Stonecrop Time

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Seven days, seven steps are left until October - the beginning of a dull time when the plants, preparing for winter dormancy, shed their leaves. Even flower perennials suffer this fate. And only, perhaps, some stonecrops are not afraid of the approaching cold weather and continue to delight people with modest inflorescences

What's in your name

Due to its wide distribution, the sedum plant has many names: sedum, rejuvenated, hare cabbage, hernial grass, feverish grass.

It can be so different - perennial and annual, deciduous and evergreen, thermophilic and cold-resistant, with various colors of flowers and leaves. But its distinctive feature is the succulent, fleshy succulent leaves.

Some types of stonecrop

• Sedum prominent - pink flowers of various shades and light green or grayish-green fleshy leaves adorn an erect plant that grows up to 60 centimeters in height.

• Sedum telephium - has subspecies that differ in color of flowers. Pink-red flowers and dark purple leaves adorn the maximum Atropurpureum subspecies; creamy green flowers - "maximum Gooseberry Fool" subspecies; pale pink flowers - "Matrona" subspecies.

• Caucasian sedum - ground cover sedum up to 20 centimeters high. Differs in cold resistance, large white or pink flowers in the shape of a star and spectacular leaves, creating a beautiful carpet on the site.

• Sedum "Purple Emperor" is a cold-resistant handsome man with creamy pink flowers and dark purple-green leaves.

• Sedum "Ruby Radiance" is a cold-resistant hybrid with spectacular burgundy flower umbrellas and purple-green leaves.

Sedum squeak

Sedum squeaky, which people affectionately call "hare cabbage", is the most famous of the stonecrops blooming in autumn. It is popular not only for its decorative effect, but also for its medicinal properties.

They called him hare cabbage for a reason. Squeaky leaves contain vitamin C and organic acids, which are needed not only by hares, but also by humans. They have a tonic, tonic, anti-inflammatory and wound healing effect.

With general weakness of the body, pulmonary tuberculosis, chronic diseases of the liver and gallbladder, use an infusion of fresh leaves (in a glass of boiling water for 4 hours we insist 1 tablespoon of leaves). When taking the infusion 3-4 times a day, 1-2 tablespoons, it transfers its tonic and strengthening properties to the body. It is believed that the herbal infusion helps with female infertility.

Stonecrop juice heals wounds and skin burns. With its help, they get rid of the calluses of the working summer and warts. To do this, napkins soaked in plant juice are applied to the sore spot.

Juicy young leaves and shoots are added to salads and soups. They are harvested for future use, fermenting or salting.

Growing

Sedum is a very humble plant. He does not need fertile soils, but it is important that they let water through well, not allowing it to accumulate and stagnate. He courageously endures drought, frosts, but he loves the sunny places of planting, otherwise he is so intensely drawn to the luminary that he pulls out the stems, increases the pallor of the leaves, and you can not wait for flowers at all.

The unpretentiousness of stonecrop is reflected in its easy cultivation, which is carried out by seeds, cuttings and dividing the bush. The latter method is preferable to deal with in the spring, and cuttings can be propagated in the summer, planting them directly into the ground.

When the plant has faded, the stems are cut at ground level, and the roots are protected for the winter with compost mulch.

The succulent leaves of stonecrop attract snails and slugs. The weevil beetle also loves to feast on them.

The autumn flowering of stonecrop is combined with asters, chrysanthemums, echinacea, crocosmia, with ornamental grasses and herbs, with low Japanese maples and mountain ash.

Dried sedum is added to bouquets of dried flowers. Since the plant contains a lot of moisture, it is not so easy to dry it. To deprive the plant of its water-holding capacity, it is scalded with boiling water.