There is a wide variety of insects that love Sedum. I check every day looking for the next visitor.
There is always the bee.
Andy P
Nectar loving bugs on Sedum
And an occasional moth or butterfly.
This Mud Dauber looks fearsome.
Andy P
I just asked on another thread what sedum you have on the pics??
Patsy, the ones above are Sedum 'Matrona', they have the burgundy stems. My favorites.
This is one of my buddies on Autumn Joy.
Andy P
I love Autum Joy too. I need to divide mine into smaller ones. They split and fall on the ground. I saw an neat semi-circle planting of them in a picture. I keep meaning to try it.
I wish I had my new camera. Mine are swarming with honeybees.
Gotta love the bumblebee.
Beautiful sedum. I also have autumn joy but they aren't very happy where I planted them. how much sun do they love?
Pegdog, Maximum sun. These are on the south side of the house in full sun all day. The lawn trees are getting very tall and shade them a bit this time of year.
Andy P
Mine are on the west and get a lot of shade. Time to do something different!
Well, there's 1/2 my problem. My sedums are planted NW side of the house. I'll move 'em. When should I do that? Now?
I'm no authority on Sedum but they are tough. I'd wait until a frost, trim them way back then move them. Be sure to amend the soil when you do that, it'll be your last chance. Add a couple of early Spring bulbs in the hole, too. Crocus and Chionodoxa would do very well. You'll get 2 seasons of color from the same spot.
Andy P
great ideas. thx.
Thanks for info Andy. Never knew sedum grew so tall & pretty!
that Matrona is really a beauty, Andy. I just planted some Mediovariegatum...has a variegated leaf with pink blooms. there are so many different kinds of sedums. some of them are ground cover, rock garden type plants, some are very small. I have a sedum 'Murale' (aka Fat Fingers) that I got as a gift in a turtle topiary. I don't know how it gets around, but I keep finding little pieces of it growing in odd places. I think I'll move it to the rock garden this weekend.
edit to add: I think this only blooms in spring...white (I think)
This message was edited Sep 14, 2006 4:49 PM
Gram, Sedum roots like crazy. One of mine, I think it's the Matrone, was rescued from a compost pile in Spring. The Fall before it had been trimmed and tosses in with grass clippings. Another was a broken stem I had with a few rooted cuttings, I potted it up and kept it in the shade until it perked up.
I also have Rose Carpet, a ground cover type that is commercially propagated by jamming multiple little cuttings into large cells, then filled with soil and sold a few weeks later as plugs. They are just now starting to flower.
Here is a really big Dragonfly.
Andy P
Andy have you seen Purple Emporer - it is a gorgeous deep burgundy - not very high - maybe 12-18 inches.
I planted 3 Matrona about 4 years ago - this year one has reverted to original green - looks just like Autum Joy.
Love your bug pics!
carolvan
I have seen a pic, I like it.
I think I'll show the actual plants all these insects are enjoying. I have posted the pics before but they fit in to this discussion.
The Matrona.
Andy P
The Autumn Joy, actually a cluster of three on their third Summer.
It's about 4 feet wide.
This was a very good season for Sedum.
Andy P
I had a Neon, but it literally blew away over last winter..guess it didn't have much of a root system. looked like a tumbleweed rolling across the yard.
Andy, I know it roots easily, I just can't figure how the pieces get to the various places. little plantlets are growing 20 or 30 feet away from the mother plant. maybe some little critter?
hi everyone, had to jump in here. i love vera jameson[ sorry no pics].
and yes the varigated one too.
littlepath
Love dragonflies of all sizes and colors. When we have a lot of mosquitos we'll get a ''herd'' of 15 or 20 huge dragonflies zipping around.
Gram, I wonder how plants can migrate, too. I figured out that my Lambs Ear seed survive my composting. They pop up every where I add compost. I'm not composting them any more, lol.
Here is a new bug for me. A Locust Borer.
Andy P
I'm glad I'm not squeemish.
Thanks for posting those pics of the sedum visitors. I'm always startled to see how jam-packed they are on my Autumn Joys. If only I could stop killing that flower (drainage problem), it would be one of my very favorites. Apparently the bugs love them, too. :)
w
Andy--
Here's my pretty little sedum visitor. I was out walking today and saw a lovely sedum patch with so many butterflies resting on it! Definitely sedum is the way to go for the late season butterfly garden!
I don't know what variety sedum (or butterfly) it is, but it looks much nicer than the 'Autumn Joy' I have in our garden now. For some reason the Autumn Joy flowers turned brown early on this year.
That's a honey, Tabasco. Thanks for posting it.
Some years are better than others. My Sedum are very happy this season. We have had a lot of rain but this lot used to be part of a 'sand & gravel' pit. Good drainage, lol.
Andy P
I'm loving your pictures Andy, very professional! Sadly, I can't share my pictures of Vera Jameson or Purple Emperor sedum, since my computer crashed and I don't know how to get them back. My brother made a copy of my programs in Norton Ghost and then we reloaded everything from the disks that came with the computer, but I lost a lot of stuff. Don't mean to hijack this thread or anything, but any help would be appreciated? I did post the pictures on other threads a while ago. I love sedums paired with ornamental grasses. I just planted some Matrona with Korean feather reed grass on a little berm we made in the corner of our front yard. We also planted a Crimson Pygmy barberry, Bonanza daylilies, and dark red and white mums.
Thanks, Prairie Girl.
I'm a computer novice, don't know how to help with lost pics.
I store my finished pics on a couple photo hosting sites, just in case.
Sooner or later I'll get an external hard drive to store my pics, once the cash flow starts flowing again. lol
Andy P
I snapped this one yesterday. Some sort of wasp?
Andy P
Andy, the extra we get with your pictures are a close up of the sedum flowers. I can say I never got that close to one. Thanks!
Not sure what your bug is.
tabasco,that moth is pretty cool. I always love seeing the "pests" grown up.