Sedums-Easy Plants to grow in N Texas

One of my favorite group of plants to grow in Texas- SEDUMS! They have low water requirements and can handle the true full sun in the Texoma area. I’ve begun adding these plants everywhere around my garden beds along with experimenting with them in pots and small containers. Here’s what I’ve found.

Clockwise from left: Autumn Joy Sedum, Little Miss Sunshine Sedum, Blue Spruce Sedum

Sun

The sedums I grow- including Autumn Joy, Autumn Charm, Blue Spruce and Little Miss Sunshine can handle the full Texas sun and do not like too much shade. If there is not enough light, the plants get leggy and don’t bloom well. I’ve found that particularly the first year of planting, it’s important to give them plenty of water. Despite being extremely drought tolerant, our 100 degree summer days are still tough on the plants. I plan on cutting back daily watering to every other day once we get into the low 90s. I do add mulch to the soil around the plants, but pull it away once winter sets in to prevent root rot.

Fertilizer

I’ve read many blogs on sedums that don’t recommend fertilizer for sedums, however, when I compare my sedums grown with fertilizer to those grown without, I find repeatedly that the plants grown with fertilizer are healthier, bigger and have a richer color. I prefer a slow-release pelleted fertilizer for container plantings (14-14-14 sold by Osmocote), and apply fish and seaweed fertilizer once a month (Neptune’s Harvest) to all my plants in the ground in the form of a foliar feed. If your soil is somewhat depleted, adding a granular quick release fertilizer in the spring is fine, just apply with a “less is more” theory. I use an inexpensive 10-10-10 fertilizer sold by Walmart on most of my perennials for a quick feed in spring. It costs around $20-$30 for a 40 lb bag.

Growth and Size

Autumn Joy and Charm make for nice container plants, potted in the center of a container 3+ gal in size. I love putting Blue Spruce sedum around the edges of the pot to watch it spill over. These three sedums also make nice companion plantings in the garden bed, particularly in areas that get too much sun for most plants. Little Miss Sunshine is probably the only sedum on this list that really needs to be planted in the ground over a container, as it forms into a spreading ball without enough height or spillage to be suitable for container planting. Here’s a quick size reference for the Sedums I grow.

Blue Spruce- 6” H

Little Miss Sunshine 6” H x 18”W

Autumn Charm 15” H x 15” W

Autumn Joy 24”H x 24” W

Little Miss Sunshine Sedum (pic from Walter's Gardens)

Little Miss Sunshine Sedum grows in “ball shape” and is best suited in ground.

Water and Planting

Sedums are very drought tolerant, but the that doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy water when we are in the middle of our 100 degree summer days here in N. Texas. Particularly, your sedums will need a little extra TLC during the summer months when the plant is not well established.

When putting a new plant in the ground, be sure to pick a site that is well draining. I add a little organic matter (compost or peat) and pine bark mulch to the planting hole and mix it up with our clay soils. This helps to break up the clay and improve drainage, which is a MUST for sedums.

Although it is best to plant in spring or fall, you can plant sedums in the middle of summer if you can get your hands on them. Just be sure to soak the planting hole and the plant well before transplanting and plant at the end of the day or very early in the morning to help alleviate transplant shock.

Final Thoughts

Growing sedums are incredible easy and rewarding for the low maintenance part of your garden. As a cut flower aficionada of course, my favorite sedum will probably always be the Autumn Joy Sedum as it’s height lends to pretty flowers for bouquets through end of summer and into fall. I love recommending this plant to anyone looking to establish and flush out the tough full sun parts of your garden that so many of us in N. Texas struggle with. If you have questions or thoughts about this plant or information you’d like added to this article, please comment below.