Firestorm Sedum Care: Tips On Growing A Firestorm Sedum Plant

Potted Firestorm Sedum Plant
Firestorm
(Image credit: saiberiac)

Do you want to liven up your windowsill or garden border? Are you looking for low, mounding succulents that have a strong punch of bright color? Sedum ‘Firestorm’ is a variety of succulent bred specifically for its vibrant red margins that only get more impressive in full sun. Keep reading to learn more about growing a Firestorm sedum plant.

What is a Sedum ‘Firestorm’ Plant?

Firestorm sedum plants (Sedum adolphii ‘Firestorm’) are a special cultivar of the species Golden sedum, a low growing, sun loving, succulent plant. Reaching a maximum height of around 8 inches (20 cm.), this plant spreads out with many rosettes on stems, sometimes ranging to about 2 feet (61 cm.) in diameter. This growth habit makes it ideal for groundcover or pleasantly undulating borders in garden beds. It also grows well in containers.

Firestorm sedums are green at the center, with leaf edges that range from yellow to vivid red. The color of the edges spreads and gets brighter with more sun exposure and in cooler temperatures. In the spring, they will produce round clusters of small, white, star-shaped flowers that offer a striking contrast to the red and green of the foliage.

Firestorm Sedum Care

Firestorm sedums are relatively low maintenance, as long as conditions are right. These plants are frost tender and should only be grown outdoors in USDA zone 10a and above.

They do best (and are at their most beautiful) in spots with full sun exposure. Like many sedum plants, they are drought tolerant and grow well in sandy, poor soil.

They have a low, spreading habit, and several plants spaced a foot (31 cm.) or so from each other will eventually grow into a very pleasant mounding groundcover formation that looks especially nice along borders.

In cooler climates, they should be grown in containers with very good drainage, placed in a sunny spot, and watered only when soil is completely dry to the touch. Bring the containers indoors before the first frost.

Liz Baessler
Senior Editor

The only child of a horticulturist and an English teacher, Liz Baessler was destined to become a gardening editor. She has been with Gardening Know how since 2015, and a Senior Editor since 2020. She holds a BA in English from Brandeis University and an MA in English from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. After years of gardening in containers and community garden plots, she finally has a backyard of her own, which she is systematically filling with vegetables and flowers.