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| I was outside this morning weeding and planting my slope with some more sedum kamtschaticum (a never-ending project) and noticed that some of the sedum I planted in the last year or two is not spreading very quickly. It looks great and healthy, but is staying put. Then I started wondering, how do you encourage growth on this? For the majority of garden plants, you would baby it perhaps, making sure it had adequate water, good soil, maybe a little boost with some fertilizer... all stuff which is opposite to sedum culture. So, what can I do? It's planted on a very hot, very sunny, rocky slope with poor soil. The older stuff is thriving... am I just being impatient, you think? Thanks, |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Dee, the one sedum I don't have is S. kamtschaticum--- is that the one that grows in clumps rather than spreads along the ground? Maybe it's the variety you have? I did nothing to any of sedum varieties I planted at the end of the garden. They're all in full sun and on a slope, kind of what you have there--- no fertilizing and not much extra water. The only difference is that for three or four years my gardens had been amended with free mulch from the town, so my garden soil is definitely not poor and not rocky. Most of my 'traveling' sedums have spread over the years, though I did lose a few to the salt water floods from past October storms. Molie |
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| I think I've had kamtschaticum for 2 years now - from Bluestone in one of the variety packs they use to offer. So far it doesn't appear to be a spreader. The original plant has definitely gotten a lot larger - maybe 15 inches across now, but it doesn't spread around like some of the other, small creepers. At least that's been my experience. Maybe you should consider something like Sedum spurium 'Red Carpet'? That's definitely a creeper. Actually, I bet it would look incredible planted between your clumps of kamtschaticum. I'm sure it would fill in the gaps quickly. In fact, I recently took a look at a large planting of this one or at least a very similar looking variety. The planting was installed two years ago as a grass substitute on a sloping site. You can no longer see the soil it has spread so much. It was stunning! One other note about Sedum in general. I realize these are considered good choices for dry soil and all that. We have had TONS of rain this year. I mean it just doesn't seem to want to stop. My gardens are soaked and the Sedums have never grown so quickly or so lush. None of them are standing in water, but the ground is soaked all the time. They seem very, very happy with the extra moisture. Kevin |
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- Posted by dominoswrath 5 WI (My Page) on Sat, Jun 22, 13 at 12:57
| I also have S. kamtschaticum and the first year watered, watered, watered to encourage deeper roots. I now have nice clumps that expand about 10 inches across, so I will echo the previous posters comments about watering as well as the fact that these aren't spreaders, like Sedum Angelina for example (I have red carpet intertwined with Angelina - they are both hardy spreaders). S. kamtschaticum also performs well for me in a pretty shady dry area though does not bloom as prolifically there. |
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| Like the other posters, IME sedums are intolerant of soggy soil, tolerant of dryness, but really do prefer regular or even moisture as long as the area drains really well. My first thought was the same as Molie's, mulch to keep the surface from drying out completely so that new roots can get established. I have no experience with S. kamtschaticum, but I do grow several low groundcover sedums. If you want fast coverage, S. acre is one that will root from even the smallest piece; I am not sure that this is a recommendation since it can be a bit of a nuisance, but in the right place it can be useful and it pulls out easily. It has kept weeds out of my inlaw's rock wall which is over a paved drive, and hasn't spread across the drive or up into the bed above. |
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| Thanks for the quick responses. I've been growing the kam... for several years now (also from Bluestone, Kevin!) so I am familiar with its habit. I've planted it closely enough that it clumps together nicely. It's just that the plantings from last year and the year before are just not getting bigger. They are only about 3 or 4 inches in diameter. The other plantings seemed to grow MUCH more quickly. Like I said, I may just be being impatient. Kevin, we too have had a ton of rain, and that's why I hesitate to water them even more. I'm going to watch the newer ones and see how they do, and if they take off then perhaps I'll try watering. This slope is so hot, dry, and rocky I don't think I could overwater if I wanted to, lol. But if all the extra rain seems to have helped this year, I'll help them along with some supplemental watering over the summer. I've tried a few other sedum here and K seems to do the best. I actually planted straight-up K by accident - I had a big swath of K. Weihenstephaner Gold going nicely, then bought the plain K from Bluestone, who at the time had great deals on flats of groundcovers (boy, do I miss that!). It wasn't till it was planted and growing that I realized I bought the wrong stuff! But I like the plain K better anyway, so I am continuing with that. I really tried to get John Creech established, since I love that, but it's not taking so well. I'm giving it a bit more time, and then if it doesn't thrive, I'll replace with K. This is why I posted awhile ago looking for places to buy bulk sedums. The slope is about a hundred feet long and 4 to 6 feet high. That's a lot of sedum! Thanks guys! |
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| Oops, posted at the same time as the last two above. Hmm, maybe I should water a bit more then. Thanks! I definitely want to keep the K - have a good swath of it going already and I do like it, plus like the look of one sedum as opposed to mixed (the K.W.G - sheesh, what a long name to type out, never mind the spelling, lol - will move once I get enough plain K going). domino, I am thrilled to hear you say that K performs well for you in a fairly shady spot. I have a friend whose garden is in dry bright shade, except for a blast of hot afternoon sun that hits one end of it, on a small incline. After trying several groundcovers, all of which pretty much failed, I stuck some K in there, figuring it could handle the dryness and the hot sun. I was wondering if it would be too shady, but after your post now I'm more hopeful. Blooms would be nice, but at this point I'd just love to have this little slope of hers covered with the beautiful foliage. Thanks again! |
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| I'll echo the shade thing. I originally planted K in an area I THOUGHT was full sun, only to realize when the trees leafed out it wasn't. It did fine although the growth wasn't as strong as I thought it should be, but it was OK. I moved it this year to full sun and boy, oh boy, does it love it. Kevin |
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- Posted by vera_eastern_wa 5a-5b (My Page) on Sun, Jun 23, 13 at 12:31
| If you want a really good spreader also try S. album! It spread so fast for me that every year I was ripping out and giving away tons of starts!! Every single tiny piece that falls off will root with no help at all :) Vera |
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| Have you taken cuttings to increase your plants, although at 3-4 inches they may still be too small for cuttings, or sown seeds? Sounds like they could be winter sown late winter/early spring. I have sown some sedum varieties which take a few years to bulk up. Haven't grown s. kamtschaticum though. |
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- Posted by aseedisapromise z4.5 SD (My Page) on Sun, Jun 23, 13 at 14:52
| Sometimes if you plant perennials that you buy at the greenhouse that are in peat based potting soil, and you stick them in the ground, "poor, dry, rocky" in your case, they never put roots out into the surrounding soil and therefore they don't increase, especially if the soil is on the heavy side. Sometimes the peat can hold too much water and rot the roots so they can't get out into the soil that might be more to their liking. You say the plants look okay, just not bigger, so maybe that isn't operating here, but it's just something to think about. I often bare root anything that is a lover of poor soil before I plant it if it comes in peat. I have the varigated sedum k, and it seems to be a slower grower, but the plain kamtschaticum down at the park had spread to be about two or three feet across, and even reseeded a couple of other places, but someone hit it with herbicide this year, I'm not sure why. |
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| Sedum K behaves very well for me when it's in dry soil. Most of my yard is moisture retentive. If given a nice moist soil it spreads out of control. It is easy to pull out where it's not wanted. It's been kicked out of the yard in all but two places. On the North side of the house by gas meter. Where it gets not one drip of sun light. soil is wet in all but August. It's spreading quite nicely and is very happy and healthy. The other spot is by the woods in back yard were I had thrown a bunch of it away and yes it rooted in two years ago it's now an 8' x 4' patch. It and a few others are native to Asia and can live with moisture. This sedum can live in sun or shade. A swamp or air. The only thing it won't do is die. |
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