petioles, overlapping with each other. The centre of the rosettes is filled with small silvery bristles. Their colour varies depending on their age, the season, and the climate, but almond green dominates, especially in winter. Rosettes flower when aged 2 or 3 years, then disappear, after ensuring their perpetuity by producing a few small rosettes on the periphery. Fluffy flower stalks, 15-20 cm (6-8in) tall, develop from June to August, formed by thick stems that bear 1 to 8 star-shaped flowers with 8-12 pink petals crossed by a dark pink central line. The centre of the flowers is a deep pink.

Sempervivum Velvet Red, like all houseleeks, is an excellent plant for dry or alpine rock gardens. It thrives where few other species survive, colonizing abandoned spaces. If your soil is poor, rather dry, stony, rocky, or even slightly chalky, you can enjoy this hardy perennial (which can withstand temperatures below -15°C (5°F)), which requires no maintenance and promises to bring life to any pile of stones, low wall, or even green roof. Houseleeks are unusual and easy-to-care-for, attractive succulent plants. Their various shades of flowers and foliage inspire the desire to collect and multiply them to create astonishing landscapes in the most challenging places. They are magnificent in their design when planted in low pots and they are irreplaceable in borders, troughs, or rock gardens, alongside wall bellflowers, Paronychia, Sedum, or Lewisia cotyledon. Consider choosing companions with different blooming periods (Antennaria dioica, Thymes) and colourful foliage (Bergenia, Delosperma, Ficoides, Euphorbia myrsinites...) to create a variegated rock garden.