Good varieties for the garden are those with the RHS merit award which are Sedum 'Ruby Glow' (top right image) which grows up to 25cms; 'Munstead Red' which is taller up to 60cms; and ' Herbstreude' which is of a similar height. How to Grow Sedum Growing Conditions. Some of the variegated varieties such as Sedum alboroseum ‘Lemonade’ will burn in full sun, so will benefit from some light shade during the hottest part of the day. Ice-plants root easily from stems pulled away at the base, or take 7.5cm to 10cm long pieces from non-flowering stems, take off the lower leaves, and insert them gently into a fifty – fifty mix of gritty compost and horticultural sand. It is great in rockeries and containers. Most of the stonecrops are evergreen and have rich foliage colours that look good throughout the year. It makes sense to select types with similar watering needs, and to focus on drought-tolerant varieties so that the compost can be allowed to dry out completely to avoid the temptation to over-water. For more information about how we started, and our wonderful team check out our ‘About‘ page. Plant sedum during the spring and summer in a well-drained, sunny spot outdoors. Spread the roots out when planting, making the planting hole a bit wider than it is deeper. An old favourite ground cover with crimson flowers. Water, when compost appears dry to prevents the cutting from drying out until it can form its own roots in a few weeks. The cuttings quickly mature, ready to be planted out in another part of the garden. Choose a pan that is at least 40cm in diameter. Spread the seeds over the soil, so not bury them. THE OUTDOOR TYPE. A variety developed from the native biting stonecrop, this is a low, carpet-growing perennial with evergreen yellowish-green leaves and yellow star-like flowers. How to care for Sedum Creating a Planting Location Find an area with 6 hours of direct sunlight. It has attractive yellow flowers in the summer, but it is mostly grown for its unusual chocolate-coloured foliage that looks great with other coloured stonecrops in full sunshine. Looking at the image bottom left, the three rings are drawn around three generations of Sedums rooted sequentially each year. This can be overcome by pinching out the plants to make them bushier or by using the Chelsea chop in late May or early June. They are all very easy to grow, requiring no attention once planted. Sedum (Sedum spp. Sedum pachyphyllum can reach a height of 11-inches or 30cm. This is a 45cm tall, robust variety with stems that are less prone to drooping from the middle than some others. These impressive plants are like succulents, as they retain moisture in their leaves and stems. With fleshy stems and leaves that store water, they are drought-tolerant and are ideal for sunny positions with freely draining, thin soils where most plants would succumb to dehydration. They will send out roots from wherever the stem is touching the ground and root itself. Available direct from The Sunday Gardener in paperback - for more information, buying options and reviews and how to buy click here. Re-potting is generally unnecessary, though containers can be rejuvenated from time to time by taking out the plants, replacing the compost, and replanting with selected parts of the plants, perhaps with a couple of new varieties. If you have a Sedum which does this, you can either trade it in for a newer model as many of the newer varieties do not do this, apply the Chelsea Chop earlier in the year, or stake it. There are a number of native Sedum species in Europe. They are easy to propagate by taking an informal cutting, and transporting the piece home in sealed plastic bag. There are dark leaved varieties such as  Sedum telephium  with the RHS merit award (Atropurpureum Group) ' Purple Emperor' see below. If a more drastic solution is needed, take the plant out and replace it with one of the more recent varieties that does not suffer the issue as readily – ‘Purple Emperor’, for example, is not prone to sagging and can be happily left to make large clumps. It has a long flowering season from June through to October, with repeat showings of its bright purplish-pink flowers. There’s nothing like a sedum to add a splash of colour to your garden in autumn. Both types make excellent ground cover for hot, sunny ground that is otherwise difficult to protect, though ice-plants spread slowly, so need to be established en masse for an instant effect. The ice-plants will survive dry conditions, though their growth may slow in very dry summers when occasional light watering will give them a boost. How to Grow Sedum Pachyphyllum. You might not want to tackle your house roof, but it is possible to go green and add a Sedum roof to a garden room, garden or shed, especially if upstairs windows look down on it – the Sedum cover will make it look more like an extension of the garden than a bare metal or felt surface. A fully hardy, 10cm tall, mat-forming stonecrop with toothed leaves and attractive heads of golden-yellow flowers in the summer. Sedum pachyphyllum is a succulent that is very easy to grow and maintain. The butterflies look striking on the white Sedums you can buy a white variety from Crocus, Hylotelephium spectabile 'Stardust'. Plant 15cm apart to establish a rapid and very attractive ground cover on thin soils. Pruning is generally unnecessary and Sedums can be kept in check by cutting back creeping types at the ends, or ice-plants can be tip pruned in spring to reduce the height if needed. The baby Sedum spurium will need lots of moisture to grow properly, so you should provide them with water once or twice a day. */. This native species is a relative of the ice-plants and it is a rather rare wildflower these days. Seeds. Sedum acre and Sedum album are two of the commonest in the UK, and the yellow species that you have seen is almost certainly the former. To grow sedum plants to look their best, here are a few tips from the pros: Always, always use a well drained soil. The creeping stonecrops will often root as they creep, and it is simply a matter of finding a piece with roots, cutting it off and establishing it in a new home. A great choice that is worth searching out if you are looking for a variegated ice-plant. This looks drastic, but the plant will be stronger and more compact, and will produce a mound of fresh foliage by July and August, though flowering will be later and may be slightly reduced. Watch out for aphids, though they are rarely a cause for concern for healthy plants growing in their ideal conditions. It is an RHS Award of Garden Merit winner. A good place to plant Sedum is near a garden seat where you can relax watching the bees and butterflies feeding on the Sedums. A garden centre favourite that certainly lives up to its name, with long, prominent stamens that seem to give the bright pink flowers eyelashes. You can use the full mat or cut 5 x 5 x 5 but the instructions do not clarify anything else. provide eye-catching texture and structure with their waxy foliage and dainty, colorful flowers.Many varieties make low-maintenance indoor plants, where they will thrive with minimal care. Indeed, this is a check worth carrying out at the garden centre before you even buy the plant – and if there is an infestation, take your business elsewhere! Nearly all of the varieties require very sunny conditions, though orpine is a woodland plant that prefers some light shade. After planting, you can use a soft brush to remove any compost from the leaves, water well, and then just leave it to its own devices to create a beautiful feature for the patio table! This new plant has recently been introduced to Britain from the US. They also like – no – need – sunshine. In the spring the new growth is easily visible at the root as in the image above left, which indicates that is the time to cut the Sedum back, as in the image above right. Prepare the soil by mixing Miracle-Gro® All Purpose Garden Soil with your native soil. Add a crushed shell, grit or pebble mulch to reflect the sun’s light back onto the plant and to keep water away from around the crown of the plant. The first image, left,  has the old stems still in place, in the second image the growth has been cut away ready for the spring. Unless they have sun for at least half a day, they’re just not as happy as they could be. They are all very easy to grow, requiring no attention once planted. Stonecrops will form a mat, but they are ground-hugging, so tend to grow around established plants rather than causing any problems by scrambling up or through them. Mid March to April and mid September to October are the best times to plant this shrub. Taking Care of Sedum Requires very little care and attention if the soil is well drained and plenty of sunshine is provided. Keep an eye on the situation, and the stonecrop can be very easily trimmed back if you feel there is going to be an impact on a particularly delicate or low plant. Most stonecrop Sedums love the sun and they will grow happy and healthy if they get at least 5 hours of direct sun per day. It is said to be hardy down to minus 20ºC, so should grow quite happily anywhere in the UK. The flowers remain attractive even as they fade to brown. It produces masses of red flowers from August right through to the first frosts of winter and provides nectar into the autumn for red admirals, small tortoiseshells and other late butterflies in the garden. Q I have planted some stonecrop on my rock garden and it is spreading quite quickly. There are many hundreds of varieties of Sedum available, though the range in local garden centres tends to be restricted to the most popular types. #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } Most Sedums grow naturally well spaced, so do not overcrowd or allow them to shade each other: put the plants in about 2cm apart. This can also be overcome by selecting a variety of Sedum which will do better than others. Specialist Sedum and Alpine nurseries stock many more. It is very easy to propagate Sedums. It has an upright form and large, purple-tinged leaves. is a concise, informative guide containing all you need to know to grow a tasty crop of tomatoes. Sedum telephium  with the RHS merit award(Atropurpureum Group) ' Purple Emperor'. Sedums are known as the butterfly's friend, and they really are a magnet to butterflies. This handy guide comprises of approximately 55 pages, 23 illustrations and approximately 12,000 words. Sedums are best planted where they will enjoy good sun with soil that is not too dry. Sedums will grow in partial shade, but not full shade. All have small, star-shaped and nectar-rich flowers, and the ice-plants in particular attract lots of butterflies and bees. Helpfully, Sedums are easy to propagate and you can have as many plants as you want for free. Sedum is the most popular choice for planting up these ‘living’ roofs, as it can be difficult to irrigate or maintain them once complete, and the stonecrops thrive on rainfall alone, maintain a complete cover, and generally look after themselves once established. It is the ease of cuttings which is surprising about this plant. They will tolerate shade but prefer a position in full sun if they are to bloom well. Q I am developing a small ‘tropical’ garden and wondered if I can use ice-plants in my design. Autumn Joy Sedum. Ice-plants root easily from stems pulled away at the base, or take 7.5cm to 10cm long pieces from non-flowering stems, take off the lower leaves, and insert them gently into a fifty – fifty mix of gritty compost and horticultural sand. Sedums are therefore excellent for steep, rocky slopes with little soil. Planting and Growing Sedum Suitable for rock gardens, scree or gravel beds, pots, containers, wall crevices and alpine troughs. There are also a number of low growing Sedums which are suitable for walls and ground cover, such as Sedum lydium, image below,  which only grows to around 5cms and has a lovely autumn colour. Once rooted and established, the Sedum plants can be transferred into the border providing plenty of late colour and food for the bees and butterflies. Val Bourne offers tips on growing Sedum 'Purple Emperor' Some plants have so much star quality that it shines out from the border. Cut top growth by around 10cms, don't throw cuttings away  because it is easy to propagate new Sedums from these clippings, see below. Green roofs can help with sustainable drainage, provide additional insulation to the building, mitigate the urban ‘heat island’ effect, absorb carbon dioxide, provide nectar for insects and provide habitat for wildlife more generally. This has dark foliage and an upright growth. This stimulates more flowering and produces free plants for elsewhere in the garden or to give to friends. If your soil is heavy in the garden, either amend it, or grow them in raised beds and containers. Most are stonecrops that thrive on the thin soils of sandy and rocky areas, including old quarries and abandoned urban sites. If you take cuttings in spring, the resulting plants can still be planted outdoors in the summer or fall. Special succulent compost can be obtained, or make an equal mix of potting compost such as John Innes No 2 with vermiculite or perlite. It is available from specialist Alpine nurseries in green-leaved or variegated varieties. Sprinkle in a handful of blood, fish and bone and work into the ground. Not easy to find, but worth tracking down for its purple-leaves and dark pink flowers. Overwinter, I leave if the flower heads in place, the frost looks attractive on the flower heads and livens up the winter borders. Sedums like well-drained soil – but it doesn’t need to be deep because they’re very shallow rooted. It is an effective organic solution and completely safe for pets, children and wildlife. Fill the pot with the substrate and moist the soil. At the end of each chapter there are key points and a helpful checklist at the end summarising the growing steps and timeline. Angelina has yellow-green foliage throughout the year, and is a good foil for purple-leaved varieties in mixed carpet plantings. Place the plant into the hole, filling in with soil so that it is at the same depth as was in the pot. Try using Sedum spectabile to mark the edge between the patio surface and a border, and stonecrops in the gaps between paving in less well trodden parts. Its blue-green evergreen foliage really brightens a rock garden or container. Evergreen in warmer areas. None of the Sedums should be watered in the winter as they can be prone to rot if waterlogged. I love Sedums they have so much going for them. What do an Aldi supermarket in Guildford, BMW’s Rolls-Royce assembly centre in the South Downs National Park and the Peter Lanyon Building on the Tremough Campus of the Combined Universities of Cornwall have in common? Sedum are tough and easy to grow and will thrive and spread in droughty rockery edges in full sun. It is not unusual to spot several butterflies, a mass of bees and hover flies all together on a single Sedum plant on a warm day. The native Sedum acre can often seen on derelict urban sites growing on old, crumbling concrete, where it seems just as happy as it is growing in its more natural cliff-top and rocky landscape homes. Once established, they are pretty much maintenance-free, though ice-plants will benefit from being dividing every four to five years. Slugs and snails are occasionally a problem, but the most likely pest is the vine weevil. © 2012-2022 Carol Jackson - The Sunday Gardener is a registered trademark. Place the covered pots on a bright windowsill or in a shady spot in the garden and soon you will see new growth. A taller variety of stonecrop that grows up to 15cm in height, with foliage that turns reddish in the winter. However, you will want to take some professional advice to make sure the structure is robust enough to take the weight before starting the project. Early spring is the optimal time to plant sedum seeds. Although Sedums really are a good egg of a plant, (loved by pollinators and butterflies, low maintenance, easy to grow, flower reliably and more,)  there is this one possible problem with some varieties of Sedum as shown in the image. For taller species, cut them back in May to early June for a bushier plant. The creeping stonecrops are especially useful, forming a ground cover around taller plants in mixed plantings, and spilling over the edges to disguise the edges of the container. The depth need be no more than around 20cm, as the roots are shallow. All rights reserved. Sedum is usually bought in plugs or pots and transplanted into the garden. Sedum pachyphyllum originates from the Crassulaceae family and is native to Mexico. Snow and ice on them, see images below in heavy soils, even if of... Attention once planted delicate Alpine plants that are less prone to drooping from the 3rd week of August how to grow sedum uk water... 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