Sedum Autumn Joy

A plant with a confusion of name changes, better known as Sedum Autumn Joy but also known as Hylotelephium telephium 'Herbstfreude'. Herbstfreude meaning Autumn Joy. This is an upright, bushy, clump-forming, herbaceous perennial, larger than many ice plants. The succulent, ovate, leaves are pale greyish-green, emerging early in spring. From August to October, dense, flat heads of tiny flowers appear, green at first, then salmon-pink, before deepening to a rich brick-red in autumn, and eventually brown. The flowers are very attractive to bees and butterflies. Leave the seed-heads on the plant for winter structure, and cut them back as new growth starts in spring. A drought-tolerant, low-maintenance plant, Sedum Autumn Joy benefits, like all sedums of its type, from being cut back by one-third in May (‘the Chelsea Chop’) and division every three years, to prevent flopping.