SAXIFRAGA Hostii Seeds, Succulent ,Groundcover Echeveria

Winter Hardy to USDA Zone 5,

Evergreen foliage is attractive year round. Part shade areas of the landscape. Border fronts. Foundations. Ground cover. They are evergreen, and form spreading mats hugging the ground between rocks or over the edges of walls. Arendsii hybrids are some of the most popular plants for rockeries
Saxifraga is a genus of plants found almost everywhere on earth. Typically, the plants form mounds or creeping mats and produce tiny flowers. There are approximately 480 species of the plant, and plant enthusiasts and breeders are introducing more each year. A very common and easy-to-grow variety is rockfoil. Information on how to grow rockfoil plants will allow you an easy entry into this diverse and attractive group of plants.
Forms a mat of handsome, lime-encrusted rosettes of strap-shaped, slightly recurving, 3-8cm long leaves with blunt toothing. Flower stems up to 30cm high carrying panicles of numerous plain or red-spotted, creamy-white flowers with 5-8mm long petals. Occurs in the eastern calcareous Alps in Italy, Austria and Yugoslavia. hostii has obtuse leaves and subspecies rhaetica has narrower leaves tapering gradually to an acute apex. Var. altissima is a form of subsp. hostii and is stronger growing with leaves up to 10cm long and flowering scapes up to 45cm high. This is a species that should be grown more widely in gardens, preferably in the variety altissima. It is a lime lover, undemanding and effective.
A commonplace form of Saxifraga is mossy rockfoil. There are many types of rockfoil, but mossy rockfoil is readily available in nurseries and garden centers. The mossy varieties are in the section of Saxifraga called hypnoides. The plant is an excellent ground cover, forming a thick tenacious carpet over rocks and under trees. Rockfoil produces its thickest and most lush foliage in spring. The bright green crinkly leaves pack tightly together and carpet rocks, pavers and lightly shaded nooks. In spring, tiny cupped flowers appear on slender stalks held above the body of the plant. The wiry stalks are tinged pink to purple and support blooms of salmon, pink, purple, white and other hues. The rockfoil flowers last into the early part of summer. Once the flowers die back, the plant is exposed to drying air and sun without their shading protection. This often causes the plant to die in the center. Fill in the center with a light dusting of sandy grit to help the plant hold moisture and prevent core mortality. This is important rockfoil Saxifraga information to preserve the beauty of your plant. The perennial plant needs moist shade and is hardy in USDA plant hardiness zones 5 to 7 in temperate regions. Growing rockfoil requires cool sites which mimic its alpine native ranges.
Mossy rockfoil has no special needs, provided you give it a location with some shelter from wind and hot sun. The plants require moist soil, especially in spring when they are growing the most.

Sow Saxifraga seeds directly outdoors in either the fall or the spring. Prepare soil by loosening the top 1 – 2 inches and weeding. Saxifraga plants prefer well-draining soil, so amend soil if needed, adding sand or fine grit. The soil pH preferably should be mildly alkaline. Sow the Saxifraga ground cover seeds on the surface, lightly walking over the seeds to help make good contact with the soil. Keep the ground cover seeds constantly moist until germination occurs. Saxifraga plants like sun, but as they are germinating and establishing protect from direct sunlight.