Hylotelephium, Sedum, Showy Stonecrop 'Black Jack'

A very nice, dark Sedum, though seems to be a bit prone to flopping. Blooms in September in my garden.

Much as I love the dark coloring of this sedum, it seems susceptible to many ills...including but not limited to aphids. When treated wi...Read Moreth a neem spritz - the leaves completely discolor and doesn't look decent until the new ones make their appearance. This seems to be a common theme with the dark leaved sedums - much to my dismay.

I like this plant. It starts off with a rounded mound of bluish green succulent leaves and then puts up dark pinkish to redish flower he...Read Moreads. The flower heads dry nicely in early winter to a rust color and can be left for winter interest. As the season progresses the plant takes on a darker purple color which is incredible looking with the flowerheads. It doesn't bleach out in my region even in hot summer sun, but the pill bugs really like to munch on it and so I had to put down some insecticide granules this year to keep it from being eaten alive;)

I did notice a couple of times where it looked a bit droopy in the heat, but it perked right up with a little water at its base. This was the first season I had it and I put it in the ground during a very hot part of the summer. I watered it daily to every other day until it got a bit established (3 weeks) and then weekly if there was not enough rain. It is supposed to be pretty drought tollerant once well established (a couple of years of regular watering).

I did have a slight problem this evening when my greyhound ate part of one of my Sedum 'Black Jack' plants. Apparently there are several plants in this group that can have digitoxin-like effects (causes cardiac problems) and are therefore toxic to dogs, cats and people if eaten. I was unable to find any information on which varieties have this characteristic or what parts of the plant are toxic, but I just wanted to put this up there for anyone who has sedum plants and has a pet.

Needless to say we had an interesting time a the pet ER with induced vomiting and stomach tube placement to give him activated charcoal. So far so good there are no signs of toxicity and its been almost 4 hours since he ate it.

Black Jack... i dont like it. It burns and bleaches in the hot SD sun.