joene's garden » sedum

Now you sedum–overwintered

joenesgarden — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:17:09 +0000

Succulent plants, such as sedum and hens and chicks, seem to be maintaining continuing popularity, with good cause. Succulents are easy to grow, drought tolerant, and come in enough varieties and sizes to suit nearly every gardening taste. But did you know how easy it is to overwinter potted sedum and sempervivum, the botanical name for hens and chicks?

Last June I potted sedum and hens and chicks in matching cobalt blue ceramic pots.

The combination was instantly wonderful and remained so until the end of the growing season in my zone 6 Connecticut garden. (Scroll over the photo above to see the botanical names of the succulents used.) I did not want to lose the combination so, rather than transplant these succulents to a garden bed before storing the ceramic pots away for the winter, I stored the succulent-filled pots in the garage near a southwest-facing window. Through the cold winter months the pots only received minimal water when the soil felt good and dry. The plants stayed in a state of suspended animation during the coldest parts of winter – they held their color but did not grow. As the sun became stronger in late winter and early spring the succulents began to grow.

Here's how one of the pots looked when placed back outside this April 13.

Its sister pot looked the same.

This is how the pots look today.

The plants have already begun cascading over the edges of the pots.

The pair adds striking color during a time when plants in adjacent perennial beds are still in early stages of growth.

Best of all, these containers will continue to fill out and look wonderful from spring through autumn as long as the soil remains on the dry side. All this entails is moving the containers off the saucers so rain-soaked soil can drain. Succulents such as sedum and hens and chicks grow best in drier soil, making them ideal container plants for busy people with little time to fuss with watering. With the added bonus of overwintering well, the busy gardener can plant a container like this just once to enjoy multiple seasons and years.

Categories: Gardening, Seasons, Techniques.
Tags: gardening in Connecticut, hens & chicks, potted suculents, sedum, sempervivum, Succulents.

Share this post:
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Twitter
Yahoo! Buzz

joene's garden

October reds - Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

joenesgarden — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:20:35 +0000

October reds - Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Reds are the highlighted colors in my Connecticut gardens for this October 2012 Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Some red shades are in blossom form, like this sedum which shined in pink just one month ago.

And in the mums, that finally started to grab center stage just before our first freeze two days ago. I wasn't concerned when the camera captured them in a frosty coating.

Mums often shine after a touch of cold. These recouped quite nicely.

Other, more tender plants, such as coleus, white zinnias, basil, peppers, and ageratum succumbed to the 28 degree temperatures that greeted the October 13 sunrise in my zone 6 gardens. Still, a few hardy souls press on with blooms not as perfect as they were during summer and early autumn. Autumn blossoms are so often a contrast of ugliness and beauty, and life and death.

This rose blossom glows in spite of the black spot that mars its leaves.

This phlox, which has been in constant bloom since early summer, is not quite ready to give in to the cold, sending out lovely small flowers in contrast to its dying leaves.

Nasturtium are fighting frost with flowers.

And Alpine strawberries chuckle at chilled air.

But these specks of pink and white and yellow are the last hint of summer amongst autumn reds. If, as a New England gardener, you have focused all your gardening efforts on blossoms, you are missing out on the best of autumn … brilliantly-hued foliage.

Trees in southern Connecticut are still in the golden stage of autumn.

Reds are provided by ornamental grasses shining in the autumn sun.

The red foliage of coast leucothoe.

And the brilliant hues of blueberry shrubs.

Even waning strawberry foliage offers up striking reds against a blue strawberry jar.

Northern gardeners relish even the smallest of blooms and slightest hint of color knowing that October freezes will continue to nip away at remaining flowers until all are gone. Then we will relish colorful blossoms and foliage in gardens all over the world by visiting May Dreams Gardens where Carole kindly hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day on the fifteenth of each month. Head there now to see what other gardens have blooming today.

Categories: Bloom Day, Gardening, Seasons.
Tags: blueberry foliage, Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, garden in Connecticut, leucothoe, mums, nasturtium, ornamental grasses, rose, sedum, strawberry.

Share this post:
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Twitter
Yahoo! Buzz

joene's garden

Now you sedum … in the ground and elsewhere

joenesgarden — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:27:35 +0000

Now you sedum … in the ground and elsewhere

Low-growing sedum is an amazingly useful family of succulents. In addition to the pots of sedum shown in my previous post, low-growing sedum make wonderful groundcovers.

Along a hardscape pathway, sedum provides contrast in color and texture to pavers. Once established, this is a very low-maintenance planting.

The same type of sedum contrasts well with the fuzzy leaves and color of Lamb's Ear.

Different forms of sedum can be combined …

and sedum will fill in difficult, dry sites, especially along sunny driveways.

Another type of white-blooming sedum serves as a driveway edge groundcover at Garden on High in Farmington, CT, one of The Garden Conservancy's Open Days tour gardens.

Sedum dresses up fieldstone walls … and generally grows where other plants might not.

Sedum roots readily, but also easily releases its hold on soils when it shows up where not wanted.

Sedum is perennial in Connecticut's hardiness zones 5, 6 and 7. It will even overwinter in wire baskets left outside through cold winters as did this sedum below.

I needed a filler last spring when planting pansies in this basket. Sedum fit the bill. When the pansies succumbed to summer heat, the sedum took over. When freezing temps caused the sedum to blacken I removed the unattractive foliage and filled the basket with evergreen and holly branches. When the winter dressing no longer looked good, the sedum was beginning to peak up from the soil. This spring I simply tucked in some extra pansies and let the sedum do it's thing. The remaining pansy in this photo will die back, but the sedum, all gathered from my gardens, will look good for the rest of the summer. When it gets too leggy, I just cut it back and throw the cuttings in the compost pile.

As life gets more hectic and time becomes more tight, look to the multiple types of sedum to give your garden beds and pots color, texture and general interest with minimal need for care.

Here's one more container idea using sedum, also from Garden on High in Farmington, CT.

Garden thoughtfully …

Categories: Gardening, Perennials & Annuals.
Tags: gardening in Connecticut, sedum, The Garden Conservancy's Open Days.

Share this post:
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Twitter
Yahoo! Buzz

joene's garden