Sedum kamtschaticum - Stonecrop

Sedum kamtschaticum, also known as the Kamchatka Stonecrop, is a small perennial ground cover with crenate green foliage that perfectly complements its beautiful golden yellow flowers. Its small succulent leaves are semi-evergreen. They cover perfectly all poor terrains and easily tolerate drought. It is a hardy succulent, whose melliferous yellow flowering with an orange heart brightens up the entire summer season, thanks to vibrant colors and a myriad of small flowers that bloom from June to September, under the ballet of insects that delight in them. Hardy and easy to grow, this succulent appreciates difficult terrains and withstands drought. Hardy and adaptable to any soil, even poor and mediocre, it can be planted along a dry path, in a rock garden or to cover the soil of a pot and enhance a more upright plant.

Originating from Kamchatka, this Russian Stonecrop is a robust perennial. Its natural conditions are indeed harsh: volcanic soil, providing little substrate to plants, and quite extreme temperatures in summer and winter. So, if your terrain is not rich, rather dry, even stony, or even a little chalky, you can adopt this sturdy perennial (it withstands temperatures below -15°C (5°F)), which requires no maintenance and promises to enliven the garden with visits from butterflies. Stonecrops are indeed easy succulents to grow and have flowers and foliage with various shades that should be enjoyed to create multiple palettes, whether in flowerbeds, containers or rock gardens. However, if you have a rich, moist and heavy soil, you can also plant them at the edge of a flowerbed. They will acclimatize without any problem if you take care to provide gravel and place them in full sun. Above all, they should not be exposed to excess moisture in winter or be covered with dead leaves, as this could cause them to wither.

The kamtschaticum species appears as a small flat cushion, 10cm (4in) high and 25cm (10in) wide, with creeping, loose stems that straighten up at the end. They bear small, leathery, oblong leaves with unevenly toothed tips. This semi-evergreen foliage has intense green hues. These nuances vary, like most of its cousins in the same genus, depending on climatic conditions and can even turn red. Its flowering is charming and delicate. Its miniature corymb inflorescences are made up of multiple star-shaped golden yellow flowers that also evolve with subtlety. The centre darkens and takes on a warm orange hue.