However, there are varieties that can handle full sun, partial sun, and even full shade.

They are not invasive and their shallow root systems make them easy to remove if needed.

A bonus is that sedums are generally deer-resistant.

Green sedum (stonecrop) as ground cover

The Spruce / Autumn Wood

Here are 11 popular low-growing stonecrop varieties that work well as ground cover plants.

Fun Fact

Plant taxonomists sometimes remove plants from one genus and reassign them to a new one.

Several commonsedumspecies have been reassigned to new genera.

White sedum with green and purple coloring

White Crest Gardens

However, they are often still referred to as sedums in the horticultural trade.

For example, the popular ‘Autumn Joy’ sedumis now formally known asHylotelephium ‘Autumn Joy.’

White Sedum

White Crest Gardens

Whitesedumhas white flowers and green foliage that turns reddish in autumn.

Green ‘Murale’ sedum

Missouri Botanical Garden

It blooms in summer and is an excellent ground cover for thin, poor soils or rocky embankments.

White sedum is, however, a relatively slow-growing plant.

Drought conditions may turn the foliage pinkish, but this species has excellenttolerance for dry conditions.

Green cascade stonecrop

Little Prince Plants

It has a similar growth habit as the rest of the species but is a slightly smaller plant overall.

The leaves are green but show a reddish tinge in full sun.

Individual plants can spread up to several feet in irregular directions from the crown.

Pink Mongolian stonecrop with green leaves and pink and white flowers

World of Succulents

The leaves are blue-gray.

It should be clipped to the ground in late fall as it begins to die back.

Well-suited for dry soil, pink Mongolian stonecrop is a great rock garden plant.

Blue spruce sedum with a yellow bird in its green foliage

The Tree Farm

This is a fast-growing plant that produces a blanket of small yellow flowers in mid to late summer.

Like most creeping sedums, ‘Blue Spruce’ is easy topropagate from cuttings.

The creeping sedum plant is especially good for brightening dark corners of a landscape.

Japanese stonecrop with red-rimmed green leaves and pink flowers

Digigalos/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0

This is a more upright plant than many of the ground cover sedums.

It works well for filling pockets inrock gardensand sunny border gardens.

‘Angelina’ Stonecrop

‘Angelina’ stonecropis a gold-leaved sedum that turns bronze when the weather gets cold.

‘Purple Emperor’ sedum with purple leaves and pink flowers

World of Succulents

Tiny yellow flowers appear throughout the summer.

Like most sedums, it’s easy to propagate from stem cuttings.

The foliage turns into an attractive bronze in the fall.

‘Angelina’ stonecrop with yellow-green foliage

The Spruce / Autumn Wood

It makes a great filler in stone gardens that receive partial sun and are not too moist.

This plant is also container-friendly.

Water well initially, then pull back as the plant matures.

Chinese sedum with green leaves with red-orange coloring

Missouri Botanical Garden

This helps avoid root rot.

Sedum plants prefer full sun or partial sun.

Just as some varieties of sedum can choke out plants, they will also block weeds from sprouting.

Russian stonecrop with green leaves and yellow flowers

Epic Gardening

Sedum palmeri

Photos from Japan, Asia and othe of the world / Getty Images