Sedum for trees

I have seen some discussion on here about using Sedum for making trees. When is the best time to harvest the Sedum and does it need to dry any further after harvesting it. I have a good bit of Sedum plants in my landscape, here on the the East coast it in bloom now, (deep burgundy color). Should I wait until this has dried completely before cutting?

When I used sedum I waited until it was dry to cut it. At the time, it was the perfect, inexpensive source for trees. I use only Scenic Express Super Trees now since I think they’re more realistic, but sedum fit the bill for me when money was tight. Others may have different advice, but I would wait until it dries on the stem. Then you should be good to go with adding ground foam or other products.

I have a lot of sedum ground cover in my landscape as well, and the plants do look a lot like miniature trees. But, isn’t the stuff pretty fragile? How do you keep it from crumbing when it is dried and brought indoors?

Rich

Depending how ‘dry’ your fall is, the sedum may be ready for harvesting. The tree on the right of the attached photo is made from 3-4 sedum twigs. I bind them together with brown floral tape and spray the entire tree with a camoflage brown or black can of spray paint. Once dry, I spray the canopy with cheap hair spray and 'flock ’ the tree with a mix of ground foam. I hit the tree again with hair spray and clean any ground foam off of the trunk/lower branches. I can build a tree in 5-10 minutes. This one was harvested in the spring after a cold Minnesota winter!

Corey,

I do the same with ‘Super Trees’ - I think the ‘trunks’ are too ‘skinny’. I bind 3-4 of them together to get a ‘fatter’ trunk.

Jim

This would be a pretty good start. Basic preservation technique using glycerine to keep them from becoming dried out/crumbling. Would be worth looking into if you’re thinking about using a lot of the stuff.

Link seems to have gotten mangled. Let’s try it again.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5456_preserve-flowers-with.html