Winter Care of a Sedum
Sedums are succulent plants that retain water in their leaves and are among the hardiest succulents available. In fact, some varieties tolerate winters all the way to United States Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone 3. While many perennials need special care during the cold weather months, sedums are very easy to care for during this time.
Allow sedums to remain in your garden when you’re pruning your other perennials in the fall and early winter. Most sedums are attractive during the winter months. However, showy sedums (Sedum spectabile) will die to the ground during the winter months. You still don’t need to prune them though.
- Sedums are succulent plants that retain water in their leaves and are among the hardiest succulents available.
- While many perennials need special care during the cold weather months, sedums are very easy to care for during this time.
Prune only diseased sedums to the ground in the late fall or early winter. Discard the clippings in the trash, not the compost pile. Sedums will grow back in the spring.
Remove the debris (such as the remains of showy sedums) from under and around your plants in the late fall and continue to remove any debris as it accumulates. Small animals and bugs may take home in accumulated debris during cold weather. Sedums do not need mulch in the winter.
Stop watering and fertilizing in the fall and do not do so during the winter as well. Sedums will wilt and change colors some in the winter, but that is normal. Return to watering and fertilizing in the spring when new growth appears.
- Prune only diseased sedums to the ground in the late fall or early winter.
- Stop watering and fertilizing in the fall and do not do so during the winter as well.
Care For Sedum
Sprinkle a 1-inch layer of compost over the soil in the spring to replenish the nutrients in the soil. Pinch back the tips of each stem to the topmost or second topmost leaf set. Begin pinching in the spring when the plants reach their desired height. Pinch every two or three weeks until midsummer, if desired, or to maintain plant height, then allow the plants to flower. Cut back sedum to within 1 inch of the ground in late fall or early winter if the plant dies back naturally.
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Writer Bio
Melissa Lewis is a former elementary classroom teacher and media specialist. She has also written for various online publications. Lewis holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
