The Best Place To Grow Dragon's Blood Stonecrop Ground Cover In Your Garden

If you want to add some vibrancy to your rock garden, you might like to consider growing 'Dragon's Blood' stonecrop (Pedimus spurius 'Dragon's Blood') as a ground cover. You'll find that stonecrops are often the perfect ground cover for year round color in your garden, and with a name like 'Dragon's Blood', you would imagine that this plant is bright red, and you would be right. While the leaves start out green and are tinged with purple-red in spring, they turn a darker hue in the fall. 'Dragon's Blood' also produces attractive star-shaped red or pink flowers in summer but it's the brilliant foliage that makes the most impact. The best place to grow this eye-catching ground cover is in a brightly-lit spot in your yard. It's ideal for arid landscapes, drought-tolerant gardens, and as an effective erosion control on banks, and in sloping gardens.

This interesting cultivar can be grown in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 9 which makes it very hardy as long as it's given really good drainage. It does prefer for the to soil dry out between waterings. This is the perfect ground cover for when you want to add some color and texture to your low-maintenance landscaping. As an added bonus, this hybrid will also attract pollinators and songbirds to your yard. 

Choose a sunny spot in your garden to plant 'Dragon's Blood' stonecrop. It will thrive happily in sandy or rocky soils, and will scramble over the ground to fill in bare areas around taller growing plants. Because it forms a dense mat as it spreads, it's excellent at suppressing weed growth. In fact, this is one of the best low-growing plants to help control weeds in your garden. You could even use this colorful succulent to fill spaces in between pavers or stepping stones, or grow it alongside pathways where it might spill over to soften hard edges.

If you find that the plant starts to spread too much into areas you don't want it to grow, it's easy to just trim back the branching stems to keep it more compact. Once established, it's unlikely that your ground cover will need extra water unless you're experiencing periods of extended dry weather. If this is the case, only water your succulent when the top inch of soil is completely dry. Overwatering should be avoided at all costs because this can result in root rot. All in all, 'Dragon's Blood' is a lovely low-care plant that will delight you with its brightly colored foliage throughout the year. And, if you want to add even more brilliance to your landscape, you might also like to add some yellow flowering ground covers that your garden will love.