Ruby Heart makes rosettes of sharply pointed, silvery blue to blue-green leaves with a rosy red blush at the base, a color that deepens in cold weather. In midsummer, short leafy stalks carry pinkish-purple flowers above the rosettes.
It is a hardy, low-care succulent for stone walls, paths, rock gardens and containers. Chicks form around the main hen and can be separated and replanted any time.
What it looks like
Symmetrical rosettes 2 to 4 inches across of thick, sharply pointed, fleshy leaves in silvery blue to blue-green, each flushed rosy red at the base so the center glows red; the red intensifies in cold weather. Smaller offset rosettes cluster around the main one. In midsummer some rosettes send up short, leafy stalks topped with clusters of pinkish-purple star-shaped flowers. The plant is a low cluster 3 to 4 inches tall and 6 to 8 inches wide. A group looks like silvery blue stars with ruby centers.
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: Pinkish purple
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Foliage: Silvery blue to blue-green flushed rosy red at the base
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Growth habit: Low rosettes spreading by offsets
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Mature size: 3–4 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.
Lavender companion · grow guide
Community Grower Report
