lemon coral® sedum in GARDEN BEDS
Lemon Coral is a versatile annual that grows well in containers and garden beds. Find a sunny to partly sunny spot where you could use a small-scale groundcover to add a punch of color. Don’t worry if the hose or sprinkler doesn’t reach–remember this plant prefers drier soils. If your soil is heavy clay and tends to retain moisture, consider growing it in a raised bed or container instead.
Lemon Coral forms a thick carpet of succulent, needlelike foliage as it creeps slowly across the ground. Think of it like a living mulch that does its part to suppress competing weeds and prevent soil erosion.
If you garden in zones 7a or warmer, Lemon Coral will likely be perennial for you, returning every year. In colder zones, it is commonly grown as an annual.
PLANTING YOUR GARDEN BED
- We recommend 12-18” spacing between Lemon Coral plants in the ground. You’ll need about four plants for every three feet of ground you wish to cover.
- Space the plants equally in the ground so they fill out evenly with no bare spots in between.
- Lemon Coral requires well-drained soil that won’t stay wet for long after a hard rain. You may need to amend your soil to improve drainage before planting.
- Mix a bit of slow release plant food into the soil before you add the plants. Follow the package instructions to know how much to use. This will ensure a small amount of food is available to the plants’ roots over the season.
- Water your newly planted Lemon Coral immediately to help the soil settle in around the plants’ roots.
CARING FOR YOUR GARDEN BED
Plentiful sunlight along with moderate water and plant food are all Lemon Coral sedum needs to thrive all season long. This plant is a garden workhorse and aims to please.
SUNLIGHT
- Like most sedums, Lemon Coral grows best in full sun where its color will be brighter yellow and its shape will be more dense. If full sun isn’t an option, it will also grow in part shade, which means at least 4-6 hours of direct sun per day.
- Even though its color is light, this durable succulent will not burn in full sun, even in warm climates.
WATER
- Lemon Coral prefers for its soil to dry a bit between each time you water it. To figure out if it is time to water, stick your finger down in the soil up to your first knuckle. If the soil sticks to your finger, it is moist enough and doesn’t need more water. If the soil feels dry and the plant looks a bit limp, it’s time to water.
PLANT FOOD
- We recommend feeding Proven Winners annuals with water soluble plant food every third time you water. Follow the package directions for rates.
- If you are growing Lemon Coral in more shade, we’ve found that it helps to decrease the strength of the plant food by half to avoid leggy growth.
- During the heat of summer when you are watering more often, your plants are growing faster and need more food to keep up. Feeding flowers is like feeding kids–not so much when they are toddlers but they’ll eat you out of house and home when they are teenagers.
- Any brand of plant food meant for flowers will work for your in-ground plantings. But we recommend Proven Winners water soluble and continuous release plant foods because they are specially formulated with micronutrients to help our varieties grow bigger, stronger, and bear more flowers.
TRIMMING
- Lemon Coral is a low maintenance, worry-free plant with just the right amount of vigor. It forms a rich carpet of succulent foliage but typically doesn’t outgrow its space or be a bully to other plants you pair it with. Little to no trimming is required.
- If, for some reason, you’d like to give your Lemon Coral a haircut, go right ahead. Just pinch or snip the stems back to the length you prefer. As long as you don’t remove more than 1/3 of the plant at any one time, you can’t hurt it by trimming.