Chick Charms is a trademarked series of Sempervivum cultivars developed by Chris Hansen at Great Garden Plants in Michigan, launched in 2011 and expanded annually since. The series is one of the most commercially significant Sempervivum breeding programmes of the twenty-first century, and the plants are widely available across North America and, through licensed European distributors, in the UK and mainland Europe.
Part of the Complete Sempervivum Guide.
The breeding goal for the series is straightforward: produce Sempervivum cultivars that are more colourful, more consistent in colour expression, and more visually distinctive than older European cultivars, while retaining the hardiness and low-maintenance character of the genus.
Breeding background
Hansen's breeding uses S. tectorum, S. marmoreum, and S. arachnoideum in multi-way hybrid crosses, with aggressive selection over multiple generations for traits including:
- Intensified or unusual pigment expression (gold, near-black, pale pink, zoned patterns).
- Larger rosettes than typical wild species.
- Reliable pigmentation across a wider range of growing conditions, reducing the dependency on deep cold for colour.
- Vigorous offset production for commercial propagation.
Most Chick Charms cultivars are vegetatively propagated and trademark-protected; the series is licensed to growers under formal royalty agreements. Tissue culture is used extensively for stock build-up.
Notable selections
Several individual Chick Charms cultivars have their own pages on this site:
- Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget' — gold-to-orange carotenoid expression.
- Sempervivum 'Pacific Blue Ice' — blue-glaucous pruinose leaves.
Other widely traded Chick Charms cultivars worth knowing:
- 'Appletini' — apple-green to pink rosette, compact.
- 'Berry Bomb' — deep red centre with lighter red outer leaves, medium size.
- 'Cosmic Candy' — cream to pink variegation.
- 'Gold Mine' — yellow-gold with red tips, a relative of 'Gold Nugget'.
- 'Ruby Lips' — red-tipped leaves on a green rosette.
- 'Silver Suede' — silvery pubescent leaves, derived from a marmoreum background.
The series expands by 3–6 new cultivars annually; older cultivars are sometimes retired when surpassed by newer selections with similar colour but better vigour.
Cultivation
All Chick Charms cultivars follow the genus defaults covered in the pillar guide. Full sun, gritty substrate, minimal watering, USDA zone 4 hardiness. The series has no special cultivation requirements; this is intentional in Hansen's breeding.
One point worth noting: because the cultivars were selected partly for reliable colour expression under varied conditions, they tend to hold pigment somewhat better than older European selections when grown in slightly less-than-ideal light. This does not mean they are houseplants — they still need full outdoor sun for proper colour — but a partial-shade position that would green out an older cultivar may retain modest pigmentation in a Chick Charms selection.
Propagation
Standard offset division. The cultivars are trademark-protected, which means commercial propagation for resale requires a licence from Great Garden Plants. Personal propagation for one's own collection or for non-commercial sharing is not restricted and works exactly as for any other Sempervivum cultivar.
The cultivars do not come true from seed; they are complex hybrids and seed-grown progeny will segregate widely.
Notes and Quirks
Series branding creates a consistent retail experience: plants are typically sold in distinctive red pots with consistent labelling, making them easy to identify in garden centres. This is partly marketing and partly genuine quality control; the licensing programme requires member growers to meet minimum plant-quality standards.
In practical gardening terms, Chick Charms cultivars are a reasonable default for a first Sempervivum collection if you value colour consistency and visual variety, and they mix well with each other in a trough because of similar rosette sizes. If you value wild-type authenticity or are building a species collection, you will want the European unmodified species instead. Both are legitimate; neither is better gardening.
See also
- Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget' — the best-known gold-pigmented selection.
- Sempervivum 'Pacific Blue Ice' — the main blue-glaucous selection.
- The Complete Sempervivum Guide — for the genus-level cultivation context.