IRISH GARDENING 



Hardy Stonecrops. 



By R. Lloyd Praeger, B.A. 



The beautiful S. pulchellum has bright-green 

 foliage and showy pink flowers, and it is peculiar 

 among Sedums in liking a wet situation — moist 

 peat suits it well. S. hispanicum ( =glaucum), 

 which may also be placed here, is a decorative 

 little biennial plant with glaucous leaves suffused 

 with pink, and pinkish blossoms. 



Next we may group together a number of 

 useful Sedums characterised by their flat. 

 roundish leaves, balf an inch or so across, stems 

 more or less prostrate, leaves usually deciduous. 

 The well-known S. spurium and S. Ewersii will 

 serve as examples. S. spurium, which is often 

 used for edgings, forms a tangled mat of rooting 

 stems, leaves hroadest at the top and toothed, 

 flowers pink : 

 the variet y 

 gplend en s. 

 with deep red 

 flowers, is the 

 form usually 

 grown, and 

 is much liel 

 ter than the 



t V p e. The 

 pretty S. op- 

 posit il'ol i u m 

 is rat her like 

 a miniat lire 

 of the last. 

 with ] > i 1 1 k 

 flowers, hut 



the steins 



die hack an- 

 nually to a 

 subterranean 



root - stock, 

 s. anacamp- 

 seros I ro- 

 t nndifo 1 turn) 

 is a quaint 

 plant wit h 

 st raggl i ng 

 hare steins 

 wit h round - 

 i s h g I a ii c- 

 ous leaves 

 ciowded to- 

 gether near 



the tips, and lew dense 



(lowers. S. Ewersii is 



annual stems, with glaucous rounded leaves 

 in opposite pairs, terminating in heads of 

 pinkish Mowers: the stems do not root, but 

 die hack annually to a short twiggy base. 

 S. cya neii m Is a smaller planl resembling the last, 

 with reddish purple flowers and glaucous foliage. 

 The handsome S. Sieholdii. which, with its 

 variegated form, is often grown in pots, has 

 arching stems clothed with glaucous leaves 

 arranged in threes, and terminating in clusters 

 of purplish blossoms. S. kamtschaticum has 

 leaves like spurium. hut the Mowers are bright 

 yellow, and the stem-system is like S. Kwersii. 

 There is a variegated variety thai makes one of 

 the showiest of Sedums. Several other less 

 known species also belong here. 



Then comes a distinct group of Sedums. includ- 

 ing the well-known Rose-root (S. roseum 

 Rhodiola rosea) and the Orpine iS. telephium). 

 These have a very fleshy, sometimes almost 

 tuberous, root-stock, from which rise a number of 

 leafy erect stems up to a foot or even two feel in 



height. In S. roseum, S. heterodontum and 

 S. asiaticum, the fleshy root-stock grows up. 

 forming a number of leafless stems as thick as 

 one's finger, from the summit of which grow annual 

 leafy stems crowned with yellowish Mowers. In 

 S. roseum the leaves are broad and very glaucous, 

 in the two others they are toothed and narrow, 

 being in S. asiaticum bright green. S. roseum is a, 

 plant with many puzzling varieties, of which the 

 most striking is S. r. linifolium rubruin. which has 

 narrow green leaves like asiaticum. but untoothed, 

 and flowers of a striking rich red-brown hue. A 

 handsome tall yellow species is S. Maximow iczii, 

 with stems rising annually from a subterranean 

 root stock and toothed green leaves. As in 

 S. kamtschaticum the Mowers turn red on fading 

 on account of the bright colour of the ovaries. 

 S. aizoon resembles the last. Next comes the 

 familiar Orpine group, with erect stout stems. 



1 to 2 ft, high, 

 clothed with 

 n u m e r o u s 

 broad leaves. 

 S. telephium 

 and S. fab- 

 a r i a are 

 easily known 

 by their 

 masses of 



C I a r e t - re d 

 Mowers, and 

 c r o w d e d 

 t o o t bed 

 leaves ar- 

 ranged in no 

 particula r 

 order. S. 



maximum is 

 a more strag- 

 gling plant, 



with 



leaves 

 posite 

 and 



broad 



I op 



pairs 



reell 



A Group of Cordyline australis 



Planted at Warren Eouse, Sutton, Co. Dublin, in 1892, by The 

 O'Mahony of Kerrj from seed ripened in Wicklow. 



heads of purplish 

 a good plant with 



ish Mowers. 

 M a n y in- 

 ter m edi ate 

 forms (varie- 

 ties or hy- 

 brids) be- 

 tween these 

 three species 

 exist, and are 

 difficult to name. Then comes S. spectabile, tin- 

 latest flowering and one of the tines! of Sedums i 

 distinguished by its pale-green glaucous foliage and 

 very large panicles of pink flowers. It forms in t i me 

 a Large clump, and is a very effect Lve plant for the 

 front of the border, flowering late in September. 



In the foregoing brief summarj I bave omitted 



several valuable plants which did not seem to 

 lit in with any of the arbitrary groups. S. 

 dendroideum, which is Illustrated on p. 153, is 

 a large shrubby plant, branching widely, with 

 green fleshy leaves, about 2 ■ I inch ; it is 

 not hardy in cold places, and in some other places 

 where it grows all rigid is a shy llowerer ; but 

 when clothed with panicles of its yellow Ragwort- 

 like Mowers it is a striking plant. S. triliduin is 

 an interesting species. Hoot-slock subterranean, 

 annual stems erect, up to one foot, bare below, 

 with a number of broad deeply-toothed leaves 

 surrounding the group of reddish flowers. 

 S. populil'oliu m is one of 1 he most distinct of 

 Sedums. It is quite shrubby, with many branch- 

 ing twiggy stems up to one foot in height. 

 which produce in summer broad-toothed leaves 



