Next week the season of fall will officially be upon us, and while there’s always the brigade of pumpkin-loving autumn amors, I will be one of those sorry to see summer go, especially after the banner one we’ve had this year. Still, there are joys to be had in the run-up to the changing of the seasonal guard, starting with this Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ which has long been one of the most-celebrated garden plants for a perennial bed or border.
This is one of those rare plants that has actually four seasons of beauty and interest. In the early spring, it forms rosettes of leaves in silvery sage, with cool tones of silver dusting its edges. It keeps this fresh color as spring ripens into summer, at which point it begins to send up tight buds of promised blooms, which come just as summer shifts to fall. It will hold onto these, as they turn from light pink to dusty rose. As fall gives way to winter, the enchantment begins.
The leaves will drop, leaving the stems naked and drained of color. The blooms will have dried to a burnt umber crossed with copper – looking like rust, and surprisingly resplendent against a backdrop of snow. These sturdy umbrels will hold any snow that falls atop their heads like caps, creating a marvelous effect in the winter – and this will last and continue until the spring finds them sending up new green stalks again.
It is a plant I hold close to my heart because it sees us through the entire year without complaint or high maintenance demands. This particular specimen was a seedling that sprouted many yards away from its mother plant. It was actually on the outside of our fence, in the unkept and untended section of the backyard where it managed not only to seed itself, but to come back for several years until it was big enough to transplant to a prime location in the garden. I like plants that prove their worth.
