About Us
Firstly very sorry for the long break and having to close the shop down last year. I have been seriously ill spending several quite lengthy periods in hospital. I am back now and looking forward to doing business again.
My name is James Lamb, and I have been keeping and propagating Sempervivum for several years now mainly as a hobby (which has got something out of hand) as I have about 1,000 different types and over 5,000 specimens. I need to make room for new specimens so thought I would try selling a few on the internet, so here goes. I have purchased from many different suppliers with greater or lesser success over the years. Some supply growing plants in pots, some supply the plant with most of the soil removed, some supply bare rooted plants, and everything in between. Some even only supply one miserable little piece or young small chick - you never really know what you are going to get, just what price you have to pay. Even worse despite ordering named semps more than once I have had them delivered with no identification at all, or sometimes the name tag has just fallen off in the box, either way, not what you need or wanted or even paid for. I am different in that you can see the individual plant I am selling, not just a nice professionally taken picture of a mature perfect specimen of that species, but the actual physical plant I am offering for sale. I hope you all appreciate this.
There is lots of information available on the web. One trusted source I have used is the RHS. Sempervivum can be kept in pots indoors as long as they get some sunshine i.e. a sunny windowsill or a conservatory is ideal. Only water them when they are bone dry and don't let the pot sit in water in a tray or dish. Outside is fine, I keep most of mine outside but if like me you keep them in pots protect them from very heavy rain and in the winter protect them with a protective covering like hessian or move them to a sheltered spot under the eaves of the property or the side of a shed. If you have them planted in a rockery or such like, leave them alone and they will be just fine. If you just planted them in the garden ensure that you dig plenty of horticultural grit into the ground before planting, by plenty I mean you should end up with a mix of 50% grit and 50% garden soil. Why not try putting some on your roof, probably with a bit of thin wire to hold them in place until they settle in.
I mainly use 7cm square pots because I am short of space and 15 of these pots fit nicely into one tray. Otherwise I can only fit 8x9cm or 6x12cm pots in the trays.
If you would like a complete list of what I have in stock (but not necessarily available for sale at the moment) please just email me and request a complete list. I have a lot of semps that I wish to photograph and put up for sale but also as you would expect some particular plants are too small to offer for sale at the moment.
I send out parcels on a Monday through Thursday but not if a bank holiday, this is so they don't have to sit in their boxes over the weekend as I send all my parcels next day delivery. Orders are accepted seven days a week but because of the weight of water! I will not send them out the day after I have watered them or it has rained heavily. I hope you all understand.