On the hunt for more Sedum

Your not alone out there. I live in the northeast. There is a weed that grows in our area. Not sure of the actual name. Usually near a field. I was always on the lookout while driving. Best harvested in the fall. I went armed with bags or boxes for the harvest. I got the idea from an Allen Keller video.
  In order to make a tree. You need to bundle some branches together like making a bouquet. Wind floral tape around the stems to create a trunk. You can detail the trunk if it’s viewed in the foreground. Paint it a camo brown. The buds that are present sort of become the leaves. I model the fall and you want an airy look to the tree. Tough to achieve with commercial  foliage. Nice you have given it a coat of brown. Now just try to paint the buds your fall colors. An airbrush makes less of a mess but I usually opt for a rattle can as it goes much quicker. No matter how you build a tree. There is going to be a tedious part. After your satisfied with the coverage of your spray bombs. You need to go back and paint out the branches with a fine brush so they are more grayish rather than orange or yellow from the leaf color. Once you get going in assembly line mode. You can crank them out pretty quick for virtually very little cost.
As far as durability. You can give them a final coat of Matt medium. If you just leave them be on the layout. They hold up very well. I have some that are over 25 years old that still look good.

I apologize for the engine ruining the picture. But it’s the best one I could find showing some of the trees. As trees get larger in size. They become harder to pull off. These are decent size

@VADarthDad posted:

...snip... I'm now needing to drive around a couple more neighborhoods and find dead sedum...although I do wonder if someone will question me parked on the side of the road and wonder what that old guy is doing cutting those dead plants...

What about planting your own?

@PRRMP54 posted:

What about planting your own?

Tried. Died off in the summer without growing enough.

Just fyi, I got this info from the great google machine.

There are more than 400 species of sedum.
I think that should keep anyone quite busy.  Plus so many fantastic colors!

I would love to grow my own next season and make many trees. Thx for the tip.

Darth,

What is your "sprinkle method"? Are you using a tool or just your hand?

My daughter has a planter alongside her garage which is 2' x 16' loaded with dead Sedum. Harvest will be tomorrow. Probably more than I will need, but there for free anyhow. Wife reported this find after I showed her this thread. You never know whats there until you ask.......

Sedum rocks!  Couple of alternatives to using mat medium.  If you want green trees, spray with green spray paint then immediately springle with fine turf while the paint is wet.  Another option if you want the natural color, use  cheap hair spray.  What ever method you use, when the tree is dry spray it with hair spray to lock things down and help preserve the tree.  Because hair spray is a fine spray but sticky, it also works great using Scenic Express Super Trees as a first layer before sprinkling for a more delicate look and again after to lock things down.

My layout is almost 100% sedum trees.  We have them growing like crazy (on purpose) in our landscaping.

I cut them in the fall, dry them for 2-3 months over the winter (and I found that there were no bugs after that drying period), airbrush them in various shades, spray with cheap hair spray and sprinkle ground foam.

I used a spray bottle with mixture of white glue water and a drop of liquid soap. I already had it made for ballast glue. Held the sedum head upside down and sprayed then flipped it upright and sprayed. Then just sprinkled the fine woodland scenics materials and let dry.