Creeping sedum ‘John Creech’
* Common name: Creeping sedum ‘John Creech’
Credit: www.stepables.com
* Botanical name: Sedum spurium ‘John Creech’
* What it is: A ground-hugging, heat- and drought-tough perennial groundcover that gets small pink flowers in late summer. Leaves are green in summer, then burgundy in fall and holding the leaves through at least some winters. Named after a former director of the U.S. National Arboretum.
* Size: 4 inches tall. Space 2 feet apart.
* Where to use: Excellent low groundcover or edging plant for any hot, dry, sunny and even salty or rocky areas, such as along walks and driveways. An ideal rock-garden plant. Tolerates part shade.
* Care: Water the first season to establish the roots, then it’ll be one of your garden’s least water-needy plants. Fertilizer usually not needed, but an early-spring scattering of a balanced, granular fertilizer is optional. Shovel out and transplant or give away sections creeping beyond where you want. Spreads but not overly aggressively.
* Great partner: Pair with other hot-and-dry perennials, such as salvia, Russian sage, lavender, catmint and most any ornamental grass. Pink spirea, dwarf butterfly bushes and pink shrub roses are good flowering-shrub partners. Blue junipers make a good evergreen neighbor.