October Daphne SedumOctober Daphne Sedum
October Daphne Sedum

Sedum: Showy Succulents For Late Season Color & Winter Interest

Sedum, commonly known as stonecrop, is a group of succulent plants native across much of the Northern Hemisphere.  They are excellent garden plants because they are:

  • Waterwise and cold hardy
  • Colorful with flowers in shades of pink, white and yellow
  • Excellent for fall and winter interest with their ornamental seed heads
  • A favorite of insect pollinators like bees and butterflies

The stonecrops are very versatile with different varieties that can be used as durable, evergreen groundcovers or taller specimens in the perennial border.  

The larger growers are known as the Tall Sedum. Autumn Fire Sedum blooms from mid-summer into early fall, offering much-needed late season color and nectar in the garden. Their architecturally interesting seed heads should be left standing over the winter months to catch the morning frost or snow like tidy ‘snow toadstools’.  And the Tall Stonecrops provide a pleasing contrast with the finely textured ornamental grasses that also grace the winter garden.

Low-growing Sedums are a great low maintenance perennial for groundcovers, rock gardens, borders, and containers in sunny, dry areas. It will naturalize and spread to cover hospitable ground. It will beautifully fill in crevices in rocks and will fill in spaces between larger plants. Happy in full sun and poor, gravely, sandy soil, it just needs good drainage to thrive. Just plant it, water to establish, and enjoy. The succulent foliage stores up water for lean times, giving this tough plant great resilience and making it a good choice for firescaping. 

Autum Fire Sedum in the spring garden.Autum Fire Sedum in the spring garden.
Autum Fire Sedum in the spring garden.

Shop Showy Sedums

With a rich palette of colors and textures, long-blooming Sedum are an essential element for a pollinator-friendly waterwise garden. Sedum are easy-to-grow and suitable to most growing conditions.

  1. Sedum Autumn Fire, Dark Pink Sedum, Autumn Fire Stonecrop

    Sedum telephium ‚Autumn Fire‚ (Stonecrop) is an improved form of Sedum ‚Autumn Joy‚ that is larger growing, has larger flower heads and is longer blooming. Th...

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    Autumn Fire Sedum Autumn Fire Sedum Sedum 'Autumn Fire'
    As low as $11.99 Sale $10.79
    Per Plant - 5" Deep Pot
    Sedum telephium 'Autumn Fire' (Stonecrop) is an improved form of Sedum 'Autumn Joy' that is larger growing, has larger flower heads and is longer blooming. The flat heads of rose-pink flowers appear in late summer. Leave the faded flowers on the plant for added winter interest.
  2. Old Man's Bones Stonecrop, Sedum globosum 'Old Man Bones',  Image courtesy of Conservation Garden Park

    Sedum globosum ‚Old Man‚s Bones‚ (Stonecrop) is an outstanding low-growing sedum with uniquely rounded, chubby leaves held on short spreading stems. Evergreen succ...

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    Old Man's Bones Sedum Old Man's Bones Sedum Sedum globosum 'Old Man's Bones'
    As low as $11.99
    Per Plant - 5" Deep Pot
    Sedum globosum 'Old Man's Bones' (Stonecrop) is an outstanding low-growing sedum with uniquely rounded, chubby leaves held on short spreading stems. Evergreen succulent foliage often develops a bronze tint in summer and flushes shades of purple, pink, red, and bronze over the winter. Perfect for groundcover, rock gardens, edging pathways, and spilling over the edges of raised beds or containers. It blooms in summer with clusters of small, bright yellow, star-shaped flowers.
  3. Purple Form Creeping Sedum, Sedum hispanicum var. minus Purple Form

    Purple Form Creeping Sedum (Sedum hispanicum var. minus), also called Little Blue Spanish Stonecrop, is a small-growing groundcover enjoyed for its attractive evergreen foliage that ...

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    Purple Form Creeping Sedum Little Blue Spanish Stonecrop Sedum hispanicum var. minus Purple Form
    $8.99
    Per Plant - 2.5" Pot
    Purple Form Creeping Sedum (Sedum hispanicum var. minus), also called Little Blue Spanish Stonecrop, is a small-growing groundcover enjoyed for its attractive evergreen foliage that forms tidy, colorful mounds. The tiny succulent leaves assume various colors in the sun, displaying shades of blue, purple, and bronze, especially during the cold winter months. The plant blooms with a profusion of tiny pink flowers in late summer and is xeric once established.
  4. Blue Spruce Stonecrop, Sedum reflexum 'Blue Spruce'

    ‚Blue Spruce‚ Creeping Sedum (Sedum reflexum) is a standout among low-maintenance Sedums. This easy-to-grow and eye-catching features succulent blue-green foliage, much l...

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    Blue Spruce Sedum Blue Spruce Stonecrop Sedum reflexum Blue Spruce
    As low as $8.99 Sale $8.09
    Per Plant - 2.5" Pot
    'Blue Spruce' Creeping Sedum (Sedum reflexum) is a standout among low-maintenance Sedums. This easy-to-grow and eye-catching features succulent blue-green foliage, much like little spruce needles! A pollinator favorite, it is covered with small star-shaped yellow flowers in summer for over a month. A great evergreen groundcover where low maintenance, drought-tolerant, deer-and-rabbit-resistant plantings are desired.

by High Country Gardens

 
Sedum
Sedum add great interest to a Winter garden.
Sedum, commonly known as stonecrop, is a group of succulent plants native across much of the Northern Hemisphere.  They are excellent garden plants because they are:
  • Waterwise and cold hardy
  • Colorful with flowers in shades of pink, white and yellow
  • Excellent for fall and winter interest with their ornamental seed heads
  • A favorite of insect pollinators like bees and butterflies
The stonecrops are very versatile with different varieties that can be used as durable, evergreen groundcovers or taller specimens in the perennial border.  The larger growers are known as the Tall Sedum and may be a little less familiar to folks than the groundcover types (which have been used extensively for many years).  The Tall Sedums typically bloom from mid-summer into early fall. And their architecturally interesting seed heads should be left standing over the winter months to catch the morning frost or snow like tidy ‘snow toadstools’.  And the Tall Stonecrops provide pleasing contrast with the finely textured ornamental grasses that also grace the winter garden.
Sedum Purple Emperor
Sedum Purple Emperor
  Some of my favorite cultivars include: - ‘Purple Emperor’ which has eye catching burgundy foliage which contrasts so beautifully with other perennials especially if they have gray or silver foliage.  (Artemisia 'Powis Castle’ or Artemisia versicolor 'Seafoam' are particularly showy companion plants. ) - ‘Matrona’ is my favorite and perhaps the tallest of the genus with clouds of pink flowers held on 30” tall mahogany stems.  ‘Matrona’ is an impressive sight especially when attracting numerous butterflies. I particularly like it standing next to Little Bluestem grass (Schizachyrium).
Chinese Mountain Crop (Sedum middendorfianum)
Chinese Mountain Crop (Sedum middendorfianum)
As a showy groundcover variety, I am very fond of Chinese Mountain Stonecrop (Sedum middendorfianum).  This Oriental native blooms in late spring and early summer with hundreds of bright yellow flowers that age to reddish-orange and are held overhead by short burgundy stems.  When not blooming the carpet of fresh looking bright evergreen foliage is really nice.  Landscape designers Lauren Springer Ogden and her husband Scott Ogden introduced me to this uncommon beauty. Because of their cold hardiness and vigor, Sedum are on the top of my list for fall planting.  And you’ll enjoy larger, more floriferous plants during next year’s growing season. Text and Photos by David Salman  
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