Seriously Sedum – Late Summer Stunners

Late summer and autumn are just around the corner, and with them comes the spectacular garden display delivered up by our most well-known and best-loved sedum: ‘Autumn Joy.’  From late February well into autumn, this sedum produces large, dense, pink flower heads that perch on thick, upright, grey-green stems. The blooms are so attractive to pollinating insects, they are sometimes impossible to see because they are covered in bumble bees! As the weeks go by, the flower heads of ‘Autumn Joy’ transition into a striking bronze. In winter, the seedheads provide structure to the cold-season garden, and seeds for gathering birds. If you enjoy ‘Autumn Joy,’ the good news is there are other, equally striking, easy-to-grow sedum you can collect for your garden.

The sedum family comprises over 400 different varieties, but most popular with gardeners as well as florists, are the taller growing specimens. These rigid-stemmed sedum are perfect for the vase where they maintain their rigidity of stem and colour for many days, and also (when picked in the bud) happily form the framework of bouquets. A favourite is Hylotelephium spectabile ‘Stardust.’ With a height and spread of around 45cm, Stardust’s flat-topped, pure white flowerheads make a cool and elegant addition to cottage, as well as formal, gardens and they are sure to take centre stage in an autumn perennial border.

From elegance to the riotous comes Sedum Purdyi ‘Red Cauli.’ Growing to a height of 30cm by autumn, it differs from many of its cousins as it boasts reddish-bronze leaves. In flower, it displays clusters (less dense than those of ‘Autumn Joy’) of vibrant, deep-red blooms.

Lovers of all plants variegated won’t want to go past Sedum ‘Autumn Charm.’ The leaves of this beautiful sedum are grey-green with soft creamy-white serrated edges. Its tightly-clustered buds appear in pale cream and green, opening to a delicate pale pink mass of star-like flowers. If you have space for only one sedum in your garden, ‘Autumn Charm’ offers interest at every stage. Keep it to the back of your bed, though. This sedum grows to 45cm.

If tall-growing sedums take your fancy, be sure to check out the net for other varieties, because these garden stars are not difficult to grow. Most prefer full sunlight (6 hours a day is best) while others will tolerate a little shade. They will manage in high rainfall regions provided they are given sharp drainage (especially if you have clayish, heavy soil). Achieve this by adding plenty of grit to the planting space, and consider raising the area by creating a low mound to plant into. Despite their exotic, fleshy appearance, sedum will actually tolerate cold, frosty winters. They do this by dying right down over the coldest months, or in warmer regions, by retreating until they are very low-growing. If you live in a mountainous part of the country, cover the planting spot, or any foliage still visible, with a deep pea straw mulch. The dry seed heads from sedum blooms also offer the plant a natural protection from the winter elements, so don’t be tempted to trim them off. As growth resumes in spring, these seed heads can be trimmed back and left to lie around the plant, contributing humus to the soil.

Sedum are undemanding in terms of nutrition. In fact, unless your ground is in very poor condition, they are happiest with little else but a soil top-up of compost in late autumn, winter, or early spring. If you find your sedum do begin to look poorly, experiment with a light scattering of balanced granular fertilizer in early spring.

Sedum really earn their place in the garden, and at the very time the summer beds are beginning to lose colour, sedum come to the rescue with the most spectacular of displays!