FORM
A Place for Design
Succulent Sedums
Ben Young
Apr 29, 2010 - 12:10 PM
Despite what it looks like outside your window, it actually is spring, and it’s time to think about your garden. What better time to be inspired by cool plants than during a Winter Weather Advisory?
One plant that works well in many climates and particularly well here in Sun Valley are the Sedums.
These succulents have received a lot of recent press thanks to their adaptability to rooftop gardens. Rooftop Sedums tend to be of the groundcover type, while some sedums can grow to three feet tall.
I don’t have a green roof, but I do have a small garden plot incorporating these taller varieties. They tend to flower later in the year–early September in the Valley for some varieties. During the summer the immature flowers on many of the taller plants resemble broccoli florets until often turning a shade of purple-red. In the winter months, the dried flowers hold up well and provide great interest. There are many varieties of sedums and Autumn Joy is a readily available old standby in the landscape industry. If you’d like to try some new ones, here are a few of note:
S. ‘Matrona’
This sedum has been described as a replacement for the old classic Autumn Joy. But it really is quite different. The leaves on Matrona are a bit bigger and less round, and the plant has an overall more purple tinge to the leaves and stems. The flower heads are also more full and the color more wine-red in color than “Autumn Joy.”
S. ‘Postman’s Pride’
Dark-purple-almost-black foliage makes for a great accent plant.
Be careful and or have fun with this intense color. Habit tends to be narrower than Matrona or Autumn Joy Sedums.
S. ‘Bertram Anderson’
This lower growing variety is a great mounding groundcover and accent plant. Its blue purple foliage provides a nice option to provide contrast with other plants.
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