Sedum:
Cultivated Stonecrops

a book by Ray Stephenson

Sedums are sun-loving, drought-resistant, and mostly hardy. They are prized by rock gardeners and succulent enthusiasts for their color and interesting shapes. This definitive study by one of the world’s authorities provides cultural information for more than 400 stonecrop species and varieties, many of them photographed in their native habitats.

Media reviews of this book:

“...a splended and wholly admirable book... will surely be the standard reference work on sedums for many years.”

—Will McLewin, Hardy Plant, Spring 1996

“I highly recommend this volume for anyone that would like to understand more about this charming genus of easy-to-grow and useful plants.”

—Barry Glick, gardenweb.com, December 6, 1996

“This is a delightful, large-format, hard-cover book and is a must for anyone seriously interested in succulents in general, and for all alpine hobbyists, and most certainly for sedum fanciers.”

—James E. Low, Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 67 1995

“For any gardener who wants to learn more about this attractive and versatile group of plants, this is simply the finest book available. Attractively presented, interestingly written, and containing just about everything known today about sedums for the garden, Ray Stephenson’s new work can be highly recommended.”

—David Heller, Rock Garden Quarterly, Vol. 53:1 Winter 1995

Publishing details:

Hardcover, 356 pages, 7.4" x 10.4", 110 color photos, 100 b&w photos, 50 line drawings

An excerpt from this book:

Sedums are ideal plants for the busy person who would like to transform a piece of land into an attractive landscape feature with a minimum of effort and very low maintenance requirements. One way to do this is to plant a scree garden. A scree garden is an area of gravel or pebbles on which creeping plants grow... scree gardens are easy to make and once constructed require hardly any maintenance. In fact, the scree garden could be called the one-hour-a-year scree garden.

1. Remove the largest weeds from an area of land and cover the ground with black polyethylene film or a similar material. Lack of light will kill the most troublesome weeds...
2. Cover the film with stones to hold it down until gravel can be obtained...
3. If the scree is level, dig a small ditch around it to aid drainage and to act like a moat...
4. Plant narrow conifers beyond the moat...
5. When all unwanted growth under the polyethylene film is dead, it is time to plant ... Dig small holes here and there through the scree and polyethylene film with a sharp trowel... Each hole should be big enough to take a small pot with an overflowing sedum...
6. Select plants carefully. Slow-growing sedums, which take years to cover scree area, are desirable as rampant species get out of control... Include some evergreens for year-round color and both spring-blooming as well as fall-blooming sedums.
7. Rake the scree twice in summer to obliterate any annual weeds that root in the gravel. Otherwise this garden requires no attention, can give you tremendous pleasure, and will receive many admiring looks.

About Ray Stephenson

Ray Stephenson is the Founder and Chairman of the Sedum Society in England, and his Northumberland garden with its 800 different stonecrops — probably the most diverse collection in the world — has been officially designated as The National Collection of Sedum.