Guess that's why I grow it in a container. These little three inch cuttings actually bloomed under light just a couple of weeks ago.

Photos please.

You mean of the cuttings? Or the dead old skeleton out in the greenhouse....

Dead old skeleton... just kidding! Probably the bloomin' cuttings for our Lynn!!

Well, ummm.... did I neglect to say they have finished blooming (yes I did). They are not much to look at right at this moment. I found two of the four cuttings didn't have quite enough root system yet so I put them back in water. They seem to root best and quickest in water. The cuttings I started directly in potting soil didn't do a darn thing!

Well, we learn new tricks... or is it that the new tricks don't work????

Hi all!
I am new here but have spent the past month looking through the VAST amount of info on ATP. Excellent resource you all have! (plus a very addictive way to avoid the fact that I am in zone 4/MT and can't get outdoors to garden)

I have hundreds of questions re: sedums, semps, and tender succulents (indoors), hostas, alpine, hyper-tufa, greenhouses, permaculture....I should stop now! I will try to post to the correct threads for each as time allows.

I am going to change the majority of my back yard from grass into beds/paths, etc. Drought tolerant with a few beds/areas for other types of hardy perennials. I will be using lots of ground cover sedums so am hoping to begin propagating some indoors. Do any of you know if I would be able to purchase sedums online (I have been looking at your member lists on here and see that some of you list things for sale ) and begin growing them indoors for a few months (I have access to fluorescent lights and some good south exposure windows)? My goal is to take cuttings of anything that begins to grow enough and repot babies to multiply by the time spring arrives in my area (mid-may). Am I better off waiting until spring to purchase the plants and planting directly out in beds? I would really prefer to begin propagating in advance because I will need A LOT! Just not sure if it is actually feasible to grow the sedums indoors for a while?

I could also make some cold-frames, if you think that would work better to get my newly purchased sedums to begin growing earlier than May, so that I could get a jump on my available plants by the time I begin my transition from lawn to beds/paths/outdoor rooms.

I am so glad ATP has such a huge resource of information available! You all are doing some amazing things on here and I greatly appreciate any opinions you can share with me on how best to move forward. Also, for members on ATP that have plant cuttings listed for sale on their lists, do I just contact them for more information? I know that a lot of you share/swap but I won't participate in that method until next year or this fall when I have been around here longer and have more to share in return

Looking forward to finally "meeting" a lot of you!

Hi AuntieP. So nice to meet you, and a great big to All Things Plants.

To answer one of your questions, I find that the hardy type ground cover sedum seem to do best is planted outside. You might want to wait until just before your spring begins. Same with the sempervivum.
There are several here that sell cuttings and can provide you with an abundant crop for propagating in the spring. Once planted they should take off growing quickly.
However, you must be very careful, this type of gardening (hardy succulents) can become quite addictive.

Would love to see a photo of the area you want to transform. Will you be turning it into raised beds?
There are also many other types of plants that will grow nicely with the hardy succulents. Like specie tulips, polygala, gentian, armeria, orostachys, rosularia. Oh my goodness there are just way to many to list.

Can't wait to hear more about your plans.

AuntieP
Sounds like a fun project you have planned.

Thank you for the welcome Lynn and Julia!

@ valleylynn Too late on the "addicting" part, I'm going all in! I have a LOT of ground to cover. We got an addition to the family last summer in the shape of a horse (actually it's a great dane). 10 mos old right now and her racing around doing acrobatics is mutilating the grass. Decided this month that I am not going to fight the grass battle all summer. Gonna do rock beds, paths in the back. There is no way on earth I would post a picture of my backyard right now! Use to be acceptable, now it is an embarrassment. I will post pix as we begin the process a bit at a time in the next few months if you are interested. Gotta get a camera first, my old cell phone probably won't suffice. A camera seems to be a prerequisite to be on ATP! All this "sharing" going on with the pix is so much nicer than solid text forums.

I have some raised beds in a different area of the yard that the g.dane doesn't have access to at this time. They are my organic garden beds. Going to be using parts of them to propagate some new plants for the backyard renovation here shortly. Can quickly convert them to cold frames.

I recently made what may be a mistake and ordered a bunch of sempervivums (just listed them on my list here) to use in the rock gardens that I currently have on courtyard area...hoping they aren't going to die because I have them inside. I will have to discuss that problem in the semps threads sometime this week. Also got a bunch of cuttings of tender succulents (echevaria, etc.) going indoors so will post about that in the proper area also. I truly love the tender succulents!

Looking forward to all that I am going to learn here!

*Welcome* to You, Auntie P. and thanks for sharing your plans with us!

Thank you, Bev! Just read your living pictures article a little bit earlier today...awesome information and very well presented. I am going to do that with my semps that are sitting in the house for ease in acclimating to the outdoors asap. Plus, if they are hanging on the wall the dog will stop trying to eat them. I hope

Glad you liked the article and hope it helps. Oh, the fun you will have working on a hanging for your semps when you get to that!!

We all look forward to the arrival of your new camera.

Hi AuntieP, So happy you've joined us! Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you. But what fun it's going to be! Please do take progress pictures.

My big Spring project is going to be a sedum bed also. I started removing other perennials out of the bed in the Fall of 2012 and its still not completely cleared out. I had several huge clumps of daffodils and lots of alliums in that bed, both of which are a nightmare to get totally rid of. But I'm hoping it's good enough to start replanting finally. I'm in zone 4/5 also, but in the midwest. I've found that sedum really do much, much better outside. There are a few more tender ones I overwinter in the house, but they just hang in there, not thriving, just surviving. I'm sure you'll find once you're able to get some plants in the Spring and put them in your gardens and beds, they'll take off in a hurry.

I see you have rock gardens also. There's a new rock garden forum here on ATP also that will get those creative juices flowing.....and add to your plant addictions!

Thank you for your words of encouragement, Chris! It seems that my idea of getting a jump start on sedum propagation before spring is not the best option - darn it. Guess I will have to plug along with the misc. seeds that I have purchased. I will begin contacting ATP members that sell plants via tmail to get information on sedum starts - I kind of love the smaller groundcover ones!

Yes, your zone is frighteningly similar to mine in the "extreme temperatures" department. Won't even talk about the crazy winds! I'm going to go take a look at your Cubits stores, Chris.

ValleyLynn, may not have to wait too long on the camera...was looking online for one last night It won't be near capable of some of the lovely close-up pix you all post on here but, hopefully, will be good enough. Do you have your list of sedums available updated on your list, Lynn?

AuntieP, I need to update my lists. I hope to get it done in the next week or maybe 2 weeks. The dormant ones are starting to wake up. It is always so exciting to see the first hints of buds popping from the ground, or on the stems.

Thank you so much, Lynn! I can't wait to see what you have! Hard to imagine that your dormant ones are beginning to wake up - don't know how I will stand waiting another month or so to see any of mine peeking out. I only have a couple of them right now. Hope you are going to post pix of your waking babies!

Here is a recent photo of Sedum 'Raspberry Red'. Just starting to come out of dormancy. Our spring comes much earlier than your does, so some things are already starting to show signs of growing. All of those bare stems will grow new leaves. Each section, if it contains a joint, will make a cutting for a new plant.


S. lydium is everygreen, and is a wonderful low mounding sedum. It changes color with the season. I just love this one.