Dear Amber Rae: Here I am in Ottawa, Canada and we have many different types of Hen & Chicks in our garden. They stay outdoors all winter - so if it works here, it should work for you. Some plants LOOK sort of like Hen & Chicks but are more tender: Echeverias and Graptoverias. Those I have outdoors and in full sun in the summer - they love it, and then I bring them indoors for the winter. This has worked fine for several years now.

Kevin - They are actually in fully open area. Have almost all semps in pots for years and years now. Just make sure they are in very gritty mix. Here are the pups in photo #2 when originally separated and potted, in July 2015 - same tray: Snow is a good insulator, that's why I don't cover pots. Freezing & thawing water is what kills any plant - that's why drainage is important. I may have lost some hostas this winter since couple of pots had some standing water - will see soon...

S M You didn't say what your general location and/or growing zone is? Nik is in warm climate and semps do not like that much heat and humidity - they will grow, but prefer bit milder climate. That is the reason why it took so long to root. What Nik did is correct - cut off all rot, set it on gritty substrate (do not worry about burying it) and unless stem has rotted thruout, it will evetualy root. They are Alpines, should get some winter rest; and many ppl in zones 9 and higher need to keep them in bit shadier and preferably cooler locations if possible. In my conditions, they do not have problem with rooting much faster. They grow outdoors, in ground or containers. They need very well draining mix especially in pots - and all I see is peat (or cocopeat?) in yours. They will rot if constantly wet. There is about 5cm of snow outside right now, I'll try to see if I can take some pics...

It would be climate dependent, but it spreads aggressively. They don't seed though, so that slows them a bit. The tops when they fall will develop roots and become new plants. I used to provide garbage bags of tops to a friend with a nursery (commercial) and she used to just sit them in a pot of soil and in a short time sell them. There were plants at my place when I bought it. They were in an out of the way spot where they got no water during our hot dry season but still grew back when the rains came. They survived as rhizomes in totally dry soil for 4 to 5 months. Those I have in ponds grow all year. Give them a bit of water and they'll keep going. My guess is that you'd be able to over winter some rhizomes in a pot of dry soil. But keeping some in water inside in a warm sunny spot should work as well. Even in only wet soil they'll keep growing provided it's warm.