Sedum Sampler

Sedums! Everyone loves them, right? I sure do and I have a lot at Chickadee Gardens. At the old house I had an eco-roof covered in a few different species and it looked cool. Here, I use them as ground cover, fillers for pots and accents. I tend to let them do their own thing since I have the space to do so, as well as stick pieces in extremely random places as I walk past if I have an extra piece in my pocket. That happens more often than you'd think. Between cats running over them, moles wreaking havoc in the garden and clumsy gardeners, there is almost always a piece or four lying on the gravel and I never have the heart to throw them out. Thus, the masses all over the place. I thought it would be helpful if I took photos of the most common ones in my garden and do a bit of a sampler to show what does well for me. Here we go!

This is very typical at Chickadee Gardens - random sedums battling it out. In the end, I think they all actually survive. There are many that I have no recollection where they came from, and others that were little bits collected at work that were destined for the compost bin. This lot forms what I call the new eco-roof, only it's a flat area behind a low retaining wall some 3' high, so you can really appreciate what's growing there. With the eco-roof, it was a challenge to actually see it.

Sedum spurium, likely 'Bronze Carpet' spilling out of a container. Sedum spuriums form mats of those long stems close to the ground and so are great for suppressing weeds. They tend to be "happy" - not invasive, but they do spread. For me, that's welcome, but in a smaller garden you may find yourself yanking out bunches on occasion. In summer they send up spikes of flowers, many in shades of pink which with the darker foliage of many is a pleasant contrast.

Another S. spurium form, this one is likely 'John Creech'. Bright pink flowers and green foliage.

Just about all the blooms in this photo are of Sedum spurium. A few other spurium forms I have that are not pictured are 'Tricolor', 'Fuldaglut' and 'Dragon's Blood'

Oregon native Sedum oreganum is one of my favorites. It is easy, always looks good and is a pretty green color, turning shades of red when stressed by sun or cold. It has cheerful yellow flowers and is actually a great pollinator plant. It's not as delicate as many of our brittle native sedums, rather it is resilient, even handling the occasional gardener's boot accidentally walking across it.

Sedum divergens is a fun Pacific Northwest native, but it is super delicate as far as being a ground cover. If you leave it alone it will thrive and spread, but if it's touched at all, those long stems tend to break. No worries if you plan on replanting that broken off bit, it will easily root right where you plant it.

Sedum divergens and S. oreganum co-mingling.

Another native, well-known Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco' I find appreciates a bit of shade to really perform at its best. It's already preparing to bloom, you can see the towers forming with tiny yellow flower buds.

Planting of S. oreganum and S. spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco' together.

Sedum reflexum, probably 'Blue Spruce'. This is a rapid spreader that I use as edging in a few different locales.

As in this photo, it is used as an edging for a berm area to help keep the soil and water in place.

Another sedum mash-up.

S. reflexum 'Blue Spruce' again with Veronica armena in the background. I'll have to free the Veronica from the impeding sedum...it really does spread.

S. 'Blue Spruce' and a spurium form on the right intermixed with Achillea millefolium, our native yarrow. 

One more application for S. 'Blue Spruce' - spilling down the edge of a retaining wall to give a cascading effect.

Here it is in full yellow bloom.

Sedum rupestre 'Angelina' is a very vigorous, but easy to pull out if need be, filler. In full sun when it's young, it has fresh golden green growth. 

Here in nearly full shade it is almost all green, the tips have a golden hint. 

And in full baking sun, as seen here in patches, it gets bright yellow and can really get washed out if not given any summer water. 

Sedum palmeri in winter. As the season progresses it gains more green color and the leaves flesh out a little bit more.  

Sedum sarmentosum 'Iijima' - a start I got out of the gravel at work - has also proven to be very robust. It's a low grower with yellow flowers.

Sedum takesimense was given to me as a start from a fellow garden blogger. It gets much taller than this, sporting bright yellow flowers in summer. It's easy and cheerful.

Sedum senanense.

Sedum 'Winky' (syn. Hylotelephium 'Winky'). It has pink flowers and more upright than a ground cover sedum, it's very sweet.

Sedum hispanicum 'Albescens' has teeny tiny gray green leaves and very impressive flowers for such a tiny little plant. Not aggressive at all in my garden, rather I've had trouble keeping it around for it gets overwhelmed by larger surrounding plants.

Our new granite sculptures are surrounded by Sedum album, a small-leaved tough and spreading groundcover with white flowers.

Here is S. album in full frothy bloom.

I showed this last week but it's worth repeating: Sedum confusum from Mexico. It has been pretty tough for me but does like a bit of afternoon shade in summer. You can just see the yellow flowers coming on.

My favorite upright sedum - Sedum 'Matrona'. Pictured here it is just forming buds. Soon after this stage the pinkish flowers will come on (this was taken last summer) and I leave the whole thing standing through winter after the whole plant dries as it stays reliably upright.

Here it is in bloom last summer.

Another upright sedum, probably S. 'Carl' has rather greener foliage than 'Matrona' and brighter pink flowers.

S. 'Matrona' flowers up close.

Another favorite upright sedum, S. 'Stardust' has pure white flowers.

One last shot of another mash-up with a S. album form on the left, the dark foliage.

Oh, sedums, how I adore you. I have a pretty laid-back attitude about them, tucking them in here and there and promptly forgetting where I tucked. No matter, they are mostly evergreen and take care of themselves. In general, sedums love full sun, great drainage but are not as drought-no-water-ever kind of plants that many people take them for. They do need some summer water, and the more well-drained the soil the more they need. They hail from all over the world and there are countless forms and hundreds of species. There are sedums for shade (really!), upright forms, low ground cover forms, ones that bloom yellow, some are white or pink and all are relatively easy to grow. When they bloom they are eagerly visited by pollinators, a bonus in my eyes.

There you have it, a sampling of some of the sedums I grow. There are many others, perhaps this summer I will do a follow-up post with some of those. Oh, and I must note that there have been changes in the taxonomy and nomenclature regarding what most of us know as sedum. For time-saving purposes, I simply list them all as sedum, however they could very well be officially reclassified. I apologize, I am no expert, so do some homework if there are questions.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always, thank you for reading and commenting, we love hearing from you all! Oh, and what's your favorite sedum?