“I planted hens and chicks (Sempervivum spp.) in the front planter against my house last year. It gets a lot of sun, and I have had portulaca flowers there too, because nothing seemed to grow there. The three hens and chicks are thriving, however they are growing strangely. They are growing vertically. They didn’t grow like that last year. Obviously there is something wrong?” –Question from Adorée of Toronto, Canada.

ANSWER: No worries! Your hens and chicks are getting ready to bloom! Older “hen” rosettes grow vertically, bud and bloom, and then die. Their unusual clusters of flowers are starry and rosy pink (see image below). They kind of look like Martian flowers to me, but they pretty in their own right!

Thankfully, the dying hen rosette will send out new “chick” rosettes that will fill in after the hens have completed flowering and senesce. Don’t do a thing. Your plants are really happy!