Why I Oughta...

What's better than *some* sedum groundcover?  MORE sedum ground cover is, well...the answer we have on hand.  As part of #FallPlanting, I added three quart-sized Stonecrop groundcover plants to the front yard.  I put two down by the sidewalk IB2DWs (extended) and one on the southside by the patch of Angelina Sedum close to the front porch. For keeping track of to-do's and what-have-you, I'm saying these 2 plants go toward 3 goals:   #2 (IB2DWs extended), #3 (plant and improve front porch bed) and #17 (keep going with Groundcover).  This is a variegated sedum - you can see the sign above.  And, it was jumping off the nursery bench to me at the end-of-season sale at The Growing Place.  Here's what Gardenia has to say (screenshot below): Below is a look at the one in the front porch bed: And here's one of two down by the sidewalk: I'm posting this in November 2023, but I did this dividing and transplanting in mid-October 2023.

#17 on my 2023 to-do list was to 'keep going with groundcover' and that's something that I've done in little pockets all season-long.  The idea of 'living mulch' along with the ability to buy LESS wood mulch is quite attractive to me.  Not to mention the increased competition with weeds, the 'reduction of footcandles' (as Roy Diblik puts it ) and the filling in spaces.  There's, frankly, a lot of reasons to like groundcover.   Last year, I added 20-or-so groundcover plants including some Ajuga and Carex. This year, I've looked at how well the Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' has done and posted about my groundcover progress for 2023 .  Earlier this Summer -in early August - I ran a subtotal of my groundcover plantings for the 2023 season .  At that time, I totaled 30 new groundcover plants and plugs for 2023: 1  Epimedium warleyense  - Orange Queen Epimedium 3  Spine Tingler Epimedium 14  Ajuga Chocolate Chip 6  Ajuga Bronze Beauty 3  Carex Montana

On a recent visit to Northwind Perennial Farm in Wisconsin, I found myself face-to-face with a table of Sedum plants.  Stonecrop is what some may call them.  They're NOT new plants in general and not necessarily new to me, either.  I had some inherited Sedum in our house in Elmhurst that seemed to do just fine along the driveway.  Didn't think about them much then.  And haven't thought about them much now.   We also have some Angelina Sedum that I really like in a few spots.  But, these more upright sedum?   Don't have them in our garden, but that doesn't mean I can't 'get to know' them a little bit, right? Below are signs for three:  Neon, Karl and Stardust.  The sign for the Neon variety says a lot (to me):  We've been buying Sedum since the 1970's.   Lol.  The Stardust sign is even better:  This is an upright sedum with white flowers.  Go find a spot.  Another LOL. For me, the Neon and Stardust sedums are viable - as they're listed for