Yesterday I pulled out the last surviving lavender bush from a planter on my terrace. It was half dead already. I pulled out all the other lavender bushes two years ago, and the four planters on the terrace now look kind of sad. My beloved and I have been thinking about their replacement for quite a while, but we made up our minds only today. It will be the common houseleek that requires very little care. Its Latin name says it all: sempervivum tectorum. The first part of the name means “always alive” while the second means “of house roofs” because the plant used to be placed on rooftops to protect houses from thunderbolts. Given that the house is often empty, this is the best choice available. Now we have to figure out where to acquire enough of these plants for the four planters, but we do not expect to have too much trouble finding them. They can be seen all around Istria. Anyhow, the common houseleek’s Latin name was the clincher. And a joy all in itself.

Addendum I (March 30, 2015)

Eight common houseleeks are already in place. My beloved and I went to a gardening store in Umag earlier today. Each plant pot came with its own label. And in Latin. The only advice we got was that we should not fiddle with the plants. They are best left to their own devices. Which suits me perfectly, it goes without saying. In a year or two, all the planters on my terrace will be theirs. And only theirs.

Addendum II (May 11, 2015)

All the eight newcomers to my terrace are doing well in their planters. Very well, indeed. Each one of them has sprouted new growths in every which direction. I would not be surprised if they take over all the planters by the end of the season. But I remember the advice from the gardening store very well, and I do my best not to fiddle with the common houseleeks. God forbid! At best, I remove a stone in front of an adventuresome sprout. An occasional rain is all the water the plants get, too. Sempervivum tectorum is ever closer to my heart.

Addendum III (September 28, 2015)

A few days into the fall, I have next to nothing to add to what I have already written about the eight common houseleeks on my terrace. I am doing my best not to help them in any way, and thus they are doing perfectly fine. Perhaps the only complaint I have is that the plants are somewhat too slow for my taste. Although they all sprouted new growths soon after they were planted, these are growing hardly at all. They seem to be in suspended animation, as it were. For some reason, I expected the planters would be teeming with common houseleeks by the end of the summer, but that is definitely not the case. At this rate, it would take them about three years to spread across the area available to them. Be that as it may, I will not interfere with them in any way. My faith is squarely with these plants’ felicitous Latin name, which borders on a jolly prophecy.

Addendum IV (December 16, 2015)

I have little to add to all of the above except that all the eight common houseleeks on my terrace are doing pretty well to this day. There is little if any change with them the last couple of months, but they are all in very good shape. Given the season, they must be in some sort of hibernation at the moment. But the main reason for adding a few words about the newcomers to my terrace at this point is that I have not done a thing to help them along the last two or three months. Not a thing. And I cannot but feel a bit proud about my achievement, for an achievement it definitely is. Every now and then, I feel like watering them or removing some weeds that grow around them, but I stop myself in time whenever this happens. No fiddling, I remind myself again and again. Indeed, this is the best advice concerning the common houseleek. No fiddling!

Addendum V (May 24, 2016)

Perhaps the only thing worth adding to this rambling account is that all the common houseleeks on my terrace have made it through the winter months. As well as through the first months of the second spring in their new abode. Although the plants are still rather slow for my own taste, they keep growing at a steady pace. From time to time, I remove some weeds that find the terrace planters irresistible, and that is that. In a few years, the newcomers to my terrace will feel at home. And the weeds will have no room for their shenanigans any longer. That is my hope. Three cheers for the common houseleeks!