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"Growing the Many Different Types of Sedum" Sedum are easy-to-grow perennials that add colorful flowers and interesting foliage texture to the garden. Depending on type, they have a bloom period that ranges from midsummer to autumn, providing a long bloom season. In addition, many are evergreen, looking good all year long in the garden. There are both upright and trailing types of sedum. Click on a plant name below to order it from Pernell Gerver's Online Store. Sedum 'Brilliant' is one of my favorite late-summer-blooming sedums. It's an upright-growing sedum that forms a handsome clump of foliage. Its fleshy, chartreuse leaves are the perfect backdrop for its large flat-topped clusters of flowers that stand atop its stems. The flowers are brilliant pink and bloom in late summer and continue blooming into early autumn. It grows about a foot and a half tall and as wide. Sedum 'Autumn Joy' is the most common of the late-summer-blooming sedums. Like 'Brilliant,' it's an upright-growing sedum that forms a wide clump of foliage. It has thick, fleshy leaves that line its stems. Flat-topped flower clusters form in early summer and begin turning shades of rose mauve in late summer. As the flowers age, their color deepens to copper bronze. It stands nearly two feet high and wide. There are also many nice low-growing, trailing types of sedum. These are good to use as a groundcover or on the edge of a stone wall. Sedum kamtschaticum var. middendorffianum is a low, creeping type that has small, rounded, green leaves held on trailing stems. In summer, its foliage is topped with small clusters of bright-golden-yellow flowers. It grows just six inches high, but can spread a foot or more across. Sedum 'Ruby Glow' is another spreading sedum that combines unique foliage and striking flowers. Its small, rounded foliage has a blue-purple blush and is carried on red stems. Clusters of ruby-red flowers begin blooming in midsummer and continue blooming into early autumn, providing an exceptionally long season of bloom. It grows to eight inches high with the flowers and spreads to form a handsome carpet of flowers and foliage.

by Pernell Gerver

"Dig Tuberous Begonias Before First Frost" Q. I planted about 24 begonias for the first time this year. I read somewhere to take them up after the first frost and store them in peat moss for the winter. However, someone said to bring them in before the frost, so I did. Should I have left them out until frost? Thank you. A. Tuberous begonias, as the name implies, grow from tubers. They need to be dug up just before frost (which can be anytime in the next several weeks here in western Massachusetts). Cut the stems back to two inches and air dry the tubers in a warm, airy spot for two weeks. Spray them with Antidesiccant to prevent drying out during storage. Allow the tubers to air dry then store the tubers in boxes of peat moss and keep them in a spot around fifty degrees throughout winter. If the tuberous begonia is growing in a pot of soilless potting mix (which is mostly peat moss), another way to store it over winter is to simply bring in the pot, stop watering, and allow it to dry. Store the pot in a cool location, around fifty degrees, throughout winter, then resume watering in early spring. Grow them indoors on a sunny windowsill until it's safe to plant outside. I've been successful storing tuberous begonias over winter this way and the plants have a headstart next year at planting time. Click here to read more about Antidesiccant and order it from Pernell Gerver's Online Store. Click here to submit gardening questions for Pernell Gerver's online Q & A column. Click here to read previous online columns in the archives.

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