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Plant of the Week
Autumn Joy Sedum,
Live-for-Ever, Stonecrop
Latin: Sedum spectabile 'Autumn Joy'
 Fall brings a new assortment of perennial plants into bloom in the garden,
and of these, few are more dependable and indestructible than Autumn Joy Sedum.
While it is a bulletproof survivor in the garden, it is not the least bit
invasive or prone to crowd out its neighbors. Sedums are a member of the
stonecrop family which is uniquely adapted to survive in shallow, dry soils.
Autumn Joy grows up to 18 inches tall from a dense crown of shoots that emerge
in early spring and look like a nest of crowded fledglings each stretching their
neck to get the next worm. The stems are thick and strong and hold aloft the
considerable weight of the 3-inch long, fleshy, gray-green leaves and the 4- to
6-inch wide cluster of flowers that appear in late summer.
The flowers, as they first begin to appear in mid summer, give the impression of
a head of silvery green broccoli. Opening flower buds produce a mass of
half-inch, five-petaled blooms in the shape of a sharp-pointed star. The flowers
start out light pink and change to a cherry red by the time they are in full
bloom. This floral display is a progressive event with the plants blooming for
about eight weeks. With such an extended blooming period, they are a favorite
with butterflies.
But once blooms are over, don’t be in a hurry to remove the tops of the plants.
The strong stems hold the spent flower heads aloft all winter long and create a
pleasing mass of natural dried flower heads. In snowy climates these flower
stems create a pleasing effect all winter long as small roofs of snow accumulate
on the head.
I find no mention of Autumn Joy’s origins in my reference material. It was
introduced under three names, with the original name being the German name
"Herbstfreude." Wayside Gardens, the firm that introduced many of us to the
finest garden perennials, does not list it in their 1949 catalog, but lists it
as "Indian Chief" in their 1959 catalog. My Wayside collection is incomplete in
the 50s, but I suspect it came to America in the early 50s as some of that
nation’s superior perennials made their way to our gardens. The plant appears to
be a hybrid with the closely related species, S. telephium.
Commercially Autumn Joy is propagated by spring cuttings. A more interesting
approach to propagation is to cut the fleshy stems in the fall and lay them
horizontally in a sunny window. In a month or so, each leaf node will produce a
shoot that can be removed and rooted.
By: Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist
- Ornamentals
Extension News -
September 24, 1999
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