Sedum troubles
Posted: May 12, 2011 11:07 am
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'?
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'?