A Beautiful Garden Perennial That Does Fine With Gravel Instead Of Mulch

As a gardener, you know the importance of using mulch in your yard to prevent weed growth and create a pleasant aesthetic. However, when choosing the optimum cover for your garden beds, it helps to understand the difference between using gravel or rocks versus mulch to find the perfect landscaping for your taste and budget. Many people are leaning towards using gravel because it provides a nice, clean surface you can walk on and doesn't require constant topping up. But you're probably aware not all plants will thrive in a bed that's covered with gravel. Lucky for you, there's a beautiful garden perennial that grows well in this type of environment, and that is sedum (Sedum spp).

Sedums, commonly known as stonecrops, are hardy succulents that appreciate a really well-drained soil and will happily scramble over stony ground. There are more than 300 species of sedums to choose from, so you're likely to find quite a few varieties you might enjoy growing. Many species and cultivars are suitable for planting in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 9. These plants can be found growing naturally in dry, rocky regions with poor soils in countries around Europe, Northern Africa, Turkey, and North America. That's why they're ideal for growing in a gravel-mulched bed: organic mulches would generally make the soil too rich as they decompose, resulting in weak plant growth.

There are typically two distinct types of stonecrops — those that grow upright in clumps and creeping sedums that will scramble over the ground and put down roots wherever the stems come in contact with the soil. The upright varieties often have beautiful flowers in late summer and fall in shades of yellow, white, red, and pink. The trick to making these sedum plants fuller and longer blooming is to pinch back the tips in late spring or early summer. On the other hand, the creeping types are the perfect ground cover for year-round color in your garden, as they'll spread quickly to cover empty spaces with their soft, succulent foliage. These plants aren't difficult to grow as long as you give them a sunny spot and make sure the soil can drain really well, never staying wet for too long.

For some spectacular clumping cultivars, take a look at Sedum 'Birthday Party', which has stunning large flower heads in brilliant pink. Or for superb contrast, Sedum 'Touchdown Teak' will display masses of scarlet blooms while the striking red stems are covered with glossy, purple leaves. To compliment all that brilliance, some interesting creeping varieties include Sedum acre or moss stonecrop, which will spread along the ground and delight you with delicate yellow flowers in summer. Or, you might like to try Sedum ternatum, which has dainty, bright green leaves in whorls of three and single flowering branches with pretty white, star-shaped blooms.