Sempervivum tectorum 'Rubin'

We are very fond of these easy plants, bought a large one called Jupiter which I must put on. good close up Barbara......

Thanks....I just hope it 'takes' in the crack.

Doesn't this mean your wall won't be struck by lightning? :-))

Duh? Sorry - not with that one, Wagger...

Snap I have just bought this one to go in an old sink rockery arrangment . :o)

The small ones usually do best, to get you started a piece of copper wire down to the ground will earth it Wagger.

Thunderplants (Sempervivums) were grown on the roofs of houses from earliest medieval & perhaps ancient times, in the belief that they protected the house from lightning strikes. In Slavic nations, the tradition of roof-top houseleeks is still practiced. At first glance this seems like it should be a baseless superstition, but if indeed a thatch roof, inordinantly susceptible to fire, were covered with moist succulents, even if lightning did strike, there would be a vastly reduced possibility of cumbustion. The spiked rosette is said additionally to disperse positively charged particles that attract lightning's negative charge.

Ah-ha! Thanks for the history lesson! This wall is way across the garden from the house - so I don't think I'll 'earth' it. ;-)

Thanks Wagger, it's very good to know that. As with many things used through the ages to build houses/huts, when fire was used inside it only took a spark to destroy it. Wareham in Dorset restricts the building of thatched houses because of a fire years ago that spread very quickly through the town.

Well we learn something every day .. thanks Wagger ...

Thanks Wagger, what would we do without you?

Live a saner life, Daisy?

Not you, not you.....hmmmmm....

Nothing's sane on planet Wagger, Spritz!

LOL.