Thoughts for the Summer Gardener
Judy Ziemba, State Chairman

Summer can be such a carefree time but it takes a toll on the gardener and the garden if if there is not enough rain. After the early summer bloom, many plants benefit by trimming back to encourage a second round of flowering. You need to keep removing the spent blooms on annuals and summer perennials to prevent the plant from setting seed and thinking the season is over. For the late summer and fall blooming perennials, if you pinched out the growing tips every couple of weeks through mid July, the result is a more sturdy plant, smaller but more numerous flowers and you may avoid some tiresome staking. Be careful not to pinch out buds. Some mums bloom early in August—just deadhead them as they bloom and you accomplish the same end.

A group of plants that I enjoy are the multicolored hardy succulents especially the sedums, sempervivums (hen and chicks) and echeveria species. They really enjoy the heat and drought and tolerate low fertility and hot, sunny spaces. If your soil is rich, just take care that it drains quickly to avoid rot in wet weather and winter. If the site is too fertile, the tall sedums flop and become unruly.

The tall sedums like S. spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’ are well known for their presence in all four seasons. They deliver clumps of rosettes in the spring (sometimes nibbled by deer), the sturdy mounds of summer, the nectar-rich flowers in autumn and then the interesting winter silhouettes. Many hybrids have been developed. A pale green plant with pink flowers is called S.’Neon’. Others like S. ‘Matrone’, S. ‘Black Jack” and S. ‘Purple Emperor’ have dark reddish foliage with subtle shaded flowerheads. A very compact, uniform plant is S. ‘Carl’ with purple stems and bluish green leaves. Sedum ‘Samuel Oliphant’ is a purple stemmed plant with leaves of green with white edges and patches of pink and cream. The flower buds are cream but when they open, they are pink. S. ‘Citrus Twist’ has been developed with deep green foliage and chartreuse flowers. The shorter varieties of sedums like S. cauticola present more rosette clusters in dusty blue with pink and lavender overtones and it has the traditional pink bloom. To have white flowers, choose S. ‘Frosty Morn” with variegated green and white leaves.

Some smaller and more creeping sedums for the front of the border or terraces include S. repestre ‘Angelina’ and S. munstead ‘Strawberries & Cream’. Angelina has a spreading habit with gold green and pink touches to the needle-like foliage. Strawberries and Cream presents cream, pink and rose-red flowers above attractive rose violet shaded leaves. S. sieboldii hybrids are the low mat forming sedums. Check your garden shop to choose varieties by habit or color. Sedums can be used in mass plantings as well as the whimsical plantings in shoes, boots, troughs, strawberry jars and hanging baskets. If you shy away from tedious watering chores, hardy sedums are the answer.

Sempervivums (hen and chicks) and echevarias are cousins to sedums in the Crassula Family. Mixed with sedums, you can design knot gardens, living wreaths and topiaries, limited only by being able to supply soil for the roots. The only caution is that most echeverias are native to warm climates and may need to spend the winter in a dish garden in the house. Be sure they have a bright window and neglect them by watering sparingly November through March. On the whole, these succulents are easy to grow, need little care, multiply easily and are ready every spring for our pleasure.