John Creech Sedum spurium - Two Planted In Front - October 2023

Fall 2023 is (now) going to be a moment that I'll look back on and think about sedums.  Sedums as groundcover have been on my radar since the success of the volunteer Angelina Sedum that started in our backyard and I've transplanted in a number of places.  

The past few weeks have featured a few Sedum that have gone in - a Chicks and Hens Hopewell and a pair of Voodoo Sedum - all of which are IB2DWs and are part of my growing groundcover collection. 

When I was at The Growing Place, I came across another new (to me) sedum:  Sedum spurium 'John Creech'.  You can see the sign above in this post.  They say:  A fantastic groundcover.  Distinctive, spoon-shaped leaves.  And it forms 'an extremely tight, dense mat that weeds don't have a chance'.  

Who is John Creech?  From the Missouri Botanic Garden listing, they say:  

John Creech, former director of the U.S. National Arboreteum, reportedly collected this plant at the Central Siberian Botanic Garden in 1971.

There were two of them - so I brought them home.  At $2.50 each, it was a no-brainer.

There are SO MANY places that can use groundcover in our garden - to help crowd out weeds and grasses.  Where did I end up putting these?  In each of the corners of the small, island bed that hosts our clump of Little Henry Sweetspire shrubs - and more recently, the Stachys Hummelo and the Greenlee Moor Grasses.  Below are a few photos showing how they're tucked into the corners on each side and how they work with the other plants:

One of these Sedum (stonecrop) is visible 'above' the Stachys on the right side of the photo below. 

The soil is rocky here - from the sidewalk construction.  

My 2023 Fall Planting List - so far - includes a number of new and divided plants.  And now one tree.

Now up to 30 new plants.  3 new via division.  1 Tree.  34 total for 2023 #FallPlanting.  21 of them are groundcover plants.  Five sedums.

• Five divided Everillo Sedges - Carex Everillo - from one sedge with Center rot in the backyard.
• A Sempervivum ‘Hopewell’ - a succulent-looking Chicks and Hens planted down by the sidewalk - IB2DWs. 
• Two Sedum spurium 'Voodoo' - IB2DWs - to attempt to outcompete the Creeping Jenny.
• Split three Elijah Blue Fescue clumps into six - IB2DWs along the driveway.
• A single Burgundy Glow Ajuga along the driveway IB2DWs.  Lots of groundcover IB2DWs, this Fall.
• Eight Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' planted - five in the island bed.  Three along south front porch bed border. 
• A Cardoon - IB2DWs - that I'm not sure is going to make it.  I'm going to mulch it in VERY heavily this Winter. 
• Two Silver Mound Artemisias planted IB2DWs - close to the current planted bed. 
• A dwarf, fern-like shrub:  Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea planted in the front porch bed. 
• Three Pentsemon 'Midnight Masquerade' dark foliage perennials planted in the new/extended IB2DWs bed.  
• Two Stachys monieri 'Hummelo' plants, in the front yard by the Sweetspire. 
• Three Greenlee Moor Grasses - Sesleria Greenlee Hybrid in front of the Sweetspire shrubs in front.
• A dwarf conifer: Baby Blue Spruce - planted IB2DWs extended down by the sidewalk.
• Two John Creech Sedums - planted by the Little Henry Sweetspires.  Hoping to cover and outcompete the weeds that creep up in this border.