Few perennials offer so many benefits and such a long season of color and interest in the nature-friendly garden as sedums do. Photo: Pixabay
My heart skips a beat when I see a new sedum at a plant sale. I pillage my friends’ gardens for varieties I don’t have. I have more photos of sedums than photos of family members. Is this what genus-love feels like? Thus far, my relationships with plants have been Catholic in nature; I’ve never had a genus-crush. Now, with 70 taxa in my collection, I’ve fallen hard.
Sedums are easy to love, because in many ways, they’re perfect plants.
Hylotelephium sp. among meadow grasses. Photo: Bernd Haynold via CC BY-SA 3.0
• They offer spectacular foliage in shades of green, blue, gray, gold, red, and purple. Many change color throughout the year, and a few rival sugar maples in fall foliage.
• Yellow, pink, and white flowers add to their appeal. The blossoms attract hordes of hungry pollinators with pollen (protein) and nectar (carbs). Because sedums bloom at different times of the year, you can ...
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