Tasteless stonecrop
Sedum sexangulare · Crassulaceae
A tight, bright green mat of tiny leaves set in six spiral rows, covered in starry yellow flowers in early summer and bronzed in winter.
- Size
- 3 in tall, 18 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late June to mid July
- Pets
- Toxic to people
- Job in a bed
- Carpet
A bed built around tasteless stonecrop
The planner designed this bed around tasteless stonecrop when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why tasteless stonecrop stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Tasteless stonecrop × 16, yellow
- 2 Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' × 9, red
- 3 Purple milkweed × 3, purple
- 4 False sunflower 'Summer Nights' × 3, yellow
- 5 Dwarf English boxwood × 1, dark green leaves
- 6 Eastern bee balm × 3, pink
- 7 Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin' × 12, blue
- 8 Crocus × 12, white
Why this plant
- The only dense clusters. The others are daisies, flat plates, globes and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
Why here
- Under the taller plants. It runs back between them as living mulch: there its job is to cover the soil, not to be looked at.
- 16 plants in 4 groups (5, 5, 3 and 3). Seen again further along, the same plant ties the bed together.
- Fine leaf against bold. Purple milkweed is beside it: the strongest contrast of leaf there is.
Why now
- In flower for five weeks. From late June to mid July.
- Part of the bed's peak. With blanket flower 'Arizona Sun', purple milkweed and false sunflower 'Summer Nights' in late June: 4 kinds at once. No week has more.
- One of two evergreens. They are what the bed has to show from November to March.
Planned as an English border: 6 of the 6 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Neither end outweighs the other: the visual weight is split 52 to 48, left to right. Tasteless stonecrop is planted in four places along the bed, which gives it rhythm.
The planner's own design check: 13 Excellent, 3 Good, 1 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where tasteless stonecrop goes in a border
At 3 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is ground-hugging (up to 6 in).
Its job: carpet. A groundcover planted in threes and fives to cover the soil: along the front, and just behind it.
Like goldmoss stonecrop but denser and better behaved, and without its bitter taste. A good filler between paving stones, in full sun.
- Paving joints
- Green roofs
- Groundcover on poor, dry soil
What to plant with tasteless stonecrop
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Hens and chicks: its green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; happy in the same dry soil.
- Woolly thyme: its grey-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; happy in the same dry soil.
- Blue fescue: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; tall enough (10 in) to stand behind it; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about tasteless stonecrop
Does tasteless stonecrop need sun or shade?
Tasteless stonecrop grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled.
What zones does tasteless stonecrop grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 9. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does tasteless stonecrop flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late June to mid July. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Late June to late July |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Late June to late July |
| Zone 5 | Late June to mid July |
| Zone 6 | Late June to mid July |
| Zone 7 | Mid June to mid July |
| Zone 8 | Mid June to mid July |
| Zone 9 | Early June to early July |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should tasteless stonecrop be planted?
12 in (30 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 18 in (45 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 3 in (8 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many tasteless stonecrop plants do I need?
At 12 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 12 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 11 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 38 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as threes and fives, along the front and just behind it.
In the bed above, the planner used 16 in four groups.
Is tasteless stonecrop poisonous?
Yes: mild toxicity to people. The acrid sap can irritate skin, and causes stomach upset if eaten.
Will tasteless stonecrop spread?
It spreads sideways, by runners or roots; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Spreads by rooting stems into a wide mat. Easy to pull up.
What flowers after tasteless stonecrop?
Tasteless stonecrop is over by mid July. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Lilyturf: from early August to mid September, 16 in tall.
- Black-eyed Susan: from mid July to mid September, 24 in tall.
- Ornamental onion 'Millenium': from mid July to late August, 18 in tall.
What does tasteless stonecrop look like in winter?
Tasteless stonecrop keeps its green and bronze leaves all winter, so it is one of the plants that hold a bed together from November to March, when the perennials have gone.
More Sedum
- Goldmoss stonecrop Sedum acre
- Russian stonecrop Sedum kamtschaticum
- Sedum 'Angelina' Sedum rupestre 'Angelina'
- Sedum 'Blue Spruce' Sedum reflexum 'Blue Spruce'
- Sedum 'John Creech' Sedum spurium 'John Creech'
- Sedum 'Tricolor' Sedum spurium 'Tricolor'
- White stonecrop 'Coral Carpet' Sedum album 'Coral Carpet'
- Woodland stonecrop Sedum ternatum
In these guides
- Low plants for the front of a border
- Groundcover plants
- Evergreen perennials, ferns and grasses
- Plants with purple and burgundy leaves
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8 · Zone 9
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial (groundcover)
- Size
- 3 in (8 cm) tall, 18 in (45 cm) wide
- Plant
- 12 in (30 cm) apart
- Height class
- Ground-hugging (up to 6 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Late June to mid July; dense clusters; yellow
- Leaves
- Fine texture, evergreen; green, bronze
- Shape
- Mat-forming, spreading
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Crassulaceae
Checked against VASCAN (plants of Canada). Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.