Hardy succulent

As many sale are going on at the moment around garden centers , today I went in just to have a look and found some unusual frost hardy rockery section , many plants that used to be sold as indoor are now in the rochery section.....
It was absolutly strange and sad to see plant like gasteria , stapelia and kalanchoe sold as outdoor , I say sad because some good gardener will keep as indoor but many other will just kill them in their rockery garden.

this is what I got as they where reduced to 3 for £5
sedum nussbaumerianum
sedeveria hybrid hummeli
pachyphytum
kalonchoe thyrsiflora
echeveria glauca
and stepelia
most of them had a mark with UK grown and very confusing information like plant in a moist dry soil (?) in a sunny shaded position(?)
has anyone managed to grow any of them outdoor?

 

sal,

I have tried the Stapelia (correctly this is Orbea variegata) outdoors and it did not last long.
I also doubt the Kalanchoe will last outdoors in winter.
Cant comment on the others

 

Sal, what a lovely selection of succulents that, as you could imagine, would live outdoors with me .. but I'm not so sure with you unless they were in a 'very protected' area of your garden.

 

they will be in a protected area and i was actually thinking of a protection for winter , but at the same time they will look really good in a nice pot and move them in for winter.
still can`t belive how cheeky garden center start to become , the ammount of tender they are selling as hardy ......I suppose this is how you make money , it was almost upsetting to see all the young couple buying plant for the first garden or old people that will not be able to check the hardiness of plants or what so ever.

 

A few years ago I had an argument with the manager of our local Notcutts about this very subject.
It was when we were having the mild wet winters.
They had all manner of succulents on sale, displayed as hardy.

I'm sure anyone who bought them are not likely to still have them now.

But then that is what garden centres are all about.
They sell bedding plants far too early also.

Be wary, and look up on plants before buying.

 

Pete the most shocking plant was the gasteria sold at £7.99 and those where out of the sale .
My last mistake was the Dragon's Blood trees , sold as yucca but only frost hardy to -2 , took it back next day , today we can check plant hardiness on google and still we get done by them .... be honest I manage to find more frost hardy succulent in south Italy where I`m from that over here .
Anyway solution found .
I`ve repotted the plant , get lots of cutting and will try some of the them outdoor , the main plants are in pot covered by gravel and they will spend the winter in my greenhouse.


and those are the cutting protected by my miss , herbal garden

 

Pachyphytum overiferum is not as tender as you might think, even if it does get destroyed by cold, it will grow back... but thats not really the point I suppose.

 

sal,
The problem with hardiness, is as you know so difficult to quantify as there are so many factors - temp, wetness, how well the plant grew in summer. Etc
So what may be hardy in your garden would not do well for me.
I guess these nurseries could argue that under ideal conditions, some of these could be ok over winter. But for most people i suspect not.

Surely this does not constitue "fit for purpose" under the Description of Goods Act"?
Any legal experts on the Forum?

 

I don`t know how many peoples is following this thread , but this is the gasteria I`m on about ......£7.99 from the garden center ...40p from the grower.
Gasteria verrucosa

Unit Description: 104 Plants / Tray
List Price: £34.00 (ex. VAT at 20%)

Family: ALOACEAE
Genus: Gasteria
Species: verrucosa

 

Gasteria verrucosa is not going to be hardy. I really doubt it.