Sedum 'Matrona'
orpine
- Position: full sun or partial shade
- Soil: moderately fertile, well-drained, neutral to slightly alkaline soil
- Rate of growth: average to fast-growing
- Flowering period: August to October
- Flower colour: soft pink
- Other features: attractive to butterflies and bees; the dried flower-heads provide colour and structure in the winter garden
- Hardiness: fully hardy
Succulent leaves flushed bronze with purple stems and clusters of soft pink flowers in late summer. The attractive flowers add a splash of colour late in the year when most flowers are going over and the seed heads also look good if left on throughout winter. A valuable plant that makes an excellent cut flower too.- Garden care:
The flowerheads look great left during the winter to add shape and texture to your border. In February and March cut back the old flowerheads and apply a generous 5-7cm (2-3in) mulch of well-rotted garden compost or manure around the base of the plant. Once established, sedums can have a tendency to flop leaving an open and unsightly centre, especially in fertile soil. One technique to help prevent this is the 'Chelsea chop'. During the last week of May (Chelsea Flower Show week), cut one in every three stems back to the ground. This will produce plants that are less lush and flower slightly later.
Dierama pulcherrimum
angels fishing rod
Bell-like flowers on arching stems
Stachys byzantina 'Silver Carpet'
lamb's ears
Grown for its beautiful silver foliage
Foeniculum vulgare 'Giant Bronze'
fennel - bronze
Tall perennial with feathery, bronze leaves
Perovskia 'Blue Spire'
Russian sage
Violet-blue flowers and silvery foliage. Great planted en masse
Monarda 'Ou Charm'
bergamot
Pretty, pink flowers and purple bracts
How to create a wildlife-friendly garden
An organic garden should also be a wildlife-friendly garden. Not only is it wonderful to see nature at work, but many creatures will help you achieve better results. The ponds in my garden act as a magnet to dragonflies and...
Read full articleDealing with common pests and diseases
One of the first things you learn when you start gardening is that plants are not alone in the garden. There is a whole host of bugs that set up home in...
Read full articleSeaside
Gardening by the coast offers specific challenges and opportunities. You can take advantage of the mild climate to grow not-so-hardy plants with confidence, but will have to choose them carefully to ensure they can cope with the buffeting winds...
Read full articleAphids
Symptoms Most commonly thought of as the small, fat, green insects covering roses. However, aphids can also be black, yellow, pink, greyish-white and brown. They are all about 2mm long, round and full of sap. Harm Bad infestations can reduce the vigour of...
Read full articleChelsea Chop and other methods of extending the flowering season
Many gardeners who are happy, even gung-ho, with the secateurs when pruning shrubs and climbers are surprisingly reluctant to take the shears to herbaceous perennials. Maybe this is because it just doesn’t seem quite right to be cutting back all...
Read full article
Stout, statuesque and upstanding with fleshy large leaves that colour up from pigeon-grey to smoke-purple in dry weather- followed by pale-pink stars
Val Bourne - Garden Writer