Here you see some of the pots on my deck; what you DON’T see is a nearby source of water because there isn’t one, so if these were typical container plantings sitting in full sun I’d be schlepping watering cans every day. No lie! Many, many containers in full sun need watering daily, especially if they’re hanging baskets (decidedly NOT low maintenance).
But sedums are SO drought-tolerant they’re actually succulents (with those thick leaves of theirs), and these pots go unwatered all summer. There’s rain, of course, but when there isn’t, these plants don’t complain, or up and die on me. And notice the nice variety of sizes and leaf colors in the sedum collection? I give the taller sedums a haircut in June to prevent flopping (cutting them back by half) and it seems to work, in addition to making them a bit bushier.
And in the next photo you see more sedums, mainly the creeping type, in homemade hypertufa planters. Hypertufa is a combination of Portland cement, perlite and peatmoss, which makes it resemble stone but weigh and cost considerably less. Hypertufa planters are sometimes called “troughs” because the formula can be used to replicate the old stone water troughs so valued today in England as planters. Planters can be formed inside a mold of some kind (like a bucket or an ice chest) or on top of an upside-down form, like the wok top used to make the planter on the far left.
Hypertufa pots are perfect for plants that thrive with good drainage — like sedum.
Now no one knows for sure how long hypertufa pots last because there are so many factors that can affect their durability but these pots are still holding up well in their 7th year.
