In 2022 I made my first successful sedum crosses between sedum album 'Athoum' and 'Black Pearl'. My thought was that crossing the pollen from Black Pearl onto the stamen of emasculated 'Athoum' flowers in a controlled, pollinator-free environment would ensure that any seedlings with color were a true cross, as 'Athoum' has little or no color of it's own to contribute. Though I'd crossed seedlings back in 2018, I'd never seen results which I now believe is because of my attempts to cross between the various subspecies, however these 2022 crosses between two album cultivars have yielded results, and now that they've matured I think it's a good time to open up a discussion with other gardeners about the merits and potential of crosses involving sedum. My inclination as a gardener of the pacific northwest is towards the hardier ground-cover types that survive our winters (which are roughly zone 7, almost 8a), but I welcome all sedum seed raising discussion here. Though I do imagine the flowers of the larger tender varieties to be much easier to work with, these little ones have tiny, translucent flower cores that are nearly invisible!

I can't entirely verify the parent cultivars I used in this cross because neither had a name when I acquired them, but here in Oregon we don't have many album cultivars floating around so I've made the assumption confidently. Excluding the specialty nurseries like our friends from Perennial Obsessions, I've only ever seen these album cultivars sold here:
'Athoum'
'Baby Tears'
'Mural'
'Coral Carpet'
'Black Pearl'
'Green Ice'
'Red Ice'
and on rare occasion,
'Orange Ice'
Feel free to correct me if you've seen others around or if I've misspelled anything.

'Athoum' is the largest leaved of these varieties, with no obvious competition, so it seems safe to assume that's our mother plant here, I've since purchased a named plant and haven't seen any obvious differentiation between the two. My goal in crossing 'Athoum' with 'Black Pearl' is simply to try and get some color on larger leaves. These 10 seedlings are the results, beginning their second year the plants look mature enough to select from, if there's a more experienced sedum album hybridizer who can say if we're seeing adult coloration yet thats a point of major interest to me. I've not included captions to avoid applying my own bias to the questions; what do you think the strengths and weaknesses of these seedlings are? what makes a good sedum in your opinion? do any of these stick out to you as being more interesting than the others or something you'd want to grow in your own garden? I'd love to hear your thoughts…

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10


This photo is an overhead of all ten distinct clumps, with two 'Athoum' plants down in front that have been grown in different conditions to show the range of color the mother plant is capable of.


I have 15 new seedling crosses germinating this year, coming from sempervivum hybridizing I can honestly say crossing these are much harder to work with because of their bloom's shapes and sizes, but if I can go from seedlings to mature plants in one year I may focus more on this species in years to come as the turnover time for sempervivum is about three years and the backlog of unselected seedlings has put serious restraints on my available garden space.

Looking forward to hearing from some real sedum enthusiasts!
-Sol Zimmerdahl

Here's a numbered photo of the overhead,

@valleylynn
@JungleShadows
@sedumzz

2 and 7 are my favorite -- I really like how obtuse the leaves on 7 are.

I'm glad you like 2 Alex, I noticed it's shape as well and it has a very warm coloration, 7 is very similar, it seems to be a little more prolific but a little less colorful. The shape is almost on par with Sedum divergens, there are definitely some subtle differentiations in s. album leaf shapes which could be utilized in hybridizing. I've noticed 'Hillebrandtii' has somewhat long tubular leaves, the opposite in a way to the wide leaves of 'Athoum', they are also larger than average though so I crossed those two last year.
-Sol

Hi Sol, I'm afraid I am not much help here. I haven't done any hybridizing with S. album. I did have many different forms of album at the Dallas garden, and they regularly crossed on their own with the help of bees. : )
Maybe you could choose the ones that show most of what you want, and cross them? To see if you get closer to what you want.

I would do that.
I am currently doing batches of S. ternatum aiming for smaller rosettes.

I think it takes a lot of crossing/breeding to get to the final product. Keep up the good work Alex.

Lynn,
It doesn't seem like many folks have tried crossing ground-cover sedum. You did have a splendid collection in Dallas, sounds like you got rid of most of them then? I still have an album seedling you thought was distinct which had just cropped up in your yard, if it ever blooms I may have to try crossing it with one of mine.

Alex,
S. ternatum looks like a fun one to develop, I was unfamiliar with it until you mentioned it here.
-Sol

So far...

Interesting, Alex.