Today I thought I might take you on a little parade through the sedum collection.  I have no idea how many different taxa I grow–surely dozens upon dozens.  Many of us no doubt appreciate the ‘Autumn Joy’ “types” that start to bloom now and continue through fall.  I’ll do a round with those later.  Today I focused the camera on groundcover sedums.

Sedum album ‘Murale’ –This chocolately, sedum family wunderkind is one of my newfound favorites.  In just a couple seasons, this little white-flowered sedum has taken off with vigor and apparent glee, cozying up to nearby rock cress (Arabis) and shining in the garden through four season thanks to its evergreen nature.  A must have.

Sedum ewersii var. homophyllum –Here’s one ultra-hardy sedum, reported by some to thrive winters as far north as USDA Zone 2.  Bright pink flowers occasionally complement marine, blue-green foliage, but I can’t recall seeing them more than a couple of times in the last few years.  It’s really all about that cool kid foliage.  I always expect it to be cooler to the touch for some reason–it’s just looks “cold”.  Terrific.

Sedum sieboldii –There are more Siebold stonecrops floating around gardens and nurseries than any one of us needs.  It self-seeds freely, but not enough to make a nuisance of itself.  I’ve saved some fun seedlings over the years with different leaf margins, etc., but nothing to get all worked up about.  The cultivar ‘Mediovariegatum’ is one of my favorites.  Commonly known as October daphne, it throws up hot pink flowers very late in the fall and spells dynamo when paired with those sharply variegated, coin-shaped leaves.

Sedum spurium ‘John Creech’ –This sedum tops my “desert island” list (a list of my 25 must-have plants should I ever be shipwrecked on a lonely island with the option of a having a lovely garden).  Nothing fancy about the foliage.  But it’s reliably tough, blooms well, seeds around a bit (that’s a plus for me–a sign of happiness), and forms the perfect ground-hugging mat.

Sedum tetractinum –This may also be a candidate for the “desert island” list.  This stonecrop has the weirdest-colored foliage ever.  Bronze, green, and yellow blend together to create a pseudo-metallic color that catches my eye every time I’m in the garden.  It’s hardy, shows off yellow flowers in late spring, and laughs at our Midwestern winters and summers.  It’s also seeding a bit in its immediate vicinity.  Kind of reminds me of carpet colors from the 1960s, only with far more class and style!

Sources for sedums:

SMG Succulents (formerly Squaw Mountain Gardens)

Joy Creek Nursery

Plant Delights Nursery

{Terribly important side note:  You may have already noticed that I’m not following my usual etiquette of capitalizing and italicizing the word sedum.  That’s because the genus Sedum as we know it has been broken into a number of other nomenclatural monikers.  The genus Sedum does still exist in this new state of taxonomic fun, but for now they’re still sedums in my garden, vernacularly and botanically.}