The summer doldrums have officially ended in my garden. Two weeks ago, the roses were sulking through midsummer, sighing like Victorian literary characters and bemoaning their blackspotted leaves. Now they sport happy new blooms and almost sing. Morning glories put out fresh purple trumpets every day as they continue their push for world—or at least suburban garden—domination. The millions of asters are beginning to pop into bloom and by next week, if the weather cooperates, they will be covered with pink, blue or purple daisies. This year, my daughter, who is an Oscar Wilde fan and emulates his “nothing succeeds like excess” philosophy, has added even more asters to the garden. The show should be amazing—as long as I remember to water the new asters.
Every season in the garden holds its share of glorious discoveries, as I catch sight of plants that I have forgotten about. Last year I installed one of the newer varieties of tall sedum in the lower back garden and now it is blooming in glorious rosy pinkness. I am fairly sure that this particular cultivar is Sedum ‘T Rex,’ which is similar to the old favorite, ‘Autum Joy,’ but with rosier flower heads. The plant stands about two feet tall on sturdy stems, with fleshy, toothed green leaves and an abundance of flat-topped flowerheads. ‘T Rex’ caught me by surprise because it shares a flowerbed with a gigantic garden mum that I planted years ago. I am pretty sure the mum came in a one-gallon pot; now it could fill a standard horse trough. The mum foliage had completely engulfed the neighboring ‘T Rex,’ until the day that the dinosaur finally asserted itself and thrust its flowerheads through the chrysanthemum foliage forest. Now it shines brightly. I have pruned away the nearby peony’s mildewed leaves to give the sedum some additional room.
A while back, the taller members of the genus Sedum were moved into the genus “Hylotelephium,” which sounds less like a plant and more like a telecommunications company. Vendors know that most gardeners can’t tell a Hylotelephium from a Symphiotrichum—at least on paper–and still use the older name. The important thing is that these sedums are medium to tall succulent plants, growing anywhere from eighteen to twenty-eight inches high, with sturdy stems; large, flat-topped flower clusters and ovoid leaves with edges that might be smooth, lightly serrated or downright toothy. The leaves will remind you of jade plants, to which sedum are related. All the tall sedums bloom in late summer to early fall, with flowers that start out greenish white to pink and mature to various shades of pink, red and purple according to variety. By choosing from an array of online and traditional retailers, you can locate a number of tall sedum varieties. Most of them are selections or hybrids of the species that used to be known as Sedum telephium and Sedum spectabile.
Just about everyone on my block already has ‘Autumn Joy,’ an old reliable cultivar that features dusty pink flowers when mature. Like all sedums, it draws butterflies, bees and all kinds of pollinating insects. Sad to say, it also draws deer, at least sometimes. Last year, deer ate all my ‘Autumn Joy’ flowerheads. The deer are still with us this year, but they seem to be ignoring the sedums. I spray the plants with deer repellant regularly, just in case Mr. Antlers and his ever-increasing family decide to revisit the idea of consuming mass quantities of sedum.
If you like ‘Autumn Joy,’ you will also want its offspring, ‘Autumn Charm,’ which has the added excitement of variegated foliage. Each leaf edge is painted creamy white. In the same vein, ‘Elsie’s Gold’ starts out with green foliage edged in golden yellow. The flowers are a little rosier than those of ‘Autumn Joy’ and the leaf edges age to cream by the time the flowers come into their own. For darker flowers, try Sedum ‘Brilliant,’ whose blooms seem to have a bit more purple in their color profile.
Sedums are easy to care for, require no supplemental water once they are established and increase steadily in size over the years. The taller varieties often flop over, especially when the flower heads are fully ripe. When flopping happens, I place one plant stake at the back of the clump, encircle the entire clump with garden twine and tie the twine to the stake. It works well, prevents further flopping and doesn’t look too contrived. You can also support the would-be floppers with grow-through plant supports, available at many garden centers. These are best inserted early in the season.
Tall sedums make excellent dried flowers and all you have to do is pick them, remove the leaves and hang them upside down in a cool, dry place for a few weeks. They can also be left on the plants, where they will dry naturally and add winter interest to the garden.
The world of sedums is vast and the world of Hylotelephium or tall sedums is fairly large also. At this time of the year, garden centers usually display the plants front and center, along with the asters and mums. For a larger selection, try Bluestone Perennials, 7211 Middle Ridge Road, Madison, OH 44057, (800) 852-5243, www.bluestoneperennials.com. Free catalog.