On Your Roof

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 17 (Supplement)

On Your Roof

SEMPERVIVUMS are possessed of a unique type of beauty and are capable of existence under the reverse of those favourable to most plants. The common name is derived from the reason that, with the roots firmly bedded in clay to anchor them, they were planted on the roof or top of an old wall, where they formed green rosettes and were ornamental in a unique position. The variety to which the name houseleek actually belongs is S. tectorum, and with its leaves varying from a deep green to brown are actually beautiful. In many parts of England a clump of houseleek is found in every garden or rather on the roof of the cottage, and

this is partly because of it« value as a herb. The juice of the houseleek, mixed with cream or lard, relieves inflammation and irritation, and particularly the irritation following vaccination. The juice is also said to be a cure for warts and corns. Nowadays we much prefer to buy such things done up in attractive containers surrounded by a long list of testimonials, although it may actually be the same thing disguised under a new label and dressed in modern attire. S. arachnoideum, the cobweb houseleek, and its varieties, although quite hardy, are more often grown under glass to protect the web-like down on the foliage. They are grown in pans filled with sandy loam, leaf soil, brick dust, and rubble. If grown in the open they should occupy the warmest and best drained part of the rock garden. There are some improved forms, such as Webbianum, gnaphalium and LeggerL