Sedum palmeri

Another visitor from the Mexican highlands, Sedum palmeri is a rosette-forming succulent that brings a lush, almost tropical quality to the sedum collection. The rosettes are composed of flattened, spoon-shaped, blue-green leaves that stack and spread with a sculptural, almost architectural arrangement. Yellow to orange flowers on branching stems appear in late winter to early spring — another early bloomer in the sedum calendar, providing color when little else is happening. The whole plant has a personality that's more emphatically succulent than many of the hardy European species.

Hardy at Zone 8, it's a container plant for most Pacific Northwest gardeners — brought indoors before hard frost and displayed prominently through the growing season. In mild maritime areas west of the Cascades with favorable microclimates, protected south-facing walls or covered areas may let it overwinter outdoors. As a patio container plant it excels: the rosette habit looks outstanding in terracotta, the early flowers are a genuine winter-into-spring bonus, and the blue-green leaves carry through warm months with consistent good looks. For the PNW gardener who loves succulents and wants to push into the less-common Mexican species, S. palmeri is a rewarding choice.