An evergreen mahogany/red plant? Um, yes please, I’ll take 10. I give you Sedum Red Carpet:
I found this gem a few years ago at Lowe’s in the dead of summer. There were five of these on a clearance rack looking ratty and on their last breath. At $1 a piece, I couldn’t let them die a slow death so I took them all home.
As you may know by now (through my incessant complaining) I have poor draining soil so you would think these would never work for me. Luckily, I had one spot open along my front sidewalk that actually drains real well because it is mostly sandy from the construction of the sidewalk. These would be the perfect fit … IF they could survive the harsh summer conditions.
I’ll cut the drama nonsense and let you know now that they have thrived since that day. I’ll also give you some additional factoids on Sedum Red Carpet:
- Size – 4″ high by about 18″ wide
- Prefers full sun
- Survives zone 3-9
- Prefers sandy well draining soil
- Mine bloomed for the first time last August – seems to be somewhat of a finicky bloomer
- Typically used as a groundcover in hot dry spots. I have mine along my walkway and they help soften the lines of the stones
- From what I’ve read online, it is not known to be an overly aggressive spreader like other sedum groundcovers. I must admit, I did just find one popping up pretty far away from the mother plant (did I use the right term there?)
- As mentioned previously, Sedum Red Carpet is evergreen here in zone 6 and does look fantastic all winter
- It is mat forming and forms roots at the nodes as you hopefully can see in the photo below
- Would make a great “spiller” in containers – c’mon Lowe’s, take bad care of more of these and I’ll take them off your hands.
- I love the way Sedum Red Carpet looks next to yellow or chartreuse foliage and have these in front of a few Spirea ‘Little Elf’
ONG
Love the pretty red growers! Yeah, comeon Lowes! 🙂
Beautiful ground cover it is! I have a sedum with Chartreuse color, and I used it as ground cover and the spiller of the container, very easy to grow. I have to keep eyes on this red carpet, it will be very pretty in the container.
P.S. I also love to visit Lowes’ clearance rack and grab those 25C – 50c each piece plants, perfect for some quick colors in different seasons.
I love it with the chartreuse color. Very eye catching!
They are as beautiful as a rose 😀
Love the macro shots! I especially like this plant next to chartreuse plants. Those colors play off each other well.
Oooh, a red sedum! I’ver never seen these before. They are nice shot of color!
Very nice, I will have to give it a try, I love burgundy color foliaged plants, they really stand out.
I wonder if they’d grow here. Mrs IG needs something to provide cover in the front garden.
I have just the place for this one, hope I can find it.
Eileen
I think you live and garden at my house. Do you? I too bought these pathetic sedums at Lowe’s, and I too put them along my front sidewalk expecting not much, and mine too have thrived and are so pretty. In fact, I thought you had pirated my photos (only the top one and the 4th one along the walkway; your close ups are way better than I can do).
One difference in this story of cloned gardeners: my Red Carpet sedum spurium is in front of pink blooming heath and the soft pink haze of flowers with the rich red foliage is really nice. Are you sure you’re not living here? And would you mind picking up the tools when you’re done?
Haha…good to see we’re all together in our love of the sales rack…I’ve gotten some truly great plants for next to nothing, simply because they had stopped blooming and not been cut back…so looked pretty ratty. Love the sedum, those creeping/spreading ones are great and virtually indestructible…and you gotta love year-long color!
that is a lovely plant – especially with the spiria elf- lovely combination.
Hi – thanks for popping over to projectforty. I thought I’d return the visit. Sedums here in Blighty are dormant at the moment but they’re just about ready to go again, hopefully to follow on from the daffodils which are really something to see after the long winter we’ve had over here.
Nice plants, I like them also and they look great next to the lime green spirea.
I really like that. I have one that turns red in the winter. Then I have a gold and blue also. Love the look of them all combined but I’ll have to check that out and see if I can find it local this summer.
Cher
Goldenray Yorkies
Thanks for this post. I have a spot that would be perfect for this!
You have an eye for beauty and enough passion to give back life..Your Red Sedums are proof of that, they are beautiful and look healthy and loved.:o)
I do the same thing with primroses. I wait until the supermarkets don’t water them and put them on the .50 cent rack. I snatch them up and put them in my garden. They always do great. I love your garden and your photos.
Now that I read up here, I “think” what my friend gave me is sedum, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to read up a bit more. Maybe I’ll snap a picture and see if you or another gardener can identify the plant.
I have the red one and I have a green one with pink trim that was on sale at Home Depo this spring. Already spreading nicely in an extremely sunny spot. I have to say I’m in love with them and can’t wait to see if they flower. Do you know the name of the other varieties of this ground cover??