Allegheny Stonecrop

Hylotelephium telephioides

Allegheny Stonecrop is the native Appalachian sedum that functions like a low-maintenance rock garden perennial and a late-summer pollinator plant simultaneously. The glaucous, succulent, gray-blue leaves are organized in compact mounds that turn increasingly pink and copper as temperatures cool into fall. the foliage alone is worth growing for the color progression. In late summer, flat-headed clusters of pale pink to white flowers open above the foliage and draw an immediate response from late-foraging native bees. This is a plant for rocky outcrops, thin soils, dry exposed slopes, and situations where drainage is near-perfect. In its native Appalachian habitat it grows directly from rock faces and cliff ledges with virtually no soil. Give it a well-drained raised bed, a rock wall pocket, or a gravel garden and it will establish and persist for decades. The succulent stems root easily from cuttings, making it simple to propagate once you have a plant you love.