I haven't bought any succulents for almost three months, but with the recent Aeonium 'Floresens' debacle I felt the need to shop. The succulents at the big box stores don't look great at this time of year, but I rescued this dried-out little webbed Sempervivum from Home Depot yesterday. It is an arachnoideum 'Cebanese.' This phone image doesn't show it but there are three offsets. The plant and offsets were smooshed into a 2.5-inch pot. They should have room to spread out in this 6-inch terra cotta.
I had the 'Cebanese' on my Mountain Crest Gardens wishlist for the longest time, but either it was out of stock or I didn't pull the trigger when it was available. The images on their web site show masses of offsets, so I hope this little rescue measures up.
I'm setting a target date of October 9 for everything to be done producing in the southwest bed at the greenhouse. I've been chopping new blossoms off the big tomato plant so it will ripen the fruit it already has and not set any more. There is a small pepper plant that is producing mild Jalapenos (Tams), and if it is still viable in a month I will pot it up. I have already potted up the oregano and thyme. I put those in the southwest bed a month ago when I thought the herbs were going there next year, but have since decided to flip southwest and southeast. Most of the onions have been harvested but two have decided to send up new sprouts. They have a month, then they are gone. That is when I will dig up that bed and replace half of the soil with pumice and coco coir.
I have selected 10 Sempervivums to overwinter in the southwest bed, Unknowns #1, #3*, #6* and #7*; 'Gold Nugget,' 'Gold Rush,' 'Lotus Blossom,' whatever remains of 'Powdered Pastry,' the calcareum, and globiferum 'Budai Mountains'*. Those marked with (*) survived in the unheated greenhouse last winter in small clay pots, so should be able to handle a large bed. I didn't pick winter survivor #5 because it is a heuffelii and has a small footprint. The bed is about 12 square feet and I want the ones I picked to spread out and cover the bed. 'Cosmic Candy' is in a large ceramic pot, while 'Appletini' and 'Berry Blues' are in a large grow bag along with a Delosperma and some Sedum. The current plan is to leave them in there for the winter. That leaves two heuffelii (#5 and 'Strawberry Kiwi') and the new 'Cebanese' without an assigned spot in the greenhouse for the winter. I'll probably let them hang in the heated garage.
The southeast bed, which currently is under a vegetative mass of alyssum, sunflowers, coleus and bachelor buttons, next year will be used for hardy succulents, hard herbs, and seasonal herbs -- Demosperma, sedums, oreganos, thymes, rosemary, basil, maybe some onions and cilantro. I'll stick my allium bulbs in there over the winter and get a few weeks of flowers in the spring as everything else is getting established. I am not going to do a drastic soil transformation like I will in the other bed, but maybe I'll mix in some pumice and coir to loosen things up.
I've been trying to find something that will grow and survive the deer in the outside window boxes. Botanical Interests had free shipping on seeds, so I ordered Kirigami Ornamental Oregano and Creeping Thyme for about $11. The oregano has an unusual look to it and is not edible. The thyme is edible (sort of), but the attraction is the dense mats of foliage topped with lavender blooms. This year I tried zinnias, nasturtiums, alyssum and 'Velveteen Aromatic' in the boxes, all of which are advertised as "deer resistant." The deer ate the first three, and the 'Velveteen' survived but didn't get real bushy in the relatively small boxes. I don't believe hardy succulents would survive in the outside boxes due to the small size, and of course 'Velveteen' is not the least bit hardy. First frost and it is a pile of mush.