Hens and chicks
Sempervivum tectorum · Crassulaceae Popular
Tight, fleshy rosettes, green or flushed with burgundy, surrounded by a crowd of smaller offsets. A rosette flowers once, on a thick stalk, and dies, leaving its 'chicks' to carry on.
- Size
- 4 in tall, 10 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Grown for its leaves; flowers late June to late July
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Carpet
A bed built around hens and chicks
The planner designed this bed around hens and chicks when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why hens and chicks stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Hens and chicks × 27, green leaves
- 2 Sea thrift × 11, white
- 3 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 8, tan
- 4 False sunflower 'Summer Nights' × 3, yellow
- 5 Eastern prickly pear × 1, yellow
- 6 Butterfly weed × 3, orange
- 7 Star of Persia × 2, purple
- 8 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 4, purple
Why this plant
- The only plant grown for its leaves. Leaf lasts all season, where a flower lasts a few weeks.
- A classic partner for eastern prickly pear. Both are on this plan. A pairing gardeners have proved outranks a general rule.
Why here
- Under the taller plants. It runs back between them as living mulch: there its job is to cover the soil, not to be looked at.
- 27 plants in 7 groups (5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3 and 3). Seen again further along, the same plant ties the bed together.
- Beside eastern prickly pear. A recognised partner: the planner puts such plants together where it can.
Why now
- Here for its leaves, all year. They cover the 18 weeks between early March and late November when nothing on the plan is in flower.
- One of three evergreens. They are what the bed has to show from November to March.
Planned as an English border: 8 of the 9 groups (89%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Little bluestem 'The Blues' and false sunflower 'Summer Nights' anchor the back corners of the bed: the tallest plants on the plan stand there. Hens and chicks is the plant there is most of: 27 of the 59.
The planner's own design check: 14 Excellent, 3 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where hens and chicks goes in a border
At 4 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is ground-hugging (up to 6 in).
Its job: carpet. A groundcover planted in threes and fives to cover the soil: along the front, and just behind it.
A plant of pattern: the geometric rosettes are best seen close up, in a trough, a wall or the front edge of a gravel bed. It needs almost no soil or water.
- Walls, troughs and rock crevices
- Edging dry beds
- Gardens for children
What to plant with hens and chicks
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Sedum 'Dragon's Blood': adds the flowers, late June to early August; happy in the same dry soil.
- Creeping thyme: adds the flowers, early June to mid July; happy in the same dry soil.
- Blue fescue: tall enough (10 in) to stand behind it; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about hens and chicks
Does hens and chicks need sun or shade?
Hens and chicks grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled. Once settled in, it stands drought.
What zones does hens and chicks grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
How far apart should hens and chicks be planted?
6 in (15 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 10 in (25 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 4 in (10 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many hens and chicks plants do I need?
At 6 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 48 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 21 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 153 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as threes and fives, along the front and just behind it.
In the bed above, the planner used 27 in seven groups.
Is hens and chicks poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Is there a native plant like hens and chicks?
Hens and chicks comes from Southern Europe. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Bird's-foot violet: the same size; a drift, not a carpet, flowers late April to late May.
- Pussytoes: the same job in a bed; 6 in wider, fine leaves, not medium.
- Beach wormwood 'Silver Brocade': the same job in a bed; 4 in taller, 12 in wider.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
Do deer eat hens and chicks?
They may. NC State does not list it as resistant to deer or rabbits. Where they visit, protect it, or plant it among ones they avoid.
What does hens and chicks look like in winter?
Hens and chicks keeps its green and burgundy leaves all winter, so it is one of the plants that hold a bed together from November to March, when the perennials have gone.
More Sempervivum
- Cobweb houseleek Sempervivum arachnoideum
In these guides
- Salt-tolerant plants for roadsides and coasts
- Drought-tolerant perennials for full sun
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Low plants for the front of a border
- Groundcover plants
- Evergreen perennials, ferns and grasses
- Plants with purple and burgundy leaves
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 4 in (10 cm) tall, 10 in (25 cm) wide
- Plant
- 6 in (15 cm) apart
- Height class
- Ground-hugging (up to 6 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Late June to late July; dense clusters; pink
- Leaves
- Medium texture, evergreen; green, burgundy
- Shape
- Mounding, spreading
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Crassulaceae
- Comes from
- Southern Europe
- Stands up to
- Drought, salt
Checked against NC State Extension. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.