Sedum troubles

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ThisIsMelissa
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Sedum troubles

Post by ThisIsMelissa »

Ok, last year, I planted a new perennial bed in my front landscape. I killed the lawn in early spring and planted the garden in June.
It's a full sun mixed perennial bed and most everything is doing pretty well. I had a designer come to my garden on Monday and she gave me some ideas to help bring the garden all together.

There are 4 varieties of sedum. 'Angelina' is a groundcover.... she's fine. 'Matrona' is a nice clump.... doing well, except 1 plant that came back looking rather pitiful, but I had thought I'd lost that one. 'Mediovariegata' looks good so far, but I might need to pinch it to keep it in check. It "flopped" last year, but that could have been from having moved it to this spot while it was already pretty big.

My problem child was 'Purple Emperor'.
He flopped last year to the point that he was nearly invisible. This year, while 'Matrona' is already a nice 8" clump, 'Purple Emperor' is just a few leaves.
I wouldn't say our Spring has been too wet or too dry. We haven't even turned on our irrigation system yet as we've had decent moisture and only 1 day over 80 degrees.

I read that Sedums do not like fertilizer... which I didn't use, but there might have been some left in the soil from the lawn service having fertilized.
I read that they don't like too much moisture, which I don't think is a problem as it gets the same amount of moisture as the other sedums.
My soil is a clay-ish loam, but generally liked by most plants. The Nepita that is right next to the 'Purple Emperor' is doing great, as is the Lysimachia 'Golden Alexander' on the other side.

The designer wants me to use another 3-4 of 'Purple Emperor' but before I sink more money into this plant, I need to know if it's a dud? The area I'd be using it in gets little/no irrigation and has been under plastic and about 6" of landscape rock (courtesy of the previous owners) for probably 8-10 years, so it is a spot of 'neglect'.
So, is 'Purple Emperor' a crappy variety? or do I perhaps have a not-so-great location?
If PE is a less-than-great performer, can you recommend another darker colored sedum? Xenox? Black Beauty? Black Jack? Voo Doo? I need an upright clump up to about 20" tall.

I am not glued to the idea of a sedum, but it does have to be dark foliage.

Any opinions of Euphobia 'Bonfire'?
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paul_in_mn
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Re: Sedum troubles

Post by paul_in_mn »

I read you can pinch back taller sedums to get them to fill and get less floppy. I think it was in the Well-Tended Perennial Garden (Tracy A...) - I'll have to take a look again. You can push the pinched off part into the soil and they will root. I have some Autumn Joy that I meant to pinchback last year I want to say end of May or early June is timeframe-
Paul

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ThisIsMelissa
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Re: Sedum troubles

Post by ThisIsMelissa »

paul_in_mn wrote:I read you can pinch back taller sedums to get them to fill and get less floppy. I think it was in the Well-Tended Perennial Garden (Tracy A...) - I'll have to take a look again. You can push the pinched off part into the soil and they will root. I have some Autumn Joy that I meant to pinchback last year I want to say end of May or early June is timeframe-
This really seems to be an issue bigger than just flopping. The pathetic little plants that are coming out of the ground now are a fraction of what they should be.
I had planned on pinching it this year, but seriously, there's little/nothing to pinch!
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Chris_W
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Re: Sedum troubles

Post by Chris_W »

Hi Melissa,

When you mention it flopped last year, do you mean that it got big and tall and fell over? This can be a problem with Purple Emperor if the soil is too rich and/or it is getting too much water. But when you grow Purple Emperor lean and dry, meaning you should never water and the soil should be nutrient poor and have really good drainage, it is a good variety. Matrona is a better plant for us here, and it doesn't flop even with rich soil and regular moisture and is my favorite of the upright sedum. Whatever you do, do NOT get Black Jack. It was originally billed as a great sedum and was really pushed by Walters Gardens, but it ended up being a horrible dud. It gets sunburn, mildew, and so easily gets blemishes that it looks terrible by the end of the year. It also often reverts back to Matrona...

I think the bigger issue could be the clay based soil which can hold way too much moisture over the winter and into the spring thaw so that sedum might rot. Also, if this was a potted plant from a nursery, there is a chance that they used a type of potting soil that also held too much water. I've seen way too many cases of potting soil causing death in the ground, so I always try to get rid of heavy potting soil before planting things like Sedum.

If the spot you are considering for Purple Emperor gets no irrigation, then it could be a candidate. If it gets "little" irrigation, that is still probably too much to prevent another case of flopping. And yes, I do like Euphorbia Bonfire for its foliage color so long as it is full, hot sun, otherwise it doesn't color as well. We grow Bonfire in really good soil that does get irrigated without any problems.

Hope that helps a little more.

Chris
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ThisIsMelissa
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Re: Sedum troubles

Post by ThisIsMelissa »

Chris_W wrote:Hi Melissa,

When you mention it flopped last year, do you mean that it got big and tall and fell over? This can be a problem with Purple Emperor if the soil is too rich and/or it is getting too much water.
Well, I wouldn't consider it "too big" It was maybe half the height of the Matrona, also purchased last year when it flopped. It lost the lower leaves and the stems+upper leaves lay pathetic on the ground. Wait, I have a pic:
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I think the bigger issue could be the clay based soil which can hold way too much moisture over the winter and into the spring thaw so that sedum might rot. Also, if this was a potted plant from a nursery, there is a chance that they used a type of potting soil that also held too much water. I've seen way too many cases of potting soil causing death in the ground, so I always try to get rid of heavy potting soil before planting things like Sedum.
Yes, I bought this last year as a 1 gallon nursery plant and I know that this nursery uses a wetter potting medium. I planted it in June. It was nice and upright and multi-stemmed in the pot. The above pic was taken in September.
If the spot you are considering for Purple Emperor gets no irrigation, then it could be a candidate. If it gets "little" irrigation, that is still probably too much to prevent another case of flopping. And yes, I do like Euphorbia Bonfire for its foliage color so long as it is full, hot sun, otherwise it doesn't color as well. We grow Bonfire in really good soil that does get irrigated without any problems.
The interesting thing is that the spot she wants me to put the new PE's in is adjacent to the current spot, but that is the very edge of an irrigation zone. So, if anything, this would get only some minor overspray, plus whatever rain falls. The area has been smothered by 4"+ of limestone and plastic weed liner for at least 8 years. So it's probably pretty nutrient deficient. The ground cracks when the weather is dry.

The area is right next to my asphalt driveway, so yes, it's quite hot, and it faces south, so it gets nearly all-day sun. But it sounds like if I'm going to do the Euphorbia, I should put it in the more irrigated section of the bed, or at least run a drip line out to that area.
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Chris_W
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Re: Sedum troubles

Post by Chris_W »

Hi Melissa,

I don't think Purple Emperor flopped, really, from the picture I think it just rotted at soil level and died. And the Euphorbias don't need any irrigation, I was just saying if you do have irrigation they would tolerate it better than sedum, but you could put it somewhere dry and it should be fine too.

Good luck,

Chris
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ThisIsMelissa
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Re: Sedum troubles

Post by ThisIsMelissa »

Chris_W wrote:Hi Melissa,

I don't think Purple Emperor flopped, really, from the picture I think it just rotted at soil level and died. And the Euphorbias don't need any irrigation, I was just saying if you do have irrigation they would tolerate it better than sedum, but you could put it somewhere dry and it should be fine too.

Good luck,

Chris
So, since I do have 3 tiny little plants coming up, do you suppose that they are just rooted cuttings from the remaining leaves? They don't seem to be in the same spots as the ones I planted last year.
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PS: Hubby and I are hoping to ADOPT & we need your help.
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