Sempervivum 'Ruby Heart'

Sempervivum 'Ruby Heart': Blue Rosettes With a Ruby Core

'Ruby Heart' plays it cool on the outside with pointed blue-green leaves. Look in the middle, though, and it's all deep red. A SOFTIE IN SPIKY ARMOUR.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Sempervivum 'Ruby Heart'
• Common Name: Hens and Chicks
• Height: 8–10 cm (3–4 in), taller when in flower
• Spread: 15–20 cm (6–8 in), widening as offsets form
• Flowers: Pink, starry flowers on a stalk from mature rosettes
• Bloom Time: Mid to late summer (July to August)
• Foliage: Evergreen rosettes of pointed blue-green leaves flushed deep red toward the centre

Where to Plant: It's a natural for troughs, rock gardens, crevices, gravel beds and shallow containers. The blue-and-red colouring looks best where you can see down into the rosettes, such as a raised bed edge or a tabletop bowl.

Companion Plants: Plant 'Ruby Heart' in a sunny gravel bed or wall with white thrift, violet salvia and yellow gaillardia. Armeria Dreameria® 'Dream Clouds' adds white globes at 25 to 30 cm from May to September. Salvia 'Blue Queen' brings violet-blue spikes at 45 to 60 cm from June to August. Gaillardia 'Mesa Yellow' adds bright yellow daisies at 36 to 41 cm from July to September. Muhlenbergia capillaris adds a fine clump that turns into a pink haze in fall.

Plant Care: Give it full sun and gritty, very well-drained soil. Avoid clay that stays wet and spots where snowmelt pools. In containers, use cactus mix and a pot with drainage. Water to establish, then only in long droughts. Skip the fertilizer. The more sun it gets, the stronger the red heart. Any rosette that flowers will die afterward. Remove it with its stalk and let the chicks fill in. Move or share chicks any time in the growing season.

History: 'Ruby Heart' is a garden hybrid whose breeder we couldn't confirm, and its genus name, Sempervivum, is Latin for "always living." The wild species come from the mountains of Europe and western Asia, and in Europe they were traditionally grown on rooftops.

Final Thoughts: Give it sun and a gritty spot and it'll love you back with a whole family of chicks. Deer don't get a say. FALL FOR IT.