Sempervivum 'Lilac Time' (Milton): An attractive color and shape, showing metallic pinks, lavenders, and silver-greens through the seasons. It is an open rosette, resembling a water lily. This variety needs especially great drainage and benefits from a layer of gravel top dressing between its leaves and the soil. Hens & Chicks need plenty of outdoor sunlight to show their best colors and maintain a tight rosette form. They thrive in gritty, well-draining soils and pots with drainage holes. They produce new offsets or "chicks" on stolons. These chicks can be left to form tidy clusters or removed to share and transplant. Sempervivum do most of their growing in the spring and summer, and will thrive with weekly watering and afternoon shade if temperatures exceed 80F. They are incredibly frost hardy and will happily overwinter under an insulating blanket of snow. Protect from heavy rains and standing water to prevent rot.