Sedum

Groundcovering stonecrops are alpine perennials which are available in so many species and varieties that everyone can find his favourite. They are native to almost all continents including their coldest parts, except for Australia and Antarctica.

They are cultivated for their spreading, low habit, and offer a wide range of leaf shapes and colours, as well as melliferous flowers. Many of them are evergreen, some are deciduous. Their leaves are silvery blue, blue-green, all shades of green, yellow, burgundy to maroon red, and tinted pink or flushed red. Those which bloom produce flowers very often in profusion. They are commonly star-shaped, white, yellow, or pink, and each species or variety blooms a different part of the season. Other species and varieties which are not listed here can be found here.

Groundcovering stonecrops make low, spreading cushions or carpets, and look great among rocks, or surrounded by gravel in an alpine border, or in and above walls. They can be wisely combined with low perennials with identical growing demands but different habit for an attractive contrast. They also do well in troughs and other outdoor pots.

Stonecrops are so easy to grow. All you can (but needn’t) do is to remove drying stems with spent flowers after flowering, or clip them if you want to keep them smaller or denser – again after flowering or in spring for summer flowering species. They take almost any but heavy clay or waterlogged soil, but thrive in well-drained, slightly alkaline, sandy loam in full sun or part shade. They are designed to take long periods of drought, in fact, I have never seen a sedum die from lack of water, quite the contrary – from excess watering. We sell only species and varieties hardy for continental C.E. climate i.e. min. to -25°C (USDA zone6), but most of them are extremely hardy surviving as low as -40°C (USDA zone 3).

Last update 10-10-2019