Sedums, or Hylotelephium as they’ve been renamed are beginning to develop the wonderful flat umbels of tiny pink flowers at this time of year as summer progresses. Not only do they look fabulous, but they are bee magnets too. These slowly turn to deeper shades of pink in autumn, then provide interest throughout the winter, with the chocolate brown seed heads looking striking when they catch the frosts. Cut these down in February to make way for the new neat mounds of foliage in the spring. Here are a few to try:
One of the toughest varieties is Hylotelephium (Herbstfreude Group) ‘Herbstfreude’ or Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’. It has large salmon-pink flower heads in summer.
Hylotelephium ‘Matrona’ has large flat heads of pale pink flowers in the summer, which contrast beautifully with the purple-tinged stems and grey/purple leaves. It’s fairly tall (around 75cm)
Hylotelephium ‘Jose Aubergine’ has striking dark aubergine stems (to around 40cm) and foliage and pink flowers.
Hylotelephium ‘Purple Emperor’ (Atropurpureum Group) is one of the darkest purple sedums with deep purple foliage and maroon purple flowers in late summer/autumn. They make a striking contrast to silver plants and are compact (around 45cm).
Hylotelephium ‘Red Cauli’ is slightly shorter and neater, with purple/grey foliage and deep red slightly smaller flower heads in late summer.
And for something a little different, Hylotelephium ‘Iceberg’ (Brilliant Group) has pale green leaves and umbels of tiny sparkling white flowers from August – pretty and unusual.
With their fat succulent leaves they are well adapted to drought conditions. In fact, they tend to get leggy in heavy fertile soil and have a better habit in relatively poor free draining soil, so add some grit in heavier soils. If they still get leggy, you can try giving them the ‘Chelsea chop’ during the week of Chelsea Flower Show in May, by cutting back half the stems the ground to produce less weight, a more compact shape and more flowers. They look good with grasses such as Stipa tenuissima and sesleria, along with agapanthus, grey leaved euphorbia, salvias and Stachys byzantine.