Sedum separation is a simple procedure. If you decide to divide a taller species after bloom, cut it to a height of 6 inches (15 cm) or less to reduce transpiration and facilitate division.
Dig carefully around the plant for a few inches (8 cm) using a shovel, then remove the root mass. Shake off any extra dirt, then examine the roots for any damage. Cut out any unhealthy or damaged roots. With a sharp knife, cut the plant into portions that are each 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) long and have a good amount of roots.
Dig deeply to loosen the soil before planting in a sunny location to prepare it for the new plants. Plant each part separately at the same depth it was growing at previously. Around the roots, compact the soil.
Do you have any sedum that is Autumn Joy?
The ideal time to divide ‘Autumn Joy’ and other upright, clump-forming sedum cultivars is early spring (Hylotelephium). Plants should be dug up in the early spring right as new growth starts to develop. Use a sharp knife to slice off each clump. The root system and multiple shoots should both be present in each division. Right away replant the divisions. Sedums thrive in full light and well-drained soil.
Can I remove the sedum and replace it?
It’s time to dig up the sedum plant after the area has been prepared. Dig several inches around the sedum in the ideal situation, then carefully uncover the root mass. Check the roots for any abnormalities, such as injury or disease, before starting to divide the plant.
With a pair of clean, sterile garden scissors, remove any undesirable roots. The sedum should next be cut into 4- to 6-inch parts using a knife. Before transplanting, be certain that each portion has a sufficient number of roots.
Firm the soil around the roots of the sedum cuttings after transplanting them into their new location. Water the area well, maintaining a light mist while the plant establishes itself, and halving watering once new growth is seen. Keep mulch away from the plant’s root. The sedum plant ought to have established itself and recovered after a month. It should have a strong foothold by the following year.
When can sedum plants be transplanted?
Sedum are robust, drought-tolerant succulents with innate survival instincts, making them some of the most forgiving of all plants. Sedum will flourish in poor soil, making it the ideal plant for rock gardens, steep slopes, and classic flower beds when blended with annuals and perennials. Although sedum can be transplanted at any time the plants aren’t in full flower, early spring and late autumn are the ideal times.
In order to transplant the sedum quickly and prevent the roots from drying out, prepare the planting place in advance. Select a sunny area with good soil drainage and no standing water during rain. To a depth of 10 to 12 inches, loosen the soil using a garden fork. Compost should be layered on top of the soil for two to three inches.
- Sedum are robust, drought-tolerant succulents with innate survival instincts, making them some of the most forgiving of all plants.
- In order to transplant the sedum quickly and prevent the roots from drying out, prepare the planting place in advance.
Use a shovel or a garden fork to create a sizable circle around the sedum plant, then carefully remove it out of the ground along with a sizable mound of earth covering the roots.
Sedum should be planted in the designated planting area. Create a hole that is big enough to fit the sedum and the soil clump, then plant the sedum carefully inside the hole. Sedum should be planted at the same soil depth as in its prior location.
As soon as you plant the sedum, water it, and keep the soil moist until you notice new growth, which shows that the sedum has rooted in its new location. Sedum, like all succulents, is prone to rot, so don’t overwater it. The sedum will only sometimes require watering during hot, dry weather once the roots are developed.
- As soon as you plant the sedum, water it, and keep the soil moist until you notice new growth, which shows that the sedum has rooted in its new location.
Around the sedum plant, apply a 2-inch layer of organic mulch, then top it off each spring. Weeds will be suppressed and moisture will be retained by mulches like pine needles or bark.
When should sedum be reduced in size?
Spring – You should prune the plant back to the earth in the early spring. The new growth will be able to appear as a result. To remove the stems, chop them using pruning shears.
Summer: You might want to prune the plant by halving in May or June. A plant that has become excessively hefty and lanky will benefit from this. Make a clean incision at a point in the stalk that is immediately above a row of leaves. Don’t worry; fresh flowers will grow on the stems that were clipped.
Fall – Anytime is a good time to prune for maintenance. You might occasionally need to remove unhealthy or dead growth. Trim dead stalks back to the healthy portion or the soil’s surface.
Winter: Prevent pruning during the bitterly cold or extremely hot months. The plant is under the most stress at this time.
Sedum spreads quickly, right?
Sedums can survive in less-than-ideal environments, therefore the author covers a stone wall with a variety of them (identified in chart below).
A creeping sedum may be the ideal plant for you if you want something attractive that can survive with almost complete neglect. Sedums show off where many other plants would be afraid to tread. For instance, they settle in the crevices of a garden wall or pathway, on roofs or the tops of birdhouses with slightly sloping roofs, or even under huge trees where their gigantic roots control the majority of the soil’s moisture. Additionally, they function well in borders, containers, and rock gardens.
Many gardeners have started looking more closely at plants in the genus Sedum as seasonal and protracted droughts become more frequent across the United States. The ground-hugging relatives of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy,’ which is well-known for its late russet blooms, are also gaining popularity.
In my yard, creeping sedums, often called stonecrops, provide endless fascination. Over the course of my many years as a gardener, they rank among the most adaptable, drought-tolerant, and simple-to-grow perennials I’ve ever grown. Sedums really require less work from a gardener as their area grows. These slow-growing plants, which are renowned for their propensity to spread swiftly, prevent weeds from taking root. Since they eventually just fade away, it is not required to deadhead the spent blooms, but it is simple to get rid of old blossoms using a string trimmer. They rarely contract illnesses or pests as long as they aren’t overwatered.
Even the poorest soil may support sedums, and small amounts of soil are really their preferred medium. However, the key to cultivating them is proper drainage. A sedum will be quickly killed by excessive wetness, especially standing water, which will accomplish what no drought can.
Even in the driest conditions, sedums practically never need further water after they are established. Sedums function admirably almost anyplace as long as they receive proper drainage, but they are particularly well suited for gardens in hot, arid regions like the western United States. They can also be found sticking up from boulders or sprouting from only a few inches of scree in cold, alpine environments where they are widespread. For almost every USDA Hardiness Zone, there is at least one Sedum species. The majority of creeping sedums can tolerate little shade but prefer full sun. Native to North America, Sedum ternatum is one sedum that prefers shade and a little bit more moisture than its relatives.
Creeping Sedums
Hardiness: The Northern Hemisphere’s Sedum genus has more than 400 species of succulent annuals, perennials, biennials, subshrubs, and shrubs. Sedums are commonly grown as creeping ground coverings. Each USDA Hardiness Zone has at least one species that can withstand it. Most thrive in Zones 4 through 9. OUTLINE: Five-petaled flowers in shades of yellow, white, or pink lie above mats of succulent leaves that range in color from green to blue-gray to reddish bronze. In the winter, the leaves of evergreen species take on colours of crimson and russet. PROPAGATION: From spring to midsummer, propagate plants by division or seed in the spring or fall. Plant in rock gardens, walls, recesses in walkways, and pots. You may also use it as a border edging or in sweeps on slopes. The majority of creeping sedums like full sun, although they can also tolerate little shade. They prefer medium to poor garden soil that drains well; once they are established, no additional watering is required. They cannot endure any amount of time in standing water.
The author’s favorite sedums
Except for S. ternatum, all of these exceptional sedums prefer full sun or mild shade. The numbers in the chart that come before the name in the image below provide a key.
First S. album
2. S.’s “Murale” album
S. divergens 3.
S. ewersii 4.
S. kamtschaticum (5)
S. kamtschaticum (6)
S. reflexum 7. (S. rupestre)
‘Rose Carpet’ 8.
S. sexangulare 9.
S. spurium, “Fuldaglut” 10.
S. spurium “John Creech,” 11.
S. stenopetalum 12.
S. ternatum 13.
Creeping sedums change from season to season
Creeping sedums are attractive for their dependability and lack of fussiness, but I’m also drawn to them for their succulent leaves, lengthy flowering cycles, and, in some cases, year-round attractiveness in the garden. Sedum blooms often come in little, star-shaped clusters that range in color from white to yellow to purple to pink, and are no larger than an inch in diameter and 4 to 5 inches tall. The carpets of blossoms they generate when planted in large numbers are stunning. Many evergreen sedums, such as Sedum album “Murale” and Sedum stenopetalum, blush to a rich red or bronze color in the fall and even throughout the winter. These stunning contrasts to an otherwise inert landscape last until early spring. They look particularly lovely on a snowy background.
One of the simplest plants to grow from seed, cuttings, or divisions is the sedum. Stem cuttings or divisions will guarantee the maintenance of a plant’s traits once you’ve found one you like because sedums don’t always grow true from seed. Sedums spread quickly, yet they are not invasive. They are easily lifted and transported because of their thin roots. As long as there is adequate drainage, they may survive the winter in most planters and come out of dormancy in the early to midspring.
I complained as I pulled boulders from the cultivated sections of my father’s fields as a young child working on the family farm in northeastern Maryland. In a fitting irony, decades later I still wander the same fields looking for fascinating stones to use as backdrops and accents for my ever-growing collection of sedums.
A few ways to use creeping sedums
Sedums that are resilient make lovely staples. In a section of my rock garden, I utilize a lot of sedums to simulate a cascade. You can blend several sedums, such as the white-flowered Sedum album, the S. grisebachii, and the yellow-flowered Sedum sexangulare (foreground, first photo below) (background). They perform well in a region that can be seen from above.
These year-round, low-maintenance plants are ideal for containers. You won’t need to bring the pots indoors for the winter because creeping sedums do well in containers. Additionally, because of their drought tolerance, you won’t need to locate someone to water them while you are away. Sedums, like the yellow-flowered S. sexangulare (Sempervivum spp. and cvs., Zones 410, second photo below), can be used as underplantings or in combination with other succulents like hens and chicks.
Make stepping stones or rock walls’ sharp edges softer. Within cracks in a stone wall or between stepping stones, sedums, like S. spurium ‘Fuldaglut,’ grow with almost no soil (third photo, below). Use small, mature seedlings, usually referred to as plugs, and combine with some fine gravel and soil.
Utilize a patchwork of sedums to tame a difficult terrain. Maybe you have a spot where gardening and lawn mowing have never worked well together, like a hillside with compacted soil. It might be the perfect place to use creeping sedums, like the pink-flowered S. spurium ‘John Creech’ and others, to intertwine regions of color and texture. The “quilt will vary three times a year as the sedums exhibit the colors of their early-season foliage, then their blossoms, and finally their winter leaves in various tones.
How do I cut a sedum for a cutting?
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.