Rooting Leaf Cuttings of Sedums

Every now and then there is a plant that will root from the leaves, like Asiatic lilies I wrote about earlier in the year. Sedums are another one of those kinds of plants. Recently I rooted several cuttings of 'Autumn Joy' sedum and another sedum I don't know the name of but bears a resemblance to Sedum seiboldii.  You might ask why would you take leaf cuttings when stem cuttings will work just fine? Good question! The answer is simple you can root many more leaves than you can stems! Since sedums grow fairly quickly (at least these varieties do) there are very few disadvantages to rooting the leaves.

Rob of Our French Garden points out in the comments below that when the sedums are blooming you can take leaf cuttings without losing the blooms.

Here's all you have to do to get the sedum leaves to root:

Gently peel off a leaf from the stem of the sedum and try to retain a little bit of the stem on the end of the leaf.

• Treat the cutting with rooting hormone.
• Place the leaf in moist sand.
• Wait a week or two and check for roots.
• If they root pot them up, if they haven't wait a little longer. Some of them may root faster than others. If a few don't root and others have you can retreat them with rooting hormone and give them some more time. 

Now here's why I did leaf cuttings as opposed to stem cuttings:

4 'Autumn Joy' sedums and 8 unknown sedums!

There were several 'Autumn Joy' sedums that did not root. I put those back in the sand container to give them more time.  It's amazing how many plants you can make in such a small container.

Now where can I put all of my new sedums?