Plant of the Month July 2022: Coppertone Sedum (Sedum nussbaumerianum)

Continuing with our summer theme of trailing sedums (if you haven’t yet, check out our post from June on Stonecrop), this month we’re covering Sedum nussbaumerianum also known as Coppertone Sedum.

As a low growing shrub outdoors, the plant’s stems tend to spill out of containers when grown indoors. Although Coppertone Sedums come in a variety of hues including chartreuse green, this succulent gets its namesake from the copper/ rust orange colored rosette tips when exposed to full sun over time. Although Coppertone Sedum can come in yellow-green hues, it should not be misconstrued with yellowing leaves, which occurs when soil stays wet for too long without well draining soil. If you notice your plant baby is starting to yellow and appear more translucent, its a sign you may need to repot soon! We use a mix of coco coir, potting soil, and perlite for our terrariums at Fern & Fossil. Yellowing leaves are often one of the first warning signs of root rot, and let me tell you, it can be hard to come back from that one. Root rot usually only has one treatment: plant surgery (a.k.a. chop the whole thing up and propagate as many healthy pieces as possible, hoping for the best).

The lucky thing about Coppertone Sedum is that it’s generally pretty easy to propagate it from leaves, cuttings, or seeds. Personally at home, I’ve found that the easiest way to propagate these babies are by leaves. Maybe I’m biased because of my cat always knocking into my plants and swatting the petals off, but I rarely see the leaves not propagate. I’ve tried to do several cuttings and sometimes if the plant just isn’t healthy enough, leaves are your best bet. Plus it’s just fun to see the small sprouts bloom from the petals. After about 3 years of maturing, it’s possible to see Coppertone Sedum bloom with clustered white star-shaped flowers.

Coppertone Sedum (Sedum nussbaumerianum) needs the following care:

Light ☀️ Full sun to light shade.

Water 💧Only when soil is completely dry. Do not overwater.

Grow 🌱 This is not a cold hardy plant. For best results avoid temperatures below 20 F.