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Limestone Houseleek

Sempervivum calcareum

Limestone Houseleek
Photo: Kurt Stueber, CC BY-SA 2.5

Limestone houseleek is an evergreen succulent rosette from the southern Alps, grown as a rock garden plant. The key to growing it is full sun and very sharp drainage.

Family
Crassulaceae (Stonecrop family)
Grows as
Succulent, Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly and let the soil dry out fully between waterings.
Soil
Gritty, fast-draining mix such as cactus compost with added grit or sand.
Temperature
Hardy to around -25 °C; tolerates heat well.
How easy
Easy
Native range
SW. Alps
Climate
temperate

About

Sempervivium calcareum, the houseleek, is a species of flowering plant in the stonecrop family Crassulaceae, native to the southern Alps in Europe. An evergreen succulent perennial, it has a rosette with thick leaves that store water. The leaves are usually green with reddish-purple tips. This plant reproduces with asexual budding and monocarpic sexual reproduction.

Sempervivum calcareum is cultivated as an ornamental garden plant. It is suitable for a well-drained spot in full sun, such as a rockery. The cultivars 'Extra', 'Guillaumes' and 'Sir William Lawrence' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Other Sempervivum plants

Hen and chickens · Houseleek · Cobweb House Leek · Teneriffe Houseleek · Jovibarba globifera · Sempervivum pittonii · Common houseleek · Houseleek

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sempervivum calcareum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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