130+ Attractive Sedum Varieties [With Pictures]
Sedums are easy-to-grow succulents that add color and interest to your garden in summer and fall. There are hundreds of sedum varieties and most require little more than a sunny spot in well-drained soil.
Contents
Types of Sedums
Sedums come in 3 categories:
Upright Sedums
These Sedums have dense, domed flowers and succulent leaves on 1- to 2-foot stems. These taller sedum varieties generally behave like perennials and do well in zones 4 or 5 to 9, with a layer of winter mulch recommended in zones 4 and 5.
Creeping Sedums
These sedum varieties produce clusters of star-shaped flowers. They are well suited for ground cover, rock walls, roof gardens, living walls, or tucked into strawberry pots.
Trailing Sedums
One popular example is the donkey’s tail, also called burro’s or lamb’s tail. These are well-suited for draping over the edges of containers or hanging baskets.
Sedum Varieties
If you are wondering what kind of succulent you have, this article will help you identify 130+ Sedum varieties, both the common and the rare breeds.
Related Post:
1,000 Types of Succulents With Pictures.
Sedum acre
Sedum acre, commonly called common stonecrop or gold moss stonecrop, is a tiny, rhizomatous, tuberous-rooted, carpet-forming, evergreen succulent perennial that typically grows to only 3” tall but spreads in a moss-like fashion along the ground to 24” or more to form an interesting and often impressive ground cover. It is native to Europe, Northern Africa and Western Asia where it is primarily found in rock crevices, ravine edges and scrubby areas.
Plants are thickly clothed with blunt, conical, pale green leaves (each to only 1/4” long). Leaves overlap in a shingle-like fashion. Small, terminal clusters of tiny, star-shaped, five-petaled, yellow flowers (each to 1/2” across) bloom in flat terminal inflorescences just above the foliage throughout most of the summer.
Varieties of Sedum acre:
Sedum acre Elegans
Sedum actinocarpum
Sedum adolphii
Sedum adolphii, also known as Golden Sedum, is a tender succulent that grows up to 8 inches (20 cm) tall. It is a groundcover that forms rosettes of green-yellow leaves, up to 1.4 inches (3.5 cm) long. Sedum Adolphii develops an orange or red hue when it receives a great amount of sunlight.
Related Post:
Sedum nussbaumerianum vs Sedum adolphii
Sedum aizoon
Sedum aizoon, commonly called aizoon stonecrop, is a rhizomatous, tuberous-rooted, succulent, herbaceous perennial with upright usually branchless vertical stems rising to 12-20” tall with a spread to 24” wide. It is native from the Ural Mountains through Siberia to China where it is primarily found in rock crevices, ravine edges and scrubby areas.
Bristly stems are clad with alternate, sessile, flat but slightly reflexed, lanceolate to elliptic to ovate, succulent, bright green leaves (to 2-3” long) with irregularly toothed margins. Five-petaled, star-shaped, bright yellow flowers (to 1/2” across) bloom in flat terminal inflorescences (cymes to 3-4” wide) in summer (June-July).
Sedum allantoides
Sedum allantoides is a succulent plant that grows as a small shrub up to 12 inches (30 cm) tall. The leaves are arranged in rosettes. They are thick, powdery, pale blue-green, up to 1.2 inches (3 cm) long and up to 0.3 inches (0.8 cm) in diameter. The flowers are greenish-white and appear in summer.
Sedum alpestre
As its name suggests this is a plant of the hills and mountains and can be found on rocks even at heights of nearly 11,000 feet. Sedum alpestre is a low-growing species with yellow flowers sometimes having red veins in the petals. It is found in the Swiss Alps, the Julian Alps and Dolomites, and the Pyrenees and dotted about in some Greek and Corsican hills.
Sedum andegavense
Sedum anglicum
Sedum anglicum is a low-growing perennial with stubby, succulent, untoothed, alternate leaves. These are often greyish-green and may turn pink in dry conditions. The flowers are short-stalked and star-like, white (sometimes tinged pink), with ten contrasting stamens and five carpels. The fruits are red.
Sedum annuum (Annual Stonecrop)
The Annual Stonecrop is a small succulent plant with yellow flowers. It is more common in coastal regions and the southeast of Iceland. It resembles Sedum acre (Biting Stonecrop) but it is smaller and doesn’t form mats like the biting stonecrop. Also, all stems form flowers (not so in the perennial mats of the biting stonecrop). The yellow petals are narrower than the biting stonecrop.
Sedum atratum
Sedum atratum is a small mountain stonecrop with flowering stems deep, wine-red and tiny green leaves, changing to red in small clusters. A super-cute tiny sedum, with fiery red stems that makes great contrast with the rocks and other plants. Tedious to collect.
Sedum baleensis
Sedum bellum
Sedum bellums form rosettes of tiny, fleshy, chocolate brown-green leaves on a sturdy trailing stem. They grow 10 – 20cm tall, eventually lean back to the ground and trail producing new roots where it touches the soil.
They produce a cluster of orange flowers on tall stems. They are drought-tolerant, hardy and look stunning in rockeries, hanging baskets and water-wise gardens.
Sedum borissovae
Sedum brevifolium
Sedum brevifolium is a small but beautiful sedum species, bearing tiny, glaucous and succulent leaves that are topped with starry white flowers in summer.
It associates well with other sedum varieties and looks superb surrounded by pebbles or gravel in a container, rock garden or the cracks and crevices of walls. Though attractive in flower, Sedum brevifolium is at its very best in midwinter when its colorful evergreen foliage makes it stand out over other winter foliage plants.
Sedum bulbiferum
Sedum bulbiferum is a perennial succulent with a tangled, straggly habit. The stems are up to 2 feet (60 cm) long. The leaves at the stem tips or scattered, up to 0.6 inches (1.5 cm) long, opposite below, upper alternate. The flowers are small, star-shaped, yellow and appear in summer.
Sedum burrito
‘Discovered’ in 1970 in a nursery, the origin of this plant is quite an enigmatic mystery. There is no known record of Sedum burrito having occurred in habitat, so far its native habitat is unknown to science.
As Sedum burrito seems similar to the cliff dweller Sedum morganianum, which is native to Veracruz, Mexico and forms long cascading stems of glaucous blue-green leaves, there has been conjecture that perhaps Sedum burrito is a natural Sedum morganianum hybrid.
Sedum burrito, also known as burro’s tail, is distinguishable from the related Sedum morganianum for its shorter, fatter, rounder leaves and “tails”. Stems that emerge from the plant’s crown are thickly clad with juicy, grey-green leaves, which overlap like the coarse hair on a donkey’s tail.
The leaves are also less prone to breaking off the stem. In the summer the buds on the tip turn pink and begin to bloom. Donkey Tail sedum is very fragile and that the little bean leaves fall off quite easily.
Sedum caeruleum
Sedum caeruleum is an annual, succulent, bushy herb, glabrous or sparsely glandular-pubescent throughout, simple or much-branched from the base, erect, 5-15(-20) cm tall. The leaves are narrowly oblong and usually tinted red.
It is a very distinctive species, not the least because of its attractive star-shaped, blue flowers — a color otherwise not reported for species of sedum and altogether rare throughout the world of succulent plants, and is highly worthy of every attention that may be bestowed upon it. It is rather variable with regard to flower color and hairiness.
Sedum cepaea
Sedum cepaea is a bushy, annual plant producing usually a solitary, much-branched, erect stem; it can grow up to 30cm tall. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine. It has at times been cultivated for its medicinal uses. Sedum cepaea is a moderately cold-hardy plant, tolerating temperatures down to around -15°c when dormant.
Sedum clavatum
Sedum clavatum is an attractive succulent, up to 4 inches (10 cm) tall, with stout, creeping stems terminating in rosettes up to 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. The leaves are succulent glaucous, pale green or blue-green, sometimes with red tips.
It has a compact inflorescence of many white star-shaped flowers in mid to late spring to early summer. The stems lose their leaves as they elongate but are often covered by younger stems so the plant can look like a solid mat of attractive succulent gray-colored rosettes.
Sedum clavifolium
Sedum cockerellii
Cockerell’s stonecrop is a succulent perennial that grows to about 6 inches tall. It has flattened linear succulent leaves and white to pinkish flowers. It blooms from June to September depending on elevation. Plants grow in rocky often shady places in the mountains of Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas at elevations of 7,000-11,500 feet.
Many sedum varieties, or their close relatives, are popular garden plants or houseplants. Cockerell’s stonecrop is sometimes grown in rock gardens, but it is too small to make much of a display. Native plant nurseries often sell various species of stonecrops.
Sedum commixtum
Sedum commixtum, also known as Sedum ‘Comic Tom’, is a perennial, succulent subshrub, with several stems, up to 1 foot (30 cm) long, and with lax rosettes. The leaves are waxy, first blue-glaucous, later purplish-red or brownish, up to 1.2 inches (3 cm) long and up to 0.7 inches (1.7 cm) wide. The flowers are small, star-shaped and dull yellow.
Sedum compactum
The perennials have a mat-forming habit and reach heights of 2 to 4 centimeters. Sedum compactum is evergreen. The middle-green, simple leaves are arranged in rosettes. They are ovate, entire and sessile. Sedum compactum produces white five-stellate flowers in June and July. The perennials produce follicles.
Sedum confusum
Sedum confusum is a ground cover that forms a foliage mat up to 10 inches (25 cm) tall, spreading by trailing stems. The leaves are fleshy, oval, glossy dark green, and concentrate toward the tips of arching branches. It can get a pink tinge at its leaf edges when grown in full sun. Clusters of yellow, star-like flowers appear in summer.
Sedum corynephyllum
The Sedum corynephyllum is an upright succulent that has a core woody stem or branch in the middle from which fleshy and light green leaves grow. These leaves are cylindrical in shape.
Sedum cremnophila
Sedum cremnophila is a tender succulent with bronze-green rosettes up to 7 inches (17.5 cm) in diameter and star-shaped, yellow blossoms appearing in summer. The leaves are alternate, rosulate and turgid, with rounded margins and up to 4 inches (10 cm) long. The inflorescences are particularly long and horizontal or pendent.
Sedum creticum
Sedum cyaneum
Sedum cyaneum is an excellent groundcover plant, particularly for hot, dry sites with poor soil. This variety forms a flat, dense mat of gray-green leaves. Clusters of purple-pink flowers appear in late summer into fall.
Sedum cyaneum is well suited for the rock garden or edging in a dry border, also a good choice for containers. Sedum cyaneum makes a good companion plant for Eryngium amethystinum ‘Sapphire Blue.’
Sedum dasyphyllum
Corsican stonecrop, Sedum dasyphyllum, is a low-growing ground cover plant suitable for hot, dry situations. It forms a carpet of tiny round, powdery blue-green leaves, from which clusters of star-shaped flowers appear in early summer.
As winter approaches its leaves to develop a purple hue. Ideal for growing between stepping stones, on green roofs or in the crevices of dry walls, it may also be used as a lawn substitute given the right hot, dry conditions.
Sedum debile
Leaves of sedum debile are quite distinctive, being thick, rounded, and pinkish in color, and they form little globular clusters at the base of the flowering stalks. Leaf surfaces are somewhat glaucous. All plant parts are hairless. The leaf-bearing stems tend to grow along the ground, rising towards the upper end. Leaf tips are rounded, sometimes with a small, shallow notch.
Flowering stalks are longer than the stems, up to 5 inches, and they grow vertically upwards or at an angle. They also have opposite leaves, more widely separated than those on the stems, and tend to wither by flowering time.
Flowers are produced in a terminal cluster of between two and seven; each flower has five pale green, lanceolate, equally-sized sepals and five yellow, elliptic petals, around a third of an inch long. Petals are fused at the base. At the center of the flower are eight yellow stamens and five pistils.
Sedum dendroideum
Sedum dendroideum is a small, succulent shrub up to 3 feet (90 cm) tall and up to 4 feet (1.2 m) wide. It is often confused with Sedum praealtum. The leaves are green, spathulate and 1.6 inches (2.8 cm) long. It has a line of subepidermal glands all along leaf margins, a feature that immediately separates it from its look-alike relatives.
These glands can be red in summer but are clearly visible at all times. S. praealtum has no such glands and leaves tend to be more yellow-green. The large clusters of small vivid yellow, star-shaped flowers form above the foliage in late winter and early spring.
Sedum diffusum
Growing naturally on limestone rocky slopes, Sedum diffusum has adapted well to typical garden conditions. Sedum diffusum gives a unique peachy-colored foliage effect, mimicking the appearance of tightly-woven strings of jelly beans lying on the ground. In May, the mat is topped with small, white, star-shaped flowers. Sedum diffusum spreads slowly.
Sedum divergens
Sedum divergens (also known as Cascade Stonecrop) is a spreading ground cover native to the Pacific Northwest. It grows with sprawling stems up to 4.0″ tall covered with glossy green and pink leaves. The foliage is particularly round and stacks up in neat, opposite pairs. It blooms in summer with yellow, star-shaped flowers.
Sedum emarginatum
Sedum emarginatum (also known as Chinese Stonecrop) forms an evergreen mat of green, succulent foliage with rosettes of flat, paddle-shaped leaves. The foliage turns reddish-bronze in cooler weather. Displays a profusion of yellow, star-like flowers.
Sedum emarginatum is drought tolerant, requiring little water once established. It makes an excellent woodland groundcover, container spiller, or is even great planted on a green roof.
Sedum ewersii
(Also sometimes called Hylotelephium ewersii) This well-behaved Stonecrop species is an excellent edging or rock garden plant, particularly for hot, dry sites. It forms a low, non-spreading tuft or mound of rounded, blue-green leaves.
Rose-pink star flowers appear in late summer, clustered at the ends of each stem. Deciduous in winter, trim to the ground in late fall or early spring. Nice in gravel scree, alpine trough or mixed container. A good candidate for any collection of fine alpine plants.
Sedum farinosum
Sedum formosanum
Sedum forsterianum ‘Oracle’
Sedum fosterianum ‘Oracle’ is mat-forming, evergreen stonecrop that is native to western Europe. It typically grows to 4-8″ tall and spreads to 10-12″ wide. Non-flowering stems are densely covered with pointed, flattened, succulent, gray-green leaves (to 3/8″ long) in obconical rosettes.
‘Oracle’ is a cultivar that features star-shaped yellow flowers (1/2” wide) that bloom in terminal clusters (cymes) in summer (June-July).
Sedum furfuraceum
Sedum furfuraceum is a low-growing, branching succulent up to 4 inches (10 cm) tall and up to 1 foot (30 cm) wide. Leaves are egg-shaped, up to 0.4 inch (1 cm) long, dark green, covered in scurfy, whitish scales and aligned in tight, spiral rows. They are often reddish-purple in bright light.
Lower leaves turn a reddish-orange hue and later drop off to expose twisted, thick, gray-white stems. Pinkish-white, star-like flowers appear in early spring and each lasts for about 10 days.
Sedum glaucophyllum
Sedum glaucophyllum is a prostrate, mat-forming evergreen perennial plant forming patches up to 30–40 cm (12–15.5 in) in diameter. The leaves are glaucous green, succulent, rounded, 1–2 cm (0.5–1 in) long and wide, arranged in a dense helix on the stems.
The flowers are white, 10–12 mm (0.39–0.47 in) in diameter, with four slender, pointed petals; they are produced in clusters on erect stems up to 10 cm (4 in) tall, held above the foliage.
Sedum gracile
Sedum greggii
Sedum greggii is a perennial succulent plant with cone-shaped rosettes at the base of the flowering branches. Leaves are alternate oblanceolate or elliptic, rounded to obtuse, up to 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) long and up 0.2 inches (0.5 cm) wide.
Flowering stems are branched, up to 6 inches (15 cm) tall. Flowers are star-shaped and yellow in color. After yellow flowers are spent in midsummer, tightly packed, imbricate leaves form cone-like rosettes at the bases of stems. These buds elongate the following winter.
By spring, stems are seen for the first time as simple, terminal inflorescences of several flowers rise above still relatively tightly packed, elongated tufts.
Sedum grisebachii
Sedum grisebachii is an easy ground cover with tiny, bead-like leaves. Its color can vary from green to red. It thrives even in rocky soil and can tolerate full sun, drought and hard frosts. In summer it blooms with lots of tiny, star-shaped, yellow flowers. This species is native to the high elevations of Greece and Bulgaria.
Sedum griseum
Blue-gray narrow needle-like succulent foliage sits in dense whorls along the stems of this somewhat of a sub-shrub-like Sedum. Sedum griseum makes an easy container specimen plant or can be used in combination with other sedum varieties and succulents.
This is a native of Mexico and is not tolerant of hard frosts and freezes so bring it indoors into a sunny location for winter. The blue Sedum griseum may produce clusters of starry white flowers in winter and or early spring.
Sedum guatemalense
Sedum gypsicola
Sedum hakonense ‘Chocolate Ball’
This well-behaved Stonecrop species is an excellent edging or rock garden plant, particularly for hot, dry sites with poor soil. This unique variety forms a low-spreading mound of milk-chocolate, succulent, needle-like leaves that change to dazzling red with the onset of cooler temperatures in fall.
Yellow flowers appear in summer and continue into early fall. Gorgeous year-round. Reliable if provided with adequate drainage. Also well-suited for growing in tubs and alpine trough gardens. A good candidate for any collection of fine alpine plants.
Sedum hernandezii
Sedum hernandezii is one of the “Jelly Bean” Sedums that forms clusters of stems, up to 4 inches (10 cm) tall, with very chubby, emerald green leaves that have the same “cracked” epidermis as Sedum furfuraceum. Flowers are star-shaped, yellow and appear in winter and spring.
Sedum hintonii
Sedum hintonii has short but stout leaves that grow together in the form of a rosette. These leaves are additionally egg-like in shape and are light green in color, covered with numerous white spikes or hair throughout their length.
Sedum hirsutum
Sedum hirsutum (Hairy Stonecrop) is a perennial, succulent plant with dense, low clusters of Rosularia-like rosettes on erect stems up to 2 inches (5 cm) long. The leaves are up to 0.4 inches (1 cm) long, elliptic, flattened above, light green and pubescent.
The flowers are 5-, rarely 6-petaled, up to 0.3 inches (8 mm) long, white with somewhat united petals in a pubescent, few-flowered inflorescence.
Sedum hirsutum subsp. baeticum
Spreading succulent with rosettes to 4cm. Small green leaves with pink tinges in cold weather.
Sedum hispanicum
Sedum hispanicum is a low-growing, perennial, succulent plant up to 6 inches (15 cm) tall. It has blue-green, succulent foliage. As the weather warms, the foliage turns to a blue-grey color and it has a soft feathery feel to it. In late spring to summer it has clusters of small, whitish-pink blooms.
Sedum humifusum
Sedum humifusum is a low-growing, mat-forming, succulent plant up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) tall, with deep green foliage that turns bright red in heat and cold. Brilliant yellow, five-petaled flowers are up to 0.4 inches (1 cm) across and are produced in early summer. The neat, compact, miniaturized habit and freely produced flowers make this species a prized specimen.
Sedum hybridum
Sedum hybridum ‘Immergrünchen’ (Sedum Immergrunchen) is a robust ground cover with red and green foliage. It blooms from mid to late summer with yellow flowers and goes partially dormant in winter, losing some leaves until re-sprouting in spring. This variety is similar in appearance to Sedum kamtschaticum.
Sedum integrifolium
Sedum integrifolium is distinguished from most other sedum varieties by its broad, flat leaves. Sedum rhodanthum also has flat leaves but is distinguished by its red paniculate inflorescence.
Sedum japonicum ‘Tokyo Sun’
Sedum japonicum ‘Tokyo Sun’ is a mat-forming ground cover Sedum that pops bright yellow. It is only hardy to about 10F (zone 8) but it is an eye-catching accent in pots that can overwinter indoors.
The yellow tones need direct sun to stay vibrant and will fade to green if shaded. ‘Tokyo Sun’ stays under 3.0″ tall but spreads and mounds extensively on well-draining soil. Mature Sedum with established roots can tolerate at least a month of drought.
In the summer, large quantities of golden, star-shaped flowers emerge. They add even more depth to this colorful grower and even attract pollinators.
Sedum jurgensenii
Sedum kamtschaticum
Sedum Kamtschaticum, drought-tolerant stonecrop with clusters of star-shaped yellow flowers, begins blooming in late spring. Flowers will mature to bronze. Pleasing foliage all season – scalloped with glossy deep-green fleshy, spoon-shaped leaves. Forms a dense mat that is tinged with red tones in autumn.
Sedum kimnachii
Sedum kimnachii, commonly found and originating in Central Mexico, comprises dense and fleshy leaves that grow in the form of rosettes. These leaves are quite glossy and green in color, although they also turn red at the tips when exposed to the sun for a long time.
Sedum lanceolatum
Sedum lanceolatum is an evergreen Perennial growing to 0.2 m (0ft 8in). It is hardy to zone (UK) 6. It is in leaf all year, in flower from July to August, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is pollinated by Insects. The plant is self-fertile.
Sedum laxum
Sedum laxum ‘Roseflower’ is a native perennial from the mountains of Northern California and Southern Oregon. Roseflower has long, spatulate leaves of glaucous blue-green that stand upright and form a loose rosette. The stems branch readily and spread as a nice, sprawling ground cover. It produces tall bloom stalks with white to pink flowers.
Sedum lineare ‘Variegatum’
Sedum lineare ‘Variegatum’ (also known as carpet sedum, needle stonecrop or sea urchin) is a tough, low growing, evergreen succulent up to 6 inches (15 cm) tall and trailing up to 2 feet (60 cm) wide. The leaves are lanceolate, up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) long, pale green with a thin, creamy-white margin.
The new growth on this plant is often upright and then lies down under the weight of the stems and in shade, it tends to grow slightly more open and taller. Though not the main attraction, when this plant flowers in the early summer, the small, bright yellow, starburst flowers appear in short, tight cymes just above the foliage.
Sedum litoreum
Sedum litoreum is a small, erect, glabrous, annual succulent, up to 6 inches (15 cm) tall, usually simple or branched from the base. The leaves are bright green, oblong-elliptic to obovate, and up to 0.8 inches (2 cm) long. The flowers are star-shaped and pale yellow or greenish.
Sedum longipes
Sedum lucidum
Sedum lucidum is a hairless perennial succulent shrub to 20 cm high and has distinctive rosettes of very fat, lustrous, green leaves edged in red in bright light. The other thick-leaved species of Sedum of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt have leaves that are glaucous or dull green. It produces pretty little white flowers in winter.
Sedum lucidum obesum
Sedum lucidum obesum is a selected form of Sedum lucidum with fatter, rounder, glossy green leaves that take on an awesome cherry-red color in full sun. It is a compact, very smooth and shining succulent form. In all other characteristics, namely size and shape, flowers, fruits, roots, etc. it is very similar to the standard species.
Sedum makinoi
Sedum makinoi is a low-growing, succulent perennial, 4 inches (10 cm) tall, with slender, creeping stems. The leaves are opposite, fleshy, flat or rounded, green, up to 0.6 inches (1.5 cm) long and up to 0.4 inches (1 cm) wide. The flowers are yellow, star-shaped and appear in mid-summer.
Varieties of Sedum makinoi:
Sedum makinoi Limelight
Sedum macdougallii
Sedum mexicanum
Sedum mexicanum is a semi-hardy ground cover, likely from China, not Mexico. It is a lime green, an upright variety that likes a bit more shade and water than most Sedum. It produces bright yellow flowers and makes an excellent choice for ground cover, retaining walls, and rock gardens.
Sedum microsepalum
Sedum mocinianum
Sedum mocinianum is a perennial succulent plant with hanging stems up to 32 inches (80 cm) long and up to 0.2 inches (0.5 cm) in diameter. It is one of the most attractive of all sedum varieties. The leaves are arranged in dense rosettes or spirals on the upper stems, up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) long and up to 0.4 inches (1 cm) wide.
Stems, leaves, peduncles, bracts, sepals, and branches of the inflorescence are densely pubescent with hyaline hairs. The little, white flowers with dark red anthers appear in winter.
Sedum monregalense
Sedum monregalense forms a low mat of green, succulent foliage that turns reddish-bronze during times of environmental stress. The dramatically whorled, branching rosettes have leaves that arrive 4 at a time. Displays white, six-pointed, star-shaped flowers on thin, multi-branched stems.
Sedum montanum subsp. orientale
Lovely year-round blue-green foliage. Needle-like leaves give the appearance of a tiny conifer tree. Blue-gray foliage in early spring and fall becomes blue-green in the summer. The leaves take on purple to pink tones in the late fall and winter. Yellow flowers appear on tall stalks in midsummer.
This plant is nearly identical in appearance to the often-used Sedum reflexum ‘Blue Spruce’, but Sedum montanum is more reliably hardy and better-tolerates summer heat. Its foliage tends to be slightly bluer in color. An excellent choice for blue foliage and year-round interest.
Sedum montanum
Sedum moranense
Sedum moranense (Red Stonecrop) is an attractive succulent shrub up to 6 inches (15 cm) tall. The bright green leaves and stems take on pink tones in cooler weather, eventually turning bright maroon if temperatures are cold enough. The tiny, white flowers appear for a short time at the tips of the stems in midsummer.
Sedum moranii
Sedum moraniii is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common name Rogue River stonecrop. It is endemic to Oregon in the United States, where it only grows in Josephine County next to the Rogue River. The fleshy gray leaves of this sedum help it survive the long, sunny summer drought characteristic of its home.
Sedum morganianum
Sedum morganianum is a beautiful succulent with many, first erect, then pendant stems covered with fleshy, glaucous blue-green leaves. The stems arise from the base and grow up to 3.3 feet (1 m) long.
Leaves are lance-shaped, up to 0.8 inches (2 cm) long, and up to 0.3 inches (0.8 cm) in diameter. It resembles its relative, Sedum burrito, but with longer, pointier leaves. Flowers are purplish-pink to red-purple and appear in spring in pendant clusters at the ends of the longest stems.
Sedum morrisonense
Sedum mucizonia
Sedum multiceps
The pygmy Joshua tree (Sedum multiceps) is Algerian stonecrop of unusual growth. It forms mats of congested woody stems set with foliage-tipped branches and covered in August with large yellow stars.
Most of the tiny leaves are in clusters near the tips of the branches, giving the appearance of a miniature “Joshua Trees” (Yucca brevifolia) that grow in the American Southwest.
Sedum muscoideum
Sedum muscoideum is a distinct plant with tiny, imbricate leaves, tightly appressed to 8-cm (3-in) long, upright stems, and large yellow flowers that are produced in small numbers in summer. Sedum muscoideum carries large flowers with respect to the width of the stems and tightly packed leaves.
This is an easy plant to identify, but very similar to tiny forms of European Sedum acre. Sedum muscoideum resembles a tiny whipcord hebe and is much taller than S. acre var. minus. The Mexican species has no real inflorescences: sessile, kyphocarpic flowers appear at stem tips, with leaves clustered right up to the sepals. Sepals are free, somewhat unequal, and only one-third the length of long, lanceolate petals.
Sedum nevii
Sedum nevii is a succulent of tiny green rosettes with a copper sheen and a rare native plant from the southeastern US. This resilient grower makes an excellent ground cover and produces tiny white blooms in early to mid-summer.
Sedum nussbaumerianum
Sedum nussbaumerianum (Coppertone Stonecrop) is a low-growing, evergreen, perennial subshrub with attractive rosettes of thick pointed leaves, about 2 in. (5 cm) long at maturity. Yellow-green in partial shade, the leaves turn rosy-gold to bright coppery red in full sun.
Varieties of Sedum nussbaumerianum:
Sedum oaxacanum
Sedum oaxacanum is a low-growing, evergreen, perennial succulent up to 8 inches (20 cm) tall, that forms an attractive low mat with simple, fat, blue-green leaves dusted white on tips and set on red stems. The flowers are yellow, five-stellate and appear in summer.
Sedum obcordatum
Sedum obcordatum is a glabrous, perennial subshrub with peeling bark and easily breaking branches. Its bluish-green leaves are broadly rounded and glaucous and its flowers are yellow and greenish at the base.
Sedum oblanceolatum
Sedum oblanceolatum (also known as Oblongleaf Stonecrop and Applegate Stonecrop) is native to a restricted area of the Siskiyou Mountains in southern Oregon and northern California. Small rosettes of dusty gray multiply into snowflake-like patterns as this native Sedum forms colonies. In summer 3″ spikes of creamy yellow flowers appear.
Sedum obtusatum
The Sierran Stonecrop, Sedum obtusatum, grows all across the Sierra Nevada, extending to the southern Cascade Range and adjacent mountains, found over a wide range of elevations and quite variable in some aspects.
It is a typically low-growing plant producing compact rosettes of many small, thick, grey-green leaves (reddish in dry habitats), which are widest just below the tip. The upper edge may be flat, rounded or notched.
The inflorescence is a flat-topped cluster, borne on top of a reddish stalk several inches tall. Flowers have five-pointed sepals beneath five larger petals, yellow to brown in color. Fruit are capsules (five of them), red, later brown, and pointed at the apex.
There are four subspecies of sedum obtusatum (boreale, obtusatum, paradisum, retusum), differing in such aspects as another color, petal color, petal venation, bract length, and the number of flowers in the inflorescence.
Sedum obtusifolium
Sedum obtusifolium is an unusual-looking Sedum with attractive wide oval foliage that grows in pretty rosettes 6” wide & 3” tall. Planted in mass, the repetition of the rosettes is quite nice. Extra ornamental when the outer leaves turn red in droughty situations.
In Summer, the leaves are almost completely covered by clusters of large pink-tipped, white-centered, star-shaped flowers. Would be excellent in a vertical wall or smallish container. Native to Iran.
Sedum ochroleucum ‘Red Wiggle’
Sedum ochroleucum ‘Red Wiggle’ has interesting red and green coloring and needle-like foliage. It is a nice ground cover plant and forms lush mounds without overtaking the plants around it. It can produce small, yellow star-shaped blooms in summer tolerate extended droughts and hard frosts.
Sedum orbatum
Sedum orbatum is a species resembling a giant Sedum cuspidatum. Large, dull green leaves tinge red in summer, especially on margins. Stout stems rise to 25 cm (10 in), and large, succulent, spathulate-ovate leaves form clusters at stem tips, with the largest leaves cupping smaller ones.
The 10-cm (4-in) high inflorescence is glaucous and violet-gray, carrying a cluster of white 6-partite flowers with very keeled petals, tinged purple dorsally.
Sedum oreganum
Sedum oreganum is an evergreen perennial succulent up to 8 inches (20 cm) tall. Brilliant green leaves change to deep bronze in winter. Star-like flowers are bright yellow in color. It is in flower from July to August.
Sedum oregonense
Sedum oregonense, commonly known as Cream Stonecrop, is a sprawling succulent with ascending flowering stems from a basal rosette. Leaves are covered in whitish powder, egg- to spoon-shaped, widest above middle, rounded, and with a slight notch.
Leaves on stems are smaller. Inflorescence dense, with 3–16 flowers. Flowers united more than halfway, with rounded or slightly pointed tips, pale yellow or cream, usually drying to salmon. Grows in rocky ledges, gravelly places, talus slopes, at mid-elevations.
Sedum oteroi
Sedum oxypetalum (Dwarf Tree Stonecrop)
Sedum oxypetalum is a small, sometimes deciduous, tree-shaped, succulent shrub up to 4 feet (1.2 m) tall, with a stout trunk and upright stems with pale gray-green papery peeling bark. The stems hold small rounded obovate-shaped medium-green colored leaves with a small notch at the tip. In summer appear the fragrant, star-shaped, very pale yellow with pinkish-apricot colored centered flowers.
Sedum pachyphyllum
Sedum pachyphyllum is a small perennial bush forming or ground-hugging succulent up to 30 cm tall, with light silvery green, jelly, bean-like leaves along short stems. It spreads over time by rooting stems and fallen leaves that easily take root to form a dense ground cover.
It may become very straggly with age. Young plants may be quite compact and will flower when they are quite small. ln spring large sprays of bigger than usual, widely expanding starry blossoms in buttercup yellow, adorn the plant, with petals long and tapered, as are the carpels, stamens and stigma lobes.
Sedum pallidum var. bithynicum
Sedum pallidum var. bithynicum is a low ground cover species in gorgeous shades of pistachio green. This type has lots of tiny, narrow leaves and will not tolerate foot traffic like some of the other Sedum varieties. It originated in the alpine regions of Central Asia and produces white, star-shaped blossoms in summer.
Sedum palmeri
Sedum palmeri is a cool-greenhouse plant that produces sprays of large yellow-orange blooms that almost conceal the foliage. It is widely cultivated in northern Italy, where balconies are often lined with this plant.
In spring, when you look up at residential buildings, you can see row after row of bright yellow flowers of Sedum palmeri. It is probably related to Sedum obcordatum.
Sedum pilosum
A quite unique, rare and odd little biennial sedum from the Caucasus, the rosettes of which bear a remarkable resemblance to a small sempervivum. The bright pink flowers appear in spring on fleshy rosettes.
Although the rosette bearing the flowering stem dies, the plants will gently self-seed making a stable colony in sharply drained conditions.
Sedum pluricaule
Sedum pluricaule is a little-known succulent with small rounded foliage on sprawling stems with rosy pink flowers in June and July. Blue-grey foliage takes on rich reddish hues in cool weather. Grows 3″ x 12″, and of course likes well drained soil and full sun. Deciduous in winter.
Sedum polytrichoides
Sedum polytrichoides is a low-growing, mat-forming, evergreen, perennial succulent with ascending slender densely leafy stems. The leaves are alternate, linear-lanceolate to oblong and up to 0.6 inches (2 cm) long.
The flowering stems are ascending, slender, woody, branched from the base, up to 4 inches (10 cm) long and more remotely leafy than the sterile stems. The flowers are small, star-shaped and yellow in color.
Sedum potosinum
Sedum potosinums form rosettes of tiny, fleshy, grey-green leaves on a sturdy stem. They grow 10 – 20cm tall, eventually lean back to the ground and trail producing new roots where it touches the soil. They produce a cluster of white flowers on tall stems.
They are excellent groundcover plants, they are drought-tolerant, hardy and look stunning in rockeries, pots and water-wise gardens.
Sedum praealtum
Sedum praealtum is a small, succulent shrub up to 3 feet (90 cm) tall, spreading up to 4 feet (1.2 m) wide and rooting along stems to form a large mass. The leaves are green, spathulate and up to 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) long. The large clusters of small, vivid yellow, star-like flowers appear above the foliage in late winter and early spring.
Sedum pusillum
Sedum radiatum
Sedum radiatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common name Coast Range stonecrop. It is native to Oregon and California, where it is known from several coastal and inland mountain ranges, including the Klamath Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. It grows in many types of rocky habitat, sometimes on serpentine soils.
It is an annual or biennial succulent plant producing several stems with elevated, somewhat basal rosettes of leaves. The leaves are not much more than a centimeter long. They are green or yellowish with green, purple or red veining. The inflorescence is a short, erect array of many densely packed flowers. The flowers have yellow, cream, or white petals which are lance-shaped and one-half to 1 centimeter long.
Sedum ‘Red Canyon’
Sedum Red Canyon is a creeping succulent plant that tends to form a ground cover where it grows. This plant has thick and fleshy leaves that are usually greyish-green in color with tinges of pink that occasionally appear. They also have spiked edges.
Sedum reptans
Sedum reptans is a spreading, evergreen sedum with slender leaves of green and blooms of yellow. The drought-tolerant foliage often shades to red as the season progresses. It is a nice companion to flat-leaved Sedum varieties and spiky plants.
Sedum rhodanthum
Sedum Rosy Glow
Sedum Rosy Glow is a hybrid with blue-green leaves along with clusters of pink flowers that bloom in the months of fall. These flowers are what earn this species its name.
Sedum rubens
Sedum rubens is a small erect therophyte (annual herb), 2-15 cm, glandular-hairy especially in the upper parts, greyish-green, usually glaucous, and eventually becomes reddish. The flowering stem is branched 2 to four times above and bears several white or rarely pink flowers in spring.
The flowers are star-shaped, have 5 white pinkish petals with deep red keels, and are held in a 2-4 branched, leafy inflorescence. Fruits are also hairy, pointed at the tip, star-shaped.
Sedum rubrotinctum
With leaves resembling jelly beans, Sedum rubrotinctum is a low-growing, evergreen perennial with chubby leaves, about 1 in. long (2.5 cm), which spiral around the stem. Red at the tips with exposure to heat or cold, the leaves turn almost entirely red in summer before changing back to bright green in winter.
The sprawling stems root readily where they contact the soil. Abundant bright yellow star-shaped flowers appear in winter and early spring. Sedum rubrotinctum is a tender perennial that can survive an occasional freeze.
Sedum rupestre
Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’ is a low-growing, mat-forming, evergreen perennial with a brilliant golden-yellow foliage of needle-like leaves, which turns copper-orange in winter.
Sitting atop 8 in. (20 cm) upright stems, clusters of small, yellow, starry flowers appear in midsummer. Vigorous, Angelina’ spreads quickly and can be used to create rivers of color in flower beds or as a cheerful groundcover.
Sedum sediforme
Sedum sediforme is a robust glabrous perennial succulent herb. This species of stonecrop produces several short, leafy but non-flowering shoots as well as long, erect, fleshy flowering stems that become woody at the base.
The thick, waxy-glaucous or green leaves are lance-shaped and flat on one side and taper to soft, spinescent tips, but often fall off by flowering time. The greenish-yellow, star-shaped flowers have many yellow stamens and are produced in heads that uncurl to become almost flat-topped.
Sedum shitaiense
Sedum sieboldii
Sedum sieboldii is a low, spreading species that forms a rounded mound, sending out horizontal branches from the central crown. The ¾” round, blue-green leaves are borne in 3’s around the stems and each leaf is narrowly outlined in deep pink.
During the hot summer months, this pink edge intensifies. In early fall, bright pink, star-shaped flowers are borne in small clusters at the ends of the stems.
Sedum smallii
Sedum spathulifolium
The Broad-leaf stonecrop (Sedum spathulifolium) is a glabrous, mat-forming, perennial herb with slender rootstocks, and propagating by lateral offshoots. It has spoon-shaped leaves congregate at the tips to form tight green rosettes dusted with a chalky bloom that wears away to reveal crimson high-lights masked underneath.
Plants spread by stout branched rhizomes and procumbent or creeping aboveground stems terminating in a rosette. The yellow flowers can vary but bloom in clusters on short stems only around 10 cm tall. The flowers are sweetly fragrant. It is quite variable and usually divided into at least four sub-taxa. Numerous cultivars have been selected for garden use.
Sedum spectabile
Sedum spectabile is a deciduous perennial that forms a dense bun-shaped clump of fleshy leaves that are dark green with a slightly glaucous appearance.
In colder climates, this bushy clump will die back in winter while autumn brings the attractive flower heads that emerge at the tips of the stems. The flower heads appear as flattish clusters of soft pink/mauve.
Sedum spurium
Sedum spurium is a vigorous, fast-spreading, mat-forming herbaceous succulent perennial native to the Caucasus Mountains. It produces numerous creeping, rooting stems up to 15 cm long and forms dense mats from 30-70 cm or more in diameter and 7.5 cm tall. Plants bear rounded evergreen leaves topped by rounded clusters of starry red, pink or white flowers in late summer.
Like all those of the same genus, the flowers of Sedum spurium have 5 petals and 5 stamens. It is a variable species in respect to the size and dentation of the leaves and flower color. It is widely cultivated and a number of cultivars are available. In flower, this sedum is one of the most rewarding dwarf plants in cultivation.
Sedum stahlii
Sedum stahlii is an evergreen succulent groundcover that forms loose mats to 30 (or more cm across) by 5-25 cm tall. This plant is easily recognized for its thick, egg-shaped leaves (often considered bead-shaped), which are opposite, dark red to russet green and grow on trailing stems.
The leaves drop off almost as soon as you touch them, which then root rapidly. The flowers are star-shaped bright yellow with greenish veins and appear in late spring to early summer.
It looks to be a variation of the common “jelly bean plant” (Sedum rubrotinctum), and is known by its common name of “coral bells”. Only Sedum obcordatum regularly has opposite leaves, but the leaves of that are flat, obcordate, and glaucous, not terete, globular or elliptic-oblong, and hairy, as in Sedum stahlii.
Sedum stefco
Sedum stefco has bluish-green succulent leaves on deep red stems, turns red in hot weather, and produces white flowers in late summer. Low and flat, the tiny foliage turns red in winter.
This stonecrop is a popular choice for rock gardens, containers and green roof mixes as it blends well with other low-growing succulents, is drought tolerant and fills in quickly.
Sedum stellatum
Sedum stenopetalum
Sedum stenopetalum is a succulent species producing mats or clumps of lance-shaped, linear, or three-lobed leaves each under 2 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a short, erect array of one to many flowers with lance-shaped petals up to a centimeter long. The petals are yellow, sometimes with red veins.
Sedum stoloniferum
This is a great perennial low growing sun-loving drought tolerant ground cover. Herbaceous evergreen perennial growing 8 inches with pink flowers in June to July.
Sedum suaveolens
Sedum suaveolens is a clump-forming succulent, up to 18 inches (45 cm) tall and about the same in width, with rosettes up to 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter. The leaves are glaucous blue-green to alabaster white. They are often tinged pink with a flattened upper surface, keeled below and slightly up curving towards the tip.
From within the rosette emerges stolons from which new rosettes form. Like the stolons, a short inflorescence, barely reaching beyond the edge of the leaves, emerges from within the rosette, bearing sweetly fragrant white flowers.
Sedum tenellum
Sedum tenellum is a carpet-forming growing up to 4-10cm, with very leafy stems and evergreen leaves. The flowers which emerge in June and July are small and either red or pink. Sedum tenellum does well in sunny places and also in partially shaded areas.
Sedum ternatum
Sedum ternatum, commonly called three-leaved stonecrop (also commonly called whorled stonecrop), is a small, spreading, Missouri native perennial which typically occurs in damp locations along stream banks, bluff bases and stony ledges (as in stonecrop). Grows 3-6″ high and spreads by creeping stems which root at the nodes.
Stems break away and die in winter, leaving newly rooted plants separated from the mother plant. Features small, rounded, fleshy, succulent-like leaves (to 3/4″ long) which appear in whorls of three, thus giving rise to the common names. Clusters of tiny white, star-like flowers (to 1/2″ wide) with purplish stamens appear on erect stems above the foliage in spring.
Sedum tetractinum
Sedum tetractinum ‘Coral Reef’ is a low-growing, mat-forming stonecrop or sedum cultivar. Foliage typically grows to 3” tall but spreads to 12” wide or more. Creeping stems root at the nodes. Tiny, star-shaped, white to pale pink flowers (to 3/4”) bloom in July-August on stems rising to 4-5” tall. It has round flat green leaves.
Sedum torulosum
Sedum treleasei
Sedum treleasei is an attractive succulent with pale blue-green, thick and fleshy leaves. It develops stems, up to 1 foot (30 cm) tall, that branch to form a good-sized clump in time. Leaves are somewhat flattened on top, rounded below and up to 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) long.
Older leaves often take on a yellow tinge at the tips and margins, and sometimes there is a flush of pink on the leaf tips. Flowers are yellow, star-shaped, up to 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) across and appear in late winter to early spring on up to 6 inches (15 cm) long stalks.
Sedum tymphaeum
Sedum urvillei
Sedum urvillei has fairly upright shoots, 5 – 12 cm (2 – 5 in) high, imbricately covered with gray-green or reddish, semi-terete leaves, each with a distinct, large, broad, truncate spur.
Stems are shaggy with dead, silvery-gray leaves, and the inflorescence is a few-branched, short, compact cyme carrying yellow flowers, which could by the casual observer be taken for those of Sedum acre.
How To Care For Sedum Varieties
Light
Sedums grow best in locations where they will enjoy the full sun for at least six or more hours per day. Most species will tolerate partial shade but will not thrive in deep shade. When indoors, keep Sedums in a sunny window or under artificial lights.
Water
Sedums are quite drought tolerant but do need some water. They do their best with weekly watering from spring through fall, but may require more in extremely hot weather or if planted in a container. Make sure not to overwater them though, as that can be fatal. Wait until the soil is completely dry between watering. Newly planted sedums should be watered daily for the first couple of weeks.
Soil
Sedums require well-drained soil, and most prefer slightly acidic conditions with a soil pH of 6 to 6.5.
Climate
Sedums can tolerate freezing temperatures. Most are cold hardy in USDA hardiness zones 5a to 9b, -20 to 30 °F (-28.9 to -1.1 °C). Some species will tolerate temperatures down to USDA hardiness zone 4a, -30 °F (-34.4 °C). Sedums are also tolerant of heat and drought.
Keep indoor Sedums at temperatures between 60 and 70 °F (15 and 20 °) through the winter. When temperatures drop below 50 °F (10 °C), plants start to go dormant.
Fertilizing
Sedums prefer lean conditions. In fact, unless your soil is extremely poor, it may be best to avoid fertilizer at all. If you do need to add some nutrients to the soil, it is best to apply an organic fertilizer at half-strength during the growing season or a light layer of compost. Chemical fertilizers tend to cause stretching and flopping on taller varieties. Mulch should not be applied up against the base of the plant because this can cause rot.
Pruning
Sedums are very low maintenance and pruning isn’t necessary. You can clean them up a bit after winter by removing any dead or damaged branches or foliage; this will also help keep your sedums healthy.
For upright sedum varieties, pinch new growth in spring to promote branching and shorter growth; this will help keep them from getting leggy and drooping. Deadheading sedums in fall isn’t necessary, as the flower heads provide fall and winter interest.
Ground cover types can be trimmed to stay within their boundaries. If you don’t want seedlings from these creeping varieties, the flower heads can be removed after blooming in summer.
Propagating Sedum
Sedums can be propagated by division, cuttings, or seed. For upright sedum varieties, division is the easiest and is best done in early spring. Dig the plant up and divide it into wedges, making sure to get some new budding areas within each section. Replant the sections.
Sedums can be divided every few years. For the creeping sedum varieties, take a clipping and place the cut end in a shallow layer of potting soil.
If you are using leaves or cuttings, ensure that you cut them from a mature plant. Keep some of the roots intact with the leaf clusters. You should let the stem cuttings or leaf clusters rest and dry for a few days so that they can become ready for planting. The cuttings might swell up a bit as well.
Then, prepare a pot or container and fill it with the soil mix. Sow the seeds, leaves or cuttings into the soil. Lightly water the plant without overdoing it. Keeping the soil moist enough will be sufficient in the beginning.
For the leaves and cuttings, the roots will grow out within a couple of weeks and develop into tiny plants. The seeds might take a bit longer than that to germinate.
You can then go on to carry out the regular care requirements. Once the plant grows big enough, you can repot it carefully into a larger container.
Sources:
https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org
https://rareplant.me
www.ukwildflowers.com
https://botanicallyinclined.org
https://www.gardenersworld.com
https://worldofsucculents.com
https://www.llifle.com
https://temperate.theferns.info
https://www.fs.fed.us
https://greatplantpicks.org
https://www.perennials.com
https://www.bluestoneperennials.com
https://pfaf.org
https://www.crassulaceae.ch
https://www.americansouthwest.net
https://plantlust.com
www.gardenia.net