Sedum reflexum Yellow Cushion - Stonecrop

The Sedum reflexum 'Yellow Cushion', from the Reflexed Stonecrop, is a small perennial plant with golden foliage remarkable for its ornamental qualities and ease of cultivation. Its ability to withstand drought and its evergreen foliage work wonders in rockeries, dry gardens or containers. In summer, its sunny foliage is adorned with bright yellow star-shaped flowers, much to the delight of bees and butterflies. It turns red in cold weather and remains attractive all winter.

Native to Europe, Sedum reflexum or Reflexed Stonecrop belongs to the Crassulaceae family. This very cold-resistant species is widely found in rocky and mountainous regions. It naturally occurs in rocky or sandy meadows from central to Mediterranean Europe.

Sedum reflexum 'Yellow Cushion' has been selected for its compact habit and yellow foliage: the plant forms a golden cushion about 10 cm high and 30 cm wide when mature. Its small, succulent, slender, and elongated leaves, very dense, are golden green in spring, yellow in summer, and turn reddish towards the end of the season. Its flowering period, from June to July, consists of small yellow star-shaped flowers grouped in inflorescences at the top of short stems. The flowering can double the height of the cushion. The foliage remains evergreen in winter. This sedum has a creeping habit, quickly colonizing bare spaces in well-drained soils. Its roots should not be exposed to excess moisture in winter, and its growth should not be covered with dead leaves (risking decay). It requires a very sunny, even hot, exposure and will thrive in a few millimeters of substrate.

'Yellow Cushion' Stonecrop is valuable for greening a rockery and all areas where the soil is thin. It can be planted at the edge of a terrace, above a low wall, to adorn the base of shrubs grown in pots. It pairs easily with houseleeks, Iberis sempervirens, and 'Erigeron karvinskianus' which blooms for months. Mix colours and leaf shapes with other Sedums: S. spurium 'Variegatum' (variegated), Sedum album 'Murale' (purplish-red in winter), and Sedum lydium 'Glaucum' (mauve pink in summer).