Sedum rupestre 'Angelina'
Sedum rupestre 'Angelina is a low, spreading groundcover stonecrop grown for its fine, needle-like foliage, which is a bright chartreuse-to-golden yellow through the growing season and warms to rich amber and orange tones in cold weather and strong sun. It is a selected cultivar of the European species Sedum rupestre (reflexed stonecrop) and one of the toughest, most forgiving succulents for temperate gardens.
As a cultivar, its care follows that of the parent species, Sedum rupestre — see below for the few points where 'Angelina' differs.
Description
'Angelina' forms a dense, mat-forming carpet of trailing stems clothed in short, cylindrical, pointed leaves that give each shoot the look of a soft evergreen sprig. In spring and summer the foliage is a vivid yellow-green; as light intensifies and temperatures drop into autumn and winter, the leaf tips flush amber, copper and orange, so a single planting can show several colours at once. The stems root readily wherever they touch soil, letting the plant knit into a spreading groundcover only a few centimetres tall.
Established mats may produce small, star-shaped yellow flowers on upright stems in summer, though the plant is grown chiefly for its foliage rather than its bloom. Like many creeping Sedum, it is evergreen where winters are mild and semi-evergreen in colder zones, dying back only in severe frost.
Cultivation
Cultivation is as for the parent species; grow it in full sun to light shade in a gritty, free-draining mix and water only when the soil has dried. 'Angelina' is exceptionally hardy and drought-tolerant once established, thriving in rock gardens, wall crevices, container edges and green roofs, and it is a popular "spiller" trailing over the rim of a pot.
Two points are worth noting for this cultivar in particular:
- Light and colour — the best golden-yellow and the strongest amber-orange winter tints develop in full sun. In too much shade the foliage stays a plainer green and stems stretch and thin.
- Vigour — it spreads quickly and roots as it goes, which makes it excellent for filling gaps but means it can outgrow slower neighbours; trim it back to keep it in bounds. See Watering and Repotting for general technique.
It is cold-hardy well below freezing (roughly USDA zones 5–9) and tolerates poor soils, making it one of the easiest succulents for beginners planting outdoors.
Propagation
'Angelina' is very easy to propagate vegetatively, and being a cultivar it must be increased this way to stay true. Detached stem pieces root quickly on the surface of a gritty mix, and rooted sections lifted from the spreading mat can simply be replanted. See Propagation — cuttings and Propagation — offsets for full technique.
See also
- Sedum — the genus overview
- Sedum rupestre — the parent species
- Soil and potting mix · Watering · Propagation — cuttings · Repotting