Starry white flowers cover this low stonecrop in late spring, one of the first sedums of the year to bloom. Whorled stonecrop, also called woodland stonecrop, Sedum ternatum 'Larinem Park' grows 4 to 6 inches tall and 10 to 12 inches wide in full sun to part shade, hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 8, and spreads steadily once settled.
The small, rounded leaves grow in whorls of three, the source of the species name ternatum, and in milder climates they stay green through winter. The species is native to the eastern United States, from New Jersey to Iowa and south to Georgia and Arkansas, where it grows on rock ledges, on mossy boulders and in open woods. It takes shade far better than most stonecrop and handles rocky, shallow, dry soil.
Creeping stonecrop grows as a low mat of small, fleshy leaves, and its stems root wherever they touch soil. That habit lets a single plant fill the gaps between stepping stones, creep along the top of a wall or cover a dry slope where grass struggles. A broken piece dropped on bare ground will usually root and start a new plant. In mild winters the leaves stay on and the mat keeps its color; in colder zones the plant drops many of its leaves and fills back in from the stems in spring.
It fits a shady rock garden, the ground beneath shrubs or the edge of a woodland path.
