Content
- 1 Description of groundcover sedum
- 2 Types and varieties of ground cover stonecrops
- 3 Creeping sedum in landscape design
- 4 Breeding features
- 5 Planting and caring for groundcover sedum
- 6 Diseases and pests
- 7 Possible problems
- 8 Interesting Facts
- 9 Conclusion
Sedum groundcover is a very hardy, easy-to-grow and beautiful ornamental plant. To appreciate its benefits, you need to study the description of the culture and popular varieties.
Description of groundcover sedum
Groundcover sedum, or sedum, is a succulent plant from the Tolstyankov family. It is a short perennial, less often a biennial. Stonecrop leaves are fleshy and whole, are attached directly to the stem in a regular or mosaic order, often form rosettes. Their shade depends on the lighting, in the sun stonecrop becomes reddish in color, in the shade it remains green. In height, the plant can reach 25-30 cm.
Stonecrop looks spectacular in the garden even outside the flowering period
Sedum blooms from July to September. The perennial produces stellate flowers, collected in thyroid, racemose or umbellate inflorescences. Depending on the variety, it can produce pink, white or yellow buds, bloom profusely and looks very decorative.
In the middle of summer, stonecrop is decorated with tall bright inflorescences
Ground cover perennial sedum grows all over the world - in Eurasia and Africa, South and North America. He chooses mainly meadows and dry slopes, he does not like high humidity, but he perceives dry soils very well.
Types and varieties of ground cover stonecrops
In total, there are several hundred types of stonecrop with photos and names. But only some of them are popular, the most beautiful and unpretentious to growing conditions.
Large sedum (Maximum)
Stonecrop is also called medicinal or ordinary. The perennial is widespread in Europe, with thick green leaves adhering tightly to the fleshy short stems.
Matrona
A tall ground cover variety reaches 60 cm, a distinctive feature is bluish-green leafy plates with a reddish bloom. During flowering, it releases light pink buds.
Matrona is one of the highest varieties of ground cover sedum, up to 60 cm tall
Linda Windsor
The variety rises to 35 cm, has rounded dark purple leaves. From July to September it brings red flowers and attracts a lot of attention in the garden.
Stonecrop Linda Windsor in the decorative period is made higher due to inflorescences
White sedum (Album)
A short view up to 20 cm in height, the leaves of a perennial are rounded-elongated, turn red by autumn. Buds appear in June and July, usually white or light pink in shade, collected in corymbose inflorescences.
Atropurpurea (Atropurpureum)
Distinctive features of the variety are brown leaves. In July, Atropurpurea blooms profusely and brightly with white buds, while the leaves turn green for a while.
Sedum Atropurpurea rises up to 10 cm
Coral Carpet
Dwarf variety no more than 10 cm tall. In the photo of creeping sedum, it can be seen that the leaves of Coral Carpet are bright green with a coral tint in the warm season, turn red by autumn. In June and July, the cultivar bears small white-pink flowers.
Coral Carpet exudes a pleasant smell during flowering
Sedum Acre
A very hardy and unpretentious variety of stonecrop. It rises in height by 5-10 cm, has diamond-shaped dark green leaves. It usually blooms with golden yellow buds in mid-summer.
Aurea (Aureum)
The variety rises to a maximum of 20 cm and spreads 35 cm wide. The leaves are golden-green, bright, in July they are almost completely hidden under the abundant flowering, the perennial brings star-shaped yellow buds.
The sedum Aurea is characterized by good cold resistance and hibernates at temperatures up to - 35 ° С
Yellow Queen
The peculiarity of the variety is small lemon-green leaves that form a thick cushion above the soil. From June to July gives bright yellow small buds in semi-umbellate inflorescences, feels good in sunny areas.
Sedum Yellow Queen rises up to 10 cm above the ground
False sedum (Spurium)
Unpretentious creeping variety up to 20 cm tall with concave heart-shaped or wedge-shaped leaves. It is characterized by late flowering, from July to August.
Green Mantle
A perennial plant up to 10 cm tall is distinguished by very juicy emerald-green rounded leaves. From July to August, it is abundantly covered with bright yellow flowers.
Green Mantle variety looks equally decorative during flowering and outside it.
Roseum
False groundcover grows naturally in meadows and mountain slopes of the Caucasus. It stretches in height by an average of 20 cm, the leaves are fleshy, dark green, with blunt teeth at the edges. During the decorative period, it is abundantly covered with pink corymbose inflorescences.
Roseum blooms from June to August.
Sedum spatulate (Spathulifolium)
Stonecrop with a height of about 15 cm and fleshy spatulate leaves with rosettes at the ends. It blooms in mid-summer and bears mostly yellow buds. Does not shed foliage for the winter, but needs shelter.
Cape Blanco
A low-growing variety with bluish leaves, covered with a white bloom and reddening in the sun. In June and July, it is covered with bright yellow inflorescences, rising 15 cm above rosettes on long peduncles.
Sedum Cape Blanco grows well in sun and shade
Purpurea (Purpureum)
In the photo of the type of ground cover stonecrop, it is noticeable that it has bluish-purple leaves with a silvery bloom. Purpurea does not exceed 7 cm in height, the peduncles extend over the rosettes by another 10 cm. The decorative period falls in July and August, the variety brings small yellow buds in star-shaped inflorescences.
Sedum Purpurea prefers to grow on dry rocky soils
Creeping sedum in landscape design
Basically, groundcover sedum in landscape design is used for several purposes:
- to create carpet in low-growing flower beds;
The sedum can be combined with any perennials with similar soil requirements.
- as color spots;
Bright creeping stonecrops allow you to diversify the space on the lawn or in the rocky garden
- for decorating parapets, roofs and balconies.
Stonecrop is used in roof decoration
Low-growing groundcover sedum is a very vibrant crop that can quickly and abundantly spread throughout the garden. With the help of a perennial, any area can be revived, it is only important to ensure that sedum does not start crowding other plants.
Breeding features
Stonecrop can be propagated by both seed and vegetative methods. But most often it is cuttings that are used, it allows you to get a new copy of the plant the fastest.
Sedum cuttings have their own characteristics. They spend it like this:
- several healthy parts of the shoots are separated from the mother bush;
- lay them out on a tray and leave for 2-3 hours in the shade in a dry place;
- when the cuttings dry out a little, they are immediately planted in a pot or in open ground in the garden.
When grafting sedum, it is important to dry the material and immediately plant it in slightly damp soil.
Planting and caring for groundcover sedum
Planting a hardy groundcover on your site is easy. To do this, it is enough to adhere to a few basic rules.
Recommended timing
In the middle lane and in the northern regions, stonecrop is usually rooted in the soil at the end of May, when the temperature is stable at 15 ° C day and night. In the southern regions, autumn planting in mid-September is permissible, the seedling will have enough time to adapt to cold weather.
Site selection and soil preparation
Stonecrop can grow in a sunny area and in light shade. It is not recommended to plant it in a poorly lit place, since in this case the plant will begin to stretch up strongly and lose its attractiveness.
Stonecrop requires fertile soil, but light. The selected area is dug up and sand, crushed stone and wood ash are brought in. You can also add a shovel of humus and potash-phosphorus fertilizers. The hole is made small, a few centimeters deep, and immediately watered with warm water.
Planting stonecrop
Planting sedum in the ground is a very simple task. A small bush, sprout or even a fleshy dried leaf of a plant is lowered into a prepared hole and sprinkled with soil. It is not necessary to water the succulent; for the first time, moisture is introduced only a week after planting.
Stonecrop leaves and shoots are planted in the ground without prior rooting
Care features
When growing sedum, you need to monitor mainly the level of humidity and so that the culture does not spread to neighboring plantings. Groundcover sedum is very unpretentious and rarely creates problems for gardeners.
Watering and feeding
It is necessary to water the succulent only during a long summer drought, and the soil needs to be slightly moistened. The rest of the time, the plant receives moisture from precipitation.
You need to feed sedum twice a season. In spring, in dry weather, you can water the succulent with a diluted mullein or complex minerals, in the fall at the end of September or at the beginning of October, it is permissible to use liquid bird droppings.
Weeding and loosening
Since stonecrop can rot on compacted and moist soil, it is recommended to loosen it shallowly once a month to saturate it with oxygen. At the same time, weed shoots can be removed from the ground, which take away useful substances and water from sedum.
If a caustic sedum grows on the site, then weeds in the immediate vicinity of it will not develop, the poisonous plant will displace them on its own.
Pruning
Stonecrop grows rather quickly and can go beyond the allotted area. Therefore, as necessary, it is cut off, the procedure is carried out in the spring or in the middle of autumn. During cutting, too long stems, dry and damaged leaves are removed, in general, no more than 1/3 of the green mass is eliminated.
To maintain its decorative shape, sedum should be regularly trimmed.
The trimmed parts of the succulent are collected and destroyed. It is important to make sure that the sprouts do not fall on the ground somewhere else in the garden, otherwise the sedum will easily take root in a random place, catching on to the soil.
Wintering
With the onset of autumn, in mid or late October, it is customary to cut off stonecrop, leaving 3-4 cm sprouts above the ground level.In the southern regions, the succulent can be left open until spring, in the middle lane and in the north it is covered from above with a layer of soil, dead leaves and dry branches. You can also cover the area with lutrasil for insulation and protection from snow.
Pruning in the southern regions is optional. But it is recommended to perform it, since last year's shoots will still lose their attractiveness over the winter, and they will have to be removed in the spring.
Transfer
Stonecrop is recommended to be grown in one place for no longer than 5 years. After that, a transplant is carried out, the plant is carefully dug out of the ground and transferred to a new site, where it is re-rooted in the ground in the usual way. If the sedum has grown strongly, then first it is divided into several parts, the rhizome is cut or aerial shoots are taken. In both cases, the succulent will take root very quickly.
5 years after planting, sedum must be transferred to a new location.
Diseases and pests
The ground cover plant has good immunity and rarely suffers from ailments. However, gray rot is dangerous for stonecrop. The disease develops on excessively moist soil, dark spots appear on the leaves of the succulent, and then it begins to fade quickly. When the first symptoms are found, the affected shoots should be immediately removed and treated with Fundazol.
The most common disease of stonecrop is gray rot, which occurs when waterlogging
Of the pests for stonecrop are dangerous:
- weevils;
The weevil feeds on sap from stems and leaves and can heavily eat sedum
- thrips;
Thrips feed on the juice of fleshy leaves and impair the development of groundcover
- caterpillars of butterflies.
Caterpillars of butterflies can strongly chew on the succulent leaves of sedum
Insect control is carried out using Actellik. It is important to inspect the plantings more often in order to notice the appearance of pests in time.
Possible problems
Difficulties in growing sedums are practically not created. Possible problems include only:
- swampy soil in an area with succulent - in conditions of high humidity, sedum will not be able to develop and will quickly begin to rot;
- close proximity to other perennials, if you plant other crops next to sedum, it will displace them, besides, few plants have similar growing requirements.
Interesting Facts
The Latin name of the culture "Sedum" is derived from the Latin word "sedare", meaning "pacification" - the fleshy leaves of stonecrop have analgesic properties. There is another version of the origin - from the word "sedere", or "sit", since most species of succulents grow very close to the ground.
In literature and among the people, the plant is called not only stonecrop, but also hare grass, feverish grass. Sedum leaves are actively used in home medicine to treat ailments.
In the old days, sedum was endowed with mystical properties. According to the signs, a wreath can be weaved from the shoots of a plant and hung over the threshold to protect against evil. Succulent sedum, even when cut, does not fade for a long time, therefore it can serve as a talisman for a dwelling for several months.
Sedum has anti-inflammatory and healing properties
Conclusion
Sedum ground cover is a hardy and undemanding succulent plant. When growing, it is important not to overmoisten the soil, but otherwise the sedum feels comfortable in almost any conditions.
