I don’t like all the work in maintaining a perfect lawn—mowing, re-seeding, weeding – and watering the lawn seems wasteful. Our dog also does not help the cause.  In our book, Gardening from a Hammock, we were advised by several gardeners to “ditch the grass”.

Teacher, biologist and nursery owner, Martin Galloway, suggested instead to plant a sedum lawn, using a variety of sedums which would provide colour and texture while needing little watering or weeding. Although we may not all want to replace our lawns, sedums are most welcome anywhere in the garden. And if we were to choose a favourite, it would be Sedum spurium ‘John Creech.’

Sedum spurium ‘John Creech’ photo by Northscaping

Commonly called stonecrop, like many sedums, this is low growing, only about 5-10 cm and is a fast-growing groundcover, spreading 25-30 cm.  ‘John Creech’ provides a green carpet of tiny rounded deep-green leaves with small clusters of pink star-like flowers in late spring through early summer.

It is a favourite low-maintenance plant because, once established, you can simply forget about it.  Sedum spurium ‘John Creech’ is a workhorse in all kinds of soil from zones 2 to 9.  Although it is most commonly used as a hardy groundcover, it can be so much more. This modest plant needs a publicist to shout out its attributes. It can be used:

• as a groundcover that works well on both flat and sloped areas
• for edging
• as an accent in a rock garden
• in containers where it will cascade over the sides.

As well, it is non-invasive, keeps its colour in full sun, is deer resistant, drought tolerant and attracts butterflies. If that is not enough, here is the best part:

CONTINUE READING ON LOW-MAINTENANCE MONDAY COLUMN AT CANADIAN GARDENING WEBSITE

http://www.canadiangardening.com/blog/2012/05/07/low-maintenance-monday-sedum-john-creech/