There are only two succulents in the Polish flora: Sempervivum and Sedum Sedum. Both genera belong to the very vigorous Crassulaceae family. Plants from this family are equipped with water-storing tissue, thanks to which they can survive long periods of drought, and then conduct very sparing water management. Factors that weaken water excretion from coarse plants are: the presence of mucous substances in their cell sap, a small number of stomata, as well as a thick cuticle (epithelium) and a protective wax layer.
Sedum as a genus is represented by nearly 500 species, most of which grows in the Himalayas, E. Asia and Mexico, and only 15 are found in the Central European flora. Here you can find sedum: alpine, white, blackish, Spanish, sharp, hairy, six-row and great.
Sedum species
The most common is the spicy sedum, Sedum acre,which owes its name to the pungent taste of leaves and shoots, which comes from (similarly to other succulents) the organic acids contained in them. Acid sedum can be found on dry slopes, rocks, mounds, railway embankments, walls and sands. Plants of this species form dense turf, which every year from May to June is covered with lots of yellow-golden flowers.
White sedum, Sedum album, forming carpets with white or light pink flowers, and the six-row carpet sedum S.sexangulare with yellow flowers. Sedum S. telephium subsp. maximum with yellowish, white, pink or purple flowers.
Many species and varieties of sedum are cultivated in Poland. Almost all of them have more or less creeping shoots and form turfs, pillows or carpets. They differ in the shape and color of leaves, color of flowers, flowering time, and the length or height of the shoots. The last feature concerns sedum plants with stiff and upright stems, i.e. the grand sedum, the grand sedum, hybrid varieties of these species and the coarse sedum.
Sedum flowering
Sedum flowers very profusely, most of them in the period from June to August, later - only the rock sedum, Siebold, grand and great, and hybrids of the last two species. Some of them give off a pleasant smell (sedum, Kamchatka, poplar).These succulents are associated with rock gardens and we usually choose them first when arranging our backyard rockery. However, it is worth noting that they also look beautiful in other places of the garden
Sedum plants are mostlylong-lived perennialsThe longevity feature does not apply to papillary and acute sedum, but the latter is quickly spread by self-seeding. Two-year-old perennials include the Spanish sedum S. hispanicum and the sedum plant S. sempervivoides.
Sedum plants are no problem because they are unrefined and easy to grow. They are satisfied with light, permeable sandy or gravel-clay soil with a neutral reaction and low humidity. The sedum plant 'Cape Blanco' requires an acidic substrate. These succulents do not have high nutritional requirements, many of them can even grow in barren or poor soil, such as sedum, white or flowery. They are frost-resistant.They are easily propagated by division, apical cuttings or rooting individual leaf rosettes.
Plants grown in containers should be provided with good drainage of coarse gravel, small pebbles or broken debris.
