Sempervivum means ‘always alive’, a reference to the fact that houseleeks tolerate extreme temperatures and drought. The hardiness of sempervivums makes them excellent, easy-to-grow garden plants.Sempervivums are most valued for their distinctive rosettes of succulent, spirally patterned foliage, although they also bear attractive flowers from spring to summer. Each rosette is a separate plant, and is monocarpic – it flowers once and then dies, but is soon replaced by other new rosettes, called offsets. These offsets can be separated and planted up, and will then grow into new clumps.Sempervivum plants prefer well-draining compost with 25 to 50% sand or other grit. They may grow in trays, in ground, on wood, or in rock piles.Sold in a 11cm pot.