Now you sedum, now you don’t

/ Tracy Abell

It’s gray and gloomy today, belying the unseasonably warm weather (which refuses to give us a drop of much-needed moisture!), so I went in search of a cheery image to brighten the day. I selected a photo of sedum that’d bloomed in the front yard last summer.

June 10, 2021

I then went in search of a quote to accompany my photo, but was unsuccessful. Instead, I learned that sedum roofs are quite popular in other parts of the world. Sedum has a very shallow root system and not only that, “The metabolism of Sedum differs from other plants. At night, carbon dioxide is absorbed through the stomata and converted into malic acid. During the day, under the influence of sunlight, the malic acid is decomposed and photosynthesis takes place. The stomata in the leaves are only open at night. During the hot and dry day, moisture loss is minimized.” How cool is that?! And how beautiful is this roof?

Image found here

My new dream is to live in a little cottage covered by a sedum roof.

11 thoughts on “Now you sedum, now you don’t”

  3. I did a paper on living roofs for my technical writing certification. We don’t see more of them because they are cost prohibitive to many people do to the fact that the building often has to be built or retrofitted to be lode-bearing. Even trays of moss or sedum with minimal soil can get pretty heavy when weighed down from heavy rain. If you really want a living roof, but have a tight budget, do it on a small shed.

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.