"Will this groundcover work?" The Trial of Creeping Sedum

This is Part Umpteen in my series about Getting Rid of My Lawn in which I ponder the question of what plant(s) to grow instead.  As much as I enjoyed the book Covering Ground, it didn't - and couldn't - answer every question about every site, so experimentation is needed. 

Now there are lots of plants being tried (or "trialed," to use my new favorite hort term) as replacements for turfgrass and they have to meet these requirements:

• Short enough to drag a garden hose across them
• Drought-tolerant
• Less labor-intensive than the lawn was, or at least more enjoyable tasks than lawn care, so you see I'm setting a low bar.
• Happy in this sunny, sloping site with really nice soil.

Here's the plant I have the most of, since it grows as a weed here.  I call it creeping sedum but if you know the Latin name, please tell me.  I did notice that that groundcover book cautioned about this group of plants doing a poor job of preventing erosion on hillsides because their roots are so short.  It's always something, to quote the beloved Rosanne Rosannadanna.  But I ain't giving it up without a fight.

Then there's my own question/doubt about this plant:  Will it be evergreen enough to look decent all winter in the center of the whole backyard?  Here you see it photographed in January, so whadaya think?

Comments

[suicide_blond]

i have some of this at my place in the country... west of wash dc.. and i can only half heartedly recommend it.. it is great in the spots where it is great..but the bare spots... drive me crazy!
best of luck!
xoxo

[susan harris]

Well, Suicide Blond, I would have taken you for spam but darned if your comment isn't on topic. Glad to see you're taking a break from making porn and getting outdoors.

[donna]

Might try a creeping thyme - it would smell good, too.

I have three groundcovers I'm trying out right now but I don't remember their names offhand - will have to look....

[Eric]

Susan, it looks okay to me - a lot of those creeping sedums tend to be a lighter shade of green, leaning toward grayish, which means the "color" may not stand out like a darker green would in the winter, but hey it's green! (Grass lawns tend to look color-washed in the winter, anyway.) My mom, who has been gardening in the same spot in Connecticut since the mid 1960's, has grown a similar sedum since the 1970's - it has completely taken over her gravel driveway - it's a tough plant that doesn't mind cars and garbage trucks traversing it, and hose dragging type activities don't effect it - but raking does, because the roots are shallow; so if it's in a place where autumn leaves fall, raking could be an issue, although you could also use one of those darned leaf blowers on a low-blow setting (personally I just hate leaf blowers - I can't stand the noise and the energy use) or leave the leaves in place to decompose if they are not so thick that they'll smother the sedum. Last year I brought back a snippet of mom's creeping sedum (we also call it by it's pet latin name, "sedum procumbens motherii" (grin) and I put it in my garden bed in Rockville, and it's going gangbusters...and I'm debating whether or not to let it creep into my grassy areas as a grass alternative. One other tip - my mother encourages ajuga to intergrow with the sedum - they seem to be quite companionable - both the purple and green ajuga varieties - of course the ajuga dies back in winter, but in summer the effect is quite striking to the eye and durable under foot, hoof, and wheel.

[Pete Balasch]

Creeping Sedum will work when I lived in the bay area Ca. I had a Rock garden coverd my whole lawn with rocks and there are many types of Sedum. Very easy to propogate also just grab a bunch and toss around it will keep growing fast with very little water.

Pete