Killer forms large, perfectly symmetrical rosettes about 5 inches across, with maroon centers shading out to green tips. It is one of the bolder hens and chicks for size and color.
The large hen gradually surrounds itself with chicks that can be lifted and replanted any time. It shines in stone walls, walkway cracks, rock gardens and containers, and it asks for almost nothing beyond sun and drainage.
What it looks like
Large, symmetrical rosettes about 5 inches across of thick, pointed, fleshy leaves; the inner leaves and base of each leaf are deep maroon, fading outward to fresh green tips. Smaller offset rosettes cluster around the main one. Occasionally a rosette sends up a thick stalk with small pink star-shaped flowers. The plant is 4 to 6 inches tall and 6 to 8 inches wide. A cluster looks like maroon-hearted green rosettes set in stone.
Growing it with lavender
Hens and chicks love the same lean, gravelly, sun-baked ground as lavender, so tuck them along the edge of a lavender bed, between stones or in gravel mulch for a low, sculptural contrast to the upright lavender.
Care
Grow in full sun in poor to average soil with sharp drainage, such as gravel, sandy soil, rock crevices or a shallow container; it needs very little water and rots in wet soil. Hardy in zones 3-8; a rosette that flowers will die afterward, so pull it out and let the surrounding chicks fill the gap, and replant extra chicks anywhere.
At a glance
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Botanical name: Sempervivum
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Flower color: Pink star-shaped flowers on occasional stalks
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Foliage: Maroon centers fading to green tips
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Growth habit: Low rosettes spreading by offsets
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Mature size: 4–6 in tall × 6–8 in wide
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USDA hardiness zones: 3–8
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Light: full sun
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Deer resistance: Resistant
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Pollinator value: Fair
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.