Sedums – a diversity of adorable succulents

These drought hardy ground covers and perennials can add a variety of colors and textures to the garden. Because they’re so drought tolerant they can be used in rock gardens, barren soils, and places that are too far to reach with irrigation. It’s for this reason that they are the plant group that is typical on green roofs, where heat and drought can be extreme. In fact, sedums will thrive in fast draining soils and hot exposed areas where, hopefully, they’ll have less competition from aggressive weeds. They prefer full sun, though most do fairly well in partial sun. The one sure place to avoid planting a sedum is one that doesn’t drain well. They can be incorporated into dry stone walls, or used as a ground cover along stepping stones as they tolerate foot traffic. In fact, one of my favorite uses that I’ve come across was as a sedum beach along Cayuga Lake. Held several feet above the shore by a small seawall, they thrived unattended in the sandy soil. Low growing, they made a beautifully textured area to hang out by the water.
One of my favorite ground cover sedums is ‘Angelina’. It has a great texture all summer long and a burst of yellow flowers. When it really comes to life though is the first thing in the spring when it’s foliage is a blend of fiery reds, oranges, and yellows.

Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’



Many sedums change foliage color throughout the season. For instance, several Sedum spurium varieties (e.g. Red Carpet, Voodoo, Dragon’s Blood) are a deep blood red color in spring, slowly fading to a dark green throughout the summer. It’s also available in a variegated variety, tinged with pink called Tricolor.


Our native sedum is Sedum ternatum, which is more shade tolerant and somewhat less drought tolerant than the non-native species. It’s not as showy as many other sedums, but delights with it’s spring green foliage and starlike white flowers.
Some additional ground cover varieties of sedum include:

S. album ‘Murale’: this cultivar has pinkish flowers as opposed to the typically white flowers of sedum album. Both are ~4″ in height, and light green in foliage, turning bronze in winter.
S. divergens: dense foliage that breaks easily. Green to red foliage with yellow flowers.
S. ewersii: trailing light green foliage with bright pink flowers.
S. rupestre ‘Green Spruce’: the same species and form as ‘Angelina’ but with blue-green foliage.
S. sexangulare: leaves in whorls of six, creating a twisting pattern with yellow flowers.