Grow Your Own Sedum Tiles

 

 

Recently, Plymouth City Council here in the South West of England, installed living roofs on nine of their bus shelters along Royal Parade in the city centre. I think they look great. The Council plans to install 36 across the city. Right now, the bees are just loving them, swarming all over the pot marjoram in full bloom. 

These roofs are designed to help such pollinators. They are planted with a plethora of native wildflowers and sedum. It is a shame you can't see many of them from the ground because sedum in particular is such a beautiful genus of drought tolerant succulent plants.

They change colour through the season depending on the weather conditions. I'll demonstrate. I bought these plants from a nursery where it was well sheltered in partial shade. This is what they looked like straight after repotting, like green emeralds.

In a matter of weeks in a location exposed to full sun and wind they transformed into red rubies, equally as beautiful. Such wonderful adaptability.

 

They are unbelievably easy to propagate from cuttings too. This is where growing sedum tiles comes in. If you buy one or two creeping sedum plants from a nursery, you too can grow enough to tile a living roof for very little money, just a bit of time.

 

To take a cutting, cut just below a leaf node with a sharp pair of seceteurs. The piece can be quite small. In fact, small is good. Small pieces need less water, so then have a greater chance of rooting before desiccation.

 

Then, carefully remove the lower leaves from the stem by gently twisting them off by hand.

Finally, push the bare stem into general purpose potting soil in a shallow tray and water in well. As you can see, you can pack in the cuttings quite tightly. To grow a living tile, you want a dense matt to form, so there is no harm in packing them in densely from the start. Just make sure to keep them well watered. Yes, sedum are succulents, but remember your little ones have no roots, so keep them well watered in a sunny position.

 

In a surprisingly short time, you'll see roots begin to emerge through the drainage holes at the base. You'll know the tile is ready to plant out when the plants cover the surface and the roots solidly hold the trays soil in place. 

Happy growing!