I'm glad somebody's happy...

With the weather. (Those are not raindrops--I finally had to hose down everything on the decks last week. When I wrote this, I was watching a nasty storm--sliding north of us and leaving us only with some rather spectacular light. *phbbbt* As I post this: ditto, but without the neat sun and clouds look.)

One of the few plants that I've bought that has not only survived in spite of me but is thriving is the hens-and-chicks. I started them in the yard around a little pond soon after I moved in, but when they didn't appear to be too happy there I moved them to pots on my deck.

They like that much better, well enough to not only survive winters outside (even in relatively shallow pots that must freeze solid at least some of time) but to multiply enough to require dividing up every few years.

This spring's division is doing ok in the take-out container, although the one grew up instead of out. (I'm not sure plucking off the dead lower leaves helped the look. Well, it's different.)

A couple years or so ago I had transferred the bulk of the plants to a huge planter that was mostly for a trellised morning glory. It needed some more soil cover to keep down the weeds, and I figured being in full sun most of the day would please the succulents.

Ai-yi-yi… They've gone gang-busters, shooting out babies left and right.

And they are themselves taking on new stature. Okay, so it's nowhere near the size of its agave cousins from Longwood Gardens but for a houseplant/rock garden accent plant I'd say they're doing alright. And they need to be divided again.