Hylotelephium telephium subsp. fabaria

Sedum fabaria

There’s so much to love about hylotelephium and we grow at least a dozen different ones in our garden because first and foremost, like their pollinators, I simply cannot resist their September flower power. They are also dependable, robust and low maintenance and after a summer like the one we’ve just had, their drought tolerance is making an even stronger case for inclusion in everyone’s autumn border.

Sedum fabaria is one of the earliest of the genus to bloom and it has a very long flowering season. From mid August onwards the raspberry pink flowers are starting to show their colour and, as the weeks pass, the plant is daily smothered in (mostly) honey bees (some Hylotelephium are less attractive to pollinators than fabaria, so it may be worth doing a little research if this is one of your objectives). This hardy, succulent perennial is clump forming, and its stems are so densely packed that there is little room left for interlopers. Most years, if I remember, I give it the Chelsea chop, a pruning technique to which many Hylotelephium and Sedum are supremely suited.

High on my list of companion plants are the obvious ones – asters, grasses, cone flowers etc – but don’t forget the blues: eryngium, caryopteris and the beautiful Ceratostigma willmottianum would all sit happily in the group.

NB Louise has published a beautifully produced book of her plant profiles – A Plant for Each Week of the Year. It costs £9.99 and is for sale in our online shop here.

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