Common Name: stonecrop
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Crassulaceae
Zone: 5 to 8
Height: 0.00 to 0.25 feet
Spread: 0.25 to 1.00 feet
Bloom Time: August to September
Bloom Description: White
Sun: Full sun
Water: Dry to medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Ground Cover, Naturalize
Flower: Showy
Tolerate: Rabbit, Deer, Drought, Air Pollution
Culture
Grow in average, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerates some light afternoon shade. Drought and heat tolerant, particularly once established. This plant may not be reliably winter hardy in the St. Louis area where it should be sited in protected locations or grown in containers.
Easily propagated by cuttings or division.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Sedum pallidum var. bithynicum, sometimes called Turkish sedum, is a tiny-leaved spreading ground cover that is noted for its attractive blue-gray foliage. It typically forms a dense mat growing to only 1” tall and creeping to 12” wide or more. Tiny white flowers appear in late summer on flowering stems growing to 3” tall. Foliage turns russet brown in winter.
Genus name comes from the Latin word sedeo meaning to sit in reference to the general growing habit of many of the sedums (they sit and sprawl over rocks).
Specific epithet means pale.
‘Sea Stars’ is a very low-growing, mat-forming stonecrop or sedum (also commonly called Turkish sedum) cultivar that grows to only 1-2” tall but spreads to 12” wide or more. Creeping and rooting stems. Tiny, star-shaped, white flowers bloom in clusters on brown flowering stems (to 2” tall) in late summer. Tiny, rounded light blue-gray leaves (to 1/4”) are semi-evergreen in winter.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Winter hardiness in St. Louis may be a problem.
Uses
Excellent small ground cover. Use in rock gardens, flagstone paths, along rock walls or to spill over container edges.