I don't have anything to really weigh in on the matter or xenox or other dark sedums... I only have autumn joy and matrona. But I had no idea what I had was matrona lol. I received two cuttings from a former co-worker last June, I believe. I stuck them in the ground but haven't really seen them in full fall flower (they had small buds on them when I got the cuttings but they never bloomed). So at any rate, I just wanted to say thanks for naming my sedum :) But, i do love Lynda Windsor... saw it on Blue Stone and I'd love to get a few of those

Seuss, That is a very pretty semp. I love the way you have it displayed. Mine are less formal-I stick 'em anywhere I can. They are in rock gardens,containers and even some in a old tree stump that I filled with dirt. I have named and unamed. I brought them from Michigan to Upstate NY last fall. Now I am having to relocate back to Mi and they get to take a road trip again. Thank goodness they are hardy little guys, most plants wouldn't like being moved around like that!

I am in zone 4a, and I haven't had any problems overwintering any of my semps. This winter I left an 8x8 inch pan with semps in it sitting on my patio/deck that sits 2ft above ground. Temps reached -27F, and while there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground at the time, it had blown off the deck. And of course, the underside of the pan was completely exposed. We have gone through a week of early Feb thaw, and the semps are fine. Admittedly, probably not as nice as my others will be, but the green foliage is still healthy. As do most of my plants, these semps have a hard life, and don't get the attention to grow as well as they could. Could it be other factors besides temperature that is causing your overwintering problem? Soil too rich, too much water, etc.? If you are really in zone 5, your probable lowest temp should be -10 to -20F. http://mgonline.com/zonemap.html Certainly not -20F for days, let alone just the nights. There is a small part of NY that has zone 3-4 temps. Is that where you are? Rick

After I asked about the cucumber beetle on the rose forum I found a excellent web site with every bug I ever wanted to know about, I think. I bookmarked it for future use. That was really stupid that I had my answer and asked again...I said I had headaches and used darvocet. I was asking about a spider on a rose first and then threw this out there....Some day if I'm lucky I'll find I have a brain again... I have 4 cats, 2 are 20 pounders, I don't see many birds in my yard, though I planted 5 trees for them and for shade:) The birds, not the cats, though the cats might think I put the trees there for them to catch birds in... Can't find the cucumber beetle but I believe he ate all holes in the blossoms on Angel Face, they have holes in them where they didn't yesterday. I wished I had killed him when I saw him.