|
Sedum Facts
 |
| Sedum collection |
Sedum and succulents as a whole plant group are incredible. They
have the ability to survive in terrible conditions, cold, heat and
drought, and spring back seemingly from the dead to grow and thrive
when conditions improve. This ability makes them a perfect plant
for xeriscape gardening, which uses little or no irrigation other
than what falls from the sky. The same characteristics also make
them excellent candidates for green roof use.
Green roofs are now extremely common in Germany and Scandinavian
countries, and are becoming recognized as a beneficial alternative
to any other roofing material. Green roofs, or living roofs as they
are sometimes referred to, are mostly flat or nearly so, but other
profiles are seen too, planted with drought tolerant plants. The
benefits are a drastic reduction of rainfall runoff, heat and cold.
Used in large cities, they reduce the Urban Heat Island Effect,
in some cases reducing the heat on the roof of a building by 40
degrees F. The original prototype of a green roof was, of course,
the sod roof, built by farmers who put their goats there to graze
out of harms way! The early settlers of the American west used the
technique to utilize an abundant material to house themselves and
their families. Now, we can have the beauty and benefits of green
roofs in this century too.
See our picture of Glory Be, the root cellar. Built right into an
excavation in the hillside, three sides of it are earth sheltered.
The roof is covered in EPDM rubber membrane, which in turn is backfilled
with 8” or so of the excavated soil. The plant material consists
of ornamental grasses (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’
and many varieties and species of our favorite Sedum.
Sedum species and varieties are also used as bedding and border
plants, and can range in size from ground hugging to thigh high.
Smaller types such as
S. ‘Blue Carpet’ and S.
acre will fill in at the front of a raised bed or rockery, next
in height is S. ‘Blue
Spruce’, S. ‘Angelina’,
the S. spurium group and S.
pluricaule. Continuing up the ladder are S. kamschaticum, S.
cauticola, ‘Vera Jameson’. The tallest are ‘Purple
Emperor’, ‘Autumn Joy’ and ‘Matrona’,
which fit nicely at the back of a border.
|
Sedum facts
Succulents
Thymus
Mandalas
|
