Pronunciation // I’m ashamed to admit I never grew a creeping sedum until 2009. Unconscionable, I know. I tend to think big when starting beds (and I’ve started far, far more beds than I’ve finished) and top it off with the small stuff. Plus I always figured Sedums would be there, right? I mean, they’re colorful, they’re succulents, they’re a million things I love, but they’d be around. Well, taking Sedums for granted was my loss.
‘Bertram Anderson’ was the Sedum that changed all that. Reason: it’s PURPLE. It is such a great purple, people. I’ve been on a purple foliage kick for a while now, and this is one your neighbors will cross the street for. (Mine did.) OK, so in the pics here it’s a little blue, but that’s because mine was in a little shade. The more sun it gets, the purpler it is.
All the great Sedum attributes apply — drought tolerance, low maintenance, ease of growth. Bloom is pink, but fades to a chocolate brown that works in concert with the leaf color in a way I can’t get over.
The only drawback I’ve found, and this would apply to any creeping plant, is that when I planted it so it would trail over the cobble edging of my front flowerbed, I didn’t think about the “mow high” organic lawn we have growing on the other side, so grass grew through the Sedum. Oops. In this case, Sedum, I think it’s not you, it’s me.
Confession: these photos suck. Clearly I’m even still taking Sedums for granted in photographing my garden. Sedums: I promise, this is our year!
Lowdown:
- COLOR, COLOR, COLOR: You know the urgency with which “fire engine” describes the color that is “fire engine red”? Think of this as “fire engine purple.” Flowers are bright pink, but again, I love them even more once they’ve browned. Brown + purple = a match made in color heaven.
- LIGHT: Full sun is a standard Sedum requirement, but I gotta tell you, I noticed quite a lot of them growing in part shade late last year, and as I said, Bertram turns a nice blue in shade. This shall require further investigation.
- WATER: All Sedums are succulents, and they’re low-water plants.
- LOW MAINTENANCE: Periodic weeding, removal of dead stuff in early spring. That’s it!
- FAMILY TREE: Sedums are part of the family Crassulaceae, which includes a lot of little house leeks and hens and chicks you’d recognize. Also? The common jade plant, Crassula ovata. ALSO, there’s a chance this Sedum may be called Hylotelephium now, but I think there’s some back and forth with that, so I’m sticking with Sedum. Bertram is a cross between Sedum cauticola and another I couldn’t find — anybody know the other parent?
I heart sedums! Not only are they care-free in the garden, but they make excellent container plants for those of us who occasionally forget to water.
That is a very good point, Rick, and you can totally include me in that us who forget to water containers. Speaking of, I’ve got a review of Debra Lee Baldwin’s new book for tomorrow or Friday, and she’d totally agree with you on that point too.
(Also, her photos will make it GLARINGLY obvious how bad mine are here — oh, well.)
Love me some sedum. It grew in our back courtyard in Louisiana. Just the other day, I was thinking that I might need to put some Mexican sedum out back on these low, poor soil mounds created when we dug trenches for other beds. Great minds…
@Pamela: Great minds indeed! I love that you could plant it in Texas and Louisiana, and I could plant it here, and it would grow just as well. That there’s a good plant.
I have never been much of a sedum fan, but this one is lovely. I will definitely think about giving it a try!
@Deb: You should! I think you have a lot of shade, and the steely blue it turns in shade is a great foil to almost everything. It would still be tinged with purple, but I’m thinking about using some in shade specifically FOR that steely blue.
I have some purple leaf creeping sedum and am crazy about it. Don’t know the cultivar. but it’s in horrid GA clay, bad drainage and it just goes and grows. Very easy to root from a pinch as well. In one season I had a good sized area going from two plants. Babies are coming back like gangbusters this year.
@Karyl: Hey! For your native collection, there’s also a cool native creeping Sedum cultivar becoming more popular in the trade now. It’s called Sedum ternatum ‘Larinem Park,’ and the species is native to the whole Eastern U.S. It’s a bit more ho hum than this one, but it DOES turn BRIGHT ORANGE in the fall, and that is very cool. It’s also happiest in some shade. More of a woodland plant.
I ran off to find Larinem Park - thanks for the tip! Apparently it is more shade tolerant which is great for my area. Seems that it is also a NWF American Beauty so perhaps it will be more widely used & cultivars developed.
You’re most welcome! I planted a bunch of it late last year, and so far none of it’s heaved, so I have high hopes. I’ll keep you posted on its progress.