Sempervivum heuffelii (syn. Jovibarba heuffelii)

Grower: container or rock garden, alpine plant from Eastern Europe, hardy plant up to -12 degrees Celsius

Light: full sun-to-light shade for compactness and accentuation of the burgundy edges, medium to full sun exposure to keep the compactness of the rosette

Water: keep completely dry in winter, water well 1/wk from spring to summer in the growing period, lots of aeration, winter time less watering

Soil type: well-draining succulent growing medium

ORIGIN / HISTORY

• Formerly known as Jovibarba
• The difference between Jovibarba heuffelii and other Sempervivums is the pups grow attached or clustered around the mother plant’s base, whereas the pups of other Sempervivums grow at the end of a stolon
• This species is native to the mountains of the Balkans Peninsula, and Eastern Carpathians in Eastern Europe, but reportedly naturalized in Wisconsin and other parts of North America
• This member of the Crassulaceae family was given the name ‘heuffelii’ in honour of Johann A. Heuffel (1800-1857 a Hungarian physician and botanist)
• Locality on rock outcrops, cliffs and stony hills of the montane zone (biogeographic zone of relatively moist cool upland slopes below timberline dominated by large coniferous trees)
• Botanists treat the genus Jovibarba as part of the sempervivum, but the Flora of North America separates it into its own genus