Hi Neo,

Welcome to RMG!

It looks to me like ÂCrazy Ruffles is a new variety of the upright sedums. Sedums do well almost anywhere, but if youÂre having trouble growing things in that spot, IÂd recommend trying a few of the ground cover sedums first to see how they do. It would be a lot less expensive than starting out with a new, patented variety. And if you buy a couple groundcover sedum plants, every time they grow a little bit, you can snip off the stems, put them in little bunches, and stick them in the soil, where they should root for you, starting new plants. And, if youÂre interested, IÂll be bringing some small sedum starts to the Spring Swap, or if youÂre anywhere near me (Thornton), if you want to drive over some day, I could give you some unrooted starts for several different types of the ground cover sedums. TheyÂre very easy to start, and my cuttings come with "directions!"

If other areas nearby along the street have things successfully growing in them, I doubt that the mag chloride is the problem. IÂd say itÂs more likely that the soil is too poor or too much clay to hold any moisture or nutrients, or that itÂs too compacted and all the moisture is running off rather than soaking in. Was the area loosened up before you planted in it in the past? If itÂs pretty heavy clay, have you added a substantial amount of organic matter? And were you watering at all over summerÂand occasionally (thoroughly) in winter if itÂs a really dry winter like we had this year? If youÂre able to figure out why things have died in the past, you should be able to fix the problem and successfully grow something thereÂand sedum of some sort would certainly be one of the easiest and most likely to succeed. If you try some of the groundcover sedums, and they succeed, you could easily plant ÂCrazy Ruffles and some of the other upright sedums among the ground cover ones. There are lots of pretty ones with different color flowers and different color foliage.

Let me know if youÂre interested in sedum cuttings,
Skybird