Rui Marques from Portugal

Hi

I'm Rui and i'm from Portugal.

Sempervivum and Jovibarba are my new passion. I'm starting to discover the wonders on growing these, but in Portugal is very, very difficult to find some specimens in our local garden centers/nurseries, if not impossible.

As soon as i get some i'll post them here.

Regards,

Rui

Welcome Rui!



The easiest way is to get them by mailorder, for instance from the specialized growers from Germany. You can find addresses elsewere on this forum. In general they are not expensive and they survive even very rough travelling (they might look shaken up on arrival or even rather flat or damaged, I have seen all kinds by now). But I think that it is better to wait with mailorder untill spring: plants that are damaged in the mail will now not have enough time to recover before winter and might rot.

There are some very interesting Iberian houseleek species, but they are mountain plants. Maybe a lowland south-Portuguese climate is a problem, but I think that the north or any a bit higher altitude should be OK. I guess this is something you just have to try. In the south S. atlanticum should theoretically be excellent ...

I saw some houweleeks at the Croatian coast (lowland, mediterranean) last week, and they looked kind of funny, with too many leaves like they kept on growing forever in stead of flowering. Maybe a reaction of not experiencing a serious winter? Surviving well, but not very colourfull. However, I think that I saw only one variety, so maybe it is just this variety that looks funny. I will be able to tell in one year from now how it does in a more severe central european climate (yes, I got a small cutting).

Hi, Rui - we have been waiting for you to join us! You are the first member from Portugal. Do you study S. tectorum native to Portugal?

Hi Renata,

As i said before, i'm starting to study and understand semp and Jovi. If there is a S. tectorum native to Portugal i really don't know.

Perhaps it will be my first choice.

Hello everyone.

Here are my semps. Is it possible a quick id?

Hi Rui!

Welcome!

Plants are very hard to ID just from the picture (if it's not habitat photo)
because as you probably already know, there are many thousands of different plants. You can enjoy your plants as lost label ones, but when you get plants with label, be sure not too loose it or mix it

Happy growing

Hello Marko,

The major problem here in Portugal is that sempervivum are in most cases traded as "sempervivum" or "sempervivum mix" despite the label refers to a dealer in northern europe country.

The first is a tectorum, comparing with other pics. What most intrigues me is the second.

I have several plants here which, to me, look like S. tectorum. Since I got them without a name, I will never be completely sure if they really are S. tectorum. In my list they are "no-name" with a description "looks like tectorum".

The only way to know what you have is to buy plants which have a name and then, always, double check with photographs. A named plant which looks "correct" is likely correct. Sometimes even plants with a name get mixed up though. A plant without a name stays a "nameless looks like something", forever.

Most large-scale growers don't bother with names and just grow "assorted" or "mix" sempervivum. Such plants can be really nice and are also very good for trying different growing places and so on, but my advise is not even to try to find names for them.

I have just scratched numbers in all my semp pots and added these pot-numbers to my list of plants. Even when a label gets lost, I can now trace what is in which pot. Finally I can stop worrying when my small son pulls out a label or two I just have to be very carefull to change the numbers in my list when I replant something.

Rui Marques wrote:Hello Marko,
The first is a tectorum, comparing with other pics.

I would personally re-phrase this as:

The first one could be a S. tectorum, but it can also be something else, or a hybrid.

Hi Rui,

it is very difficult to identify Your plants. It is almost the begin of the winter, the rosettes are closed a expect the winter. I think, that in March can we identify the Your plants better.

Best wishes,
jezour