Showy sedum can be used in containers, as ground cover, in rock gardens, borders, and as gifts. Some examples include Autumn Joy, Autumn Fire Stonecrop, “Postman’s Pride,” “Brilliant,” which has bright pink petals, “Stardust,” which has silvery-pink flowers, and “Brilliant,” which has variegated foliage on “Frosty Morn.” At the garden center, I made my first showy sedum purchase. Debating the purchase price, which was reportedly between $10 and $25 per item! I brought one home and quickly learned how simple it is to spread. Consider taking cuttings from your neighbors, bartering for other plants, and employing sedums in various guerilla gardening endeavors. Since Showy Sedums are succulents, the guidelines from my earlier piece on propagating succulents still hold true. Showy sedums are 18–24 inches tall and bloom from midsummer to October in my cold climate garden. They are relatively pest-resistant and require minimal upkeep. The aged stems and foliage provide superb winter appeal. The colorful sedums wither to the ground in the winter and then reappear in the spring from their tuberous roots.
I’ve even taught young children how to grow sedum. You are capable of doing it. There are three effective methods of propagation:
- Immersion
- Managed Plant Growth
- Direct Garden Positioning
- Division
You must take a cutting from a healthy sedum plant for procedures 1-3. I often cut the subject sedum back to the ground using a single stem. Then, if needed, I can cut this into three or four smaller pieces for propagation. Although some may advise taking only the soft tops of the sedum for propagation, there is no need to worry about using only the tip piece. By the way, several of these methods also work fantastically on herbs.
1. TECHNIQUE OF IMMERSION:
This method calls for a somewhat longer cutting. I often take a 6-inch-long chunk. Leaves on the lower part of the cutting should be removed since they could rot because they would be submerged. Place the pieces of Autumn Joy that you have cut up for propagation in a cup or glass that has water in it. Make sure that the water only contains the sedum stem ( no leaves.) After that, put the glass in a room that’s warm and well-lit.
Change the water every few days and make sure it doesn’t entirely dry up. Your cutting will start to root and develop new growth in a week. The images below can be seen. The sedums can be kept in water for a while, but eventually you should transplant them outside. Even in August through October, they can bury themselves. I make an effort to group at least three of these tiny sprouts. Once you’ve done so, make sure to keep your plants well-watered until their roots have taken root in the garden soil. For 10–12 days, I attempt to water every other day.
2. CONTROLLED POT GROWTH (Cuttings): I usually recall that I want to propagate more sedum in the late summer. I prepare the stems by slicing them into rather long portions of around 6 inches and removing the lower 3 inches of leaves. I next fill small pots with standard potting soil that contains around 10% perlite. Put the pots with the sedum cuttings inside.
Make sure there are no leaves embedded in the ground. Water the sedums on a regular basis (they have dried out sometimes without ill-effect.) New shoots will grow from the plant’s base when the initial stem cutting withers away (note the tiny shoots to the right?). winterizing the sedum plant in a pot indoors (in your in a cold climate). The fragile shoots will wither and not grow back if you plant them outside in the late autumn. The sedum shoots occasionally have a chance to completely die back when kept indoors. Not to worry, they sprout back in the spring. Winter watering should only be done to prevent the soil from becoming brittle because too much water would rot the young plants’ roots. You should be able to plant cuttings directly in the garden once the shoots emerge if you start them in pots early enough in the summer. If not, simply wait until spring to plant them outside after they sprout in the containers.
3. PLACEMENT DIRECT INTO GARDEN (Cuttings)
This method is as simple as it seems. Early summer or late spring are the ideal times to perform it. As previously mentioned in the chopping part above, prepare the stems. To prepare a spot in the garden, add some peat moss and possibly some potting soil to the soil to lighten it. After that, place each stem directly into the garden where you want the new plant to emerge. I prefer to leave 3 nodes below ground and 5 to 6 inches of the stem above ground that is still healthy. It’s fall, so there isn’t much color in the image on the left below; the stick-shaped plant is a sedum. If there hasn’t been any rain, water. At the ground level, the roots will start to develop and new growth will start. The original stem might or might not persist. You will eventually have a lovely clump of fresh sedum after a few years (see picture on right below)
The stem may root if you use this approach late in the growing season, but new growth won’t appear until spring. If there is any resistance when you lightly pull on the sedum stem you planted, there are roots there.
4. DIVIDE: As with many perennials, the final option is to break up established clumps into smaller groupings and replant them.
Sedums can be found in Africa, Asia, South America, Europe, and North America (including Greenland). It is native to China and Korea for showy sedums. The well-known hybrid “Autumn Joy” (S. “Herbstfreude”) has broad, alternating leaves and blooms toward the end of the growing season. The prestigious British Royal Horticultural Society bestowed an Award of Garden Merit on the sedum “Autumn Joy.” I suppose that’s why we all want it! Given how simple it is to spread them, I hope you tell your friends about your happiness!
Email me if you are in the Chicago area and would want some cuttings to start your own sedums.
PS: To show how the cuttings developed over a period of several months, view this more current blog update.
Can cuttings of sedum grow in water?
Pick a healthy sedum plant stem that is about six inches (15 cm) long, and cut it just below a leaf node using a fresh pair of scissors. Any additional leaves that may be submerged in the water should be gently removed. Put your stem in a container with rainwater or room-temperature water so that it covers the leaf node (but not any leaves). Put your jar somewhere bright, such a windowsill or an outdoor table under cover. To keep the water from becoming stagnant and your stem from rotting, make sure to change the water every few days.
You can plant your fresh sedum as soon as roots begin to form, which is often after a few weeks. You should either plant the sedum in the garden or pot it and overwinter it indoors to plant in the spring, depending on the time of year you took your cutting (and where you reside). By starting your sedum propagation earlier in the growing season, you will give your plant enough time to establish itself in the garden before the winter.
How long does it take for sedum cuttings to root?
Known as Stonecrops, the vast genus Sedum contains succulents that are simple to maintain and look fantastic in summer and fall gardens. They are easy to grow, and once planted, they expand on their own, eventually engulfing garden rock walls and rockeries. The plants produce new clones at the root of adult plants and from seeds to self-produce. Sedums can be effectively reproduced through seeds, leaf cuttings, and stem cuttings.
Tip Cuttings
One of the easiest ways to grow Sedums is to simply take a clipping from the plant’s tip and place it in the ground. Remove the bottom leaves from a 6-inch (15-cm) tip cutting of a healthy plant. Place the bottom half of the cutting in a pot filled with wet sand. If the cutting was effective, you can test it with a gentle tug after two to three weeks. If it feels snug in the soil, the cutting is already putting out roots.
Stem Cuttings
Another easy method to grow new plants is to stem-cut Sedums. Cut a few additional stems from each plant, then make a hole around the base of each current plant. The stem cuttings can be replanted either immediately in the garden or in a seed tray with moist sand. When the plants start producing new growth in the spring, take stem cuttings.
Leaf Cuttings
Using this method of propagation, you may create hundreds of new Sedum plants because each leaf on your present plant has the ability to develop into a new plant. Snip only healthy leaves from your Sedum to use as leaf cuttings, then plant the stalk in potting soil. After roughly two to three weeks, the leaves should be firmly rooted, with new plantlets developing at the base.
Seed Propagation
Given how simple and quick it is to grow Sedums from cuttings, waiting for the seeds to sprout is a labor of love in seed propagation. Some hybrid types may not germinate true to seed, which is another disadvantage of seed propagation. Although a tip, stem, or leaf cutting is an exact replica of the parent plant, a seed carries the genetic material from two different plants, which can provide unexpected results. Sedums can be grown from seeds by putting the seeds in wet sand and gently pressing them down. Maintain the seeds at 80 to 95 F. (27 and 35 C).
Sedum can be planted even without roots.
I’d want to have more sedums than the few that are currently flourishing down my driveway. They have stunning late-summer blooms. I was advised by someone that I could cut them. Ist das so? If so, how can I do it and when?
One of the simplest plants to grow from vegetative cuttings is sedums. Cuttings make it simple to grow taller, fall-blooming types like “Autumn Joy” and “Brilliant,” as well as creeping sedums (also known as stonecrops). In actuality, whenever the stems of creeping sedums make touch with the soil, they frequently root all the way down their length.
You can grow your sedum plants in one of two ways. One is for cuttings of stems, and the other is for cuttings of leaves. Regardless of the method you use, this activity is best carried out in the early spring, when the plant has grown to a height of approximately 4 inches.
A fairly easy method of propagating sedums is by starting new plants from stem cuttings. By taking a stem cutting, you cut off a section of the mother plant’s stem and force it to develop a brand-new root system.
With a clean pair of scissors, a few tiny plastic pots, a bag of sterile potting soil, a bottle of rooting hormone, and a variety of clear plastic baggies and twist ties, you can start taking stem cuttings. Wet potting mix should be added to each pot, and it should be lightly compacted. With the scissors, separate a number of 2-inch-long stem segments from the mother plant. There should be two growth nodes in each segment of the stem (the place where the leaves meet the stem). The top two or three leaves should be kept since they will offer the energy needed to produce new roots. Remove the lower leaves.
Each freshly cut stem should be dipped in rooting hormone for the bottom inch before being firmly placed into a pot of potting soil up to the bottom of the last leaf.
One cutting should be placed in each pot, which should then be watered and let to drain. Each individual potted cutting should be placed in a clear plastic baggie with the top opened. The baggie should be sealed with a twist tie. The cutting won’t dry out because of the high humidity this maintains till it develops its own roots in a few weeks. Place the covered pots in a shaded area of the garden or on a window sill with natural light.
Always let the pots drain before re-entering the bag after removing the bags and watering them as needed. You can take the bags off after approximately a month and keep watering as needed. The plants will be prepared for planting in the garden two weeks later.
Additionally, you can grow new sedums via cuttings from leaves. This process requires a little bit more time, but each leaf cutting can produce dozens of little plants. By using a single leaf or a piece of a leaf, leaf cuttings can produce new plants. This mother leaf rots away rather of becoming a part of the young plant(s).
Using a clean, sharp knife, cut off a single leaf from a sedum plant to create a leaf cutting. Insert the bottom half of the leaf into a pot filled with sterile potting mix after dipping the base of the leaf in rooting hormone. Keep the cutting well-watered and covered with a plastic bag. Where the chopped leaf touches the potting mixture, a new plantlet will grow.
You can alternatively take a single leaf, nick the outer edge several times with a sharp knife, sprinkle rooting hormone in the nicks, and then pin the leaf flat onto the potting soil. Small plantlets will emerge from each of the nicked areas in a matter of weeks. You’ll have lots of tiny mini sedum plants for your garden after the mother leaf rots away.
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How are sedum cuttings grown?
One of those essential succulents that can be found in almost any succulent planter is the sedum. Sedums are advantageous in any garden because of the following characteristics. They can withstand extreme cold. They can withstand drought. Pests hardly ever bother them. They create a lovely ground cover. They can be used as hanging plants in containers as trailing plants. There are countless different kinds. It is simple to grow them.
One choice you have is to propagate the sedum by cuttings if you have a plant and want to use it in additional planters or around the yard.
- Cut a 2- to 5-inch portion of the sedum plant.
- Plant the cutting in a well-draining soil.
- Continue to mist the newly planted cutting (water it like you would water petunias or another annual)
- Its roots will start to take hold and grow after a few weeks.
People frequently question us at Young’s, “How deep should the cuttings be planted?” while planting sedum cuttings. Here is a snapshot comparison of shallow vs. deep planted cuttings.
They were each planted in a little pot. The other was buried three inches beneath the first one.
Would the deeper-planted cutting have a more robust root system? We took the cuttings out of the ground precisely 3 weeks after planting them to observe the development of their root systems.
The shallowly planted cutting had a robust and vigorous root system. Compared to just three weeks of growth, it appeared significantly better.
Despite having roots that extended the entire length of the stem on the deeper-planted cutting, these roots don’t appear to be quite as robust as those of the other cuttings.
Sedum cuttings can be planted at any depth, in our opinion. They easily re-root when planted at any depth. We advise putting them 1 inch or so deep. Sedums don’t end up having very deep roots as they age and grow. Many succulents, like aeoniums, have shallow roots in order to absorb the least amount of soil moisture.
A sedum plant spreads roots from the middle of the stem as it grows, creeping along the ground. These roots serve as the plant’s anchor and aid in supplying it with the nutrients and water it needs to grow. Sedums form vibrant, distinctive ground covers that look great in any yard or container.