Homegrown It’s a growing trend: Tough little house leeks give a great big blast of colour indoors
Recently it has become fashionable to fill shallow bowls with house leeks, and it’s not hard to see why. With their attractive colours and spreading habit, they make the best sort of lowmaintenance houseplant. These little sempervivums are succulents, which means their fleshy leaves hold enough water to keep them alive for long periods. Despite finding favour indoors, they are extremely tough and will be just as happy in the garden, just so long as they are protected from winter wet. Cold temperatures don’t affect them, but add moisture around the roots and those thick leaves can start to rot. Indoors it is best to grow them in very gritty soil and to water them sparingly. How much they need will depend on the temperature of the room and it is often a case of learning by observation until you get the balance just right.
Once the rosettes start to crowd the pot you can lift a few out and start them off in new containers or, if you prefer, you can plant them outdoors in gravel, but make sure that you harden them off first. Once established, sempervivum will produce slender stems of purplish flowers, but its the foliage itself, which can be green, grey or pink, that makes these small plants attractive. Because they are so self-sufficient, there’s no need to feed them, but re-potting them annually into compost that contains a slow-release fertiliser will give them all the boost they need to keep performing. Start off with just a few and you should soon have enough to share with friends, or to press into crevices in outdoor walls, where their mat-forming habit will cause them to spread out. Aeoniums, which have long, twisting stems, are also part of the house-leek family and they enjoy the same conditions as their smaller relatives. These are a great plant for growing outdoors in summer and then bringing under cover as the days start to get cold. And, as they are native to the Canary Islands, they are happy to spend the winter in a cool room indoors where, with occasional watering and a bright position, they will remain in good condition until it is safe for them to go back out on the patio.