Here are Things to Do With Autumn Joy Sedum in the Garden so you can fully relish its short-lived summer and fall blooms!
This beautiful cross between a sedum and an ice plant produces dreamy clusters of rosy star-shaped blooms from late summer to fall. With grayish-green plump foliage, here are things to do with autumn joy sedum in your garden before they perish in winter!
Things to Do With Autumn Joy Sedum in Garden
As summer turns to fall, the pastel pink flowerheads of the autumn joy sedum (Hylotelephium spectabile ‘Herbstfreude’) turn a deep red and rusty brown before fading away in winter.
These plants are also resistant to almost everything, like poor soil, high salinity, and rabbit grazing, making them a popular garden choice. And with this article, you’ll know how to display your autumn joys in all their glory!
1. Make it a Focal Point Plant
Autumn joy sedum is not your average succulent. It emerges as a round, fulsome bush stealing the spotlight in your garden. This plant’s appeal even helped it win the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit in 1993.
To create a focal point, plant a bunch of these together, interspersed with companion perennial blooms such as salvias, dahlias, catmint, and alyssums.
For some drama and flair, plant this flowering succulent in a massive planter at your home’s entrance!
2. Pair it With Big-Leaf Foliage Plants
Speaking of fillers, autumn joy sedum pairs really well with foliage plants—its flowers get undivided attention amongst supportive leafy companions. Check out shade-tolerant plants such as hostas that can form a robust ground cover around your sedum.
Here are a few other foliage plants you could pair with your autumn joys.
3. Don’t Cut the Seed Heads
Most plants are known for their gorgeous blooms or ornamental leaves, whereas in the winter, autumn joy sedum shows its browned seed heads.
As the blooms fade and the seedheads turn a golden rusty brown, they add tons of winter interest to your landscape!
Fun Fact: This deciduous plant will lose its foliage in winter. The leaves will initially turn yellow and then fall off; people often confuse this as overwatering symptoms, but it is normal.
4. Grow it in a Small Pot
Autumn joy can be trained to be relatively compact. In the wild and at full maturity, the plant reaches 1-3 feet in height and width. But using a small pot for its fleshy succulent leaves and attractive flowers is perfect for sudden spurts of color in small spaces.
5. Pair Autumn Joy with Sculpture
The stony, grounded, and static feel of sculptures contrasts with the breezy life autumn joys bring to the garden. Juxtapose textures and colors to design garden decor that tells a story—for instance, a sculpture mounted on a pedestal draws attention to your sedums.
6. Make a Small Rock Garden Bed
Did you think that this plant only grows in regular soil conditions? Well, it is a great addition to a rock garden. Small specimens can be added to crevices or gravel mediums, and the plant can adapt to the conditions, resulting in a gorgeous garden corner.
7. As a Small Foliage Plant
You don’t always have to go for the colorful pinks. The plant’s succulent faded green foliage is just as pleasing to the eye as its blooms! You can snip away the buds before they open to have a foliage-focused plant like this.
8. Plant Autumn Joy Sedum in a Massive Planter
Autumn joy grows in clumps, and a bunch of these growing alongside each other can give off the illusion of a single giant one. You can use this to your advantage and grow this succulent in a gigantic planter.
Note: Placing the large planter on a movable or mobile platform is better, as it can get quite heavy after adding soil and water. This will allow easy re-location later on.
9. Boulders and Autumn Joy Sedum Display
Like the rock garden idea, why not grow your autumn joy sedum directly on a boulder? Yes! It is possible to do so as this plant requires very low fertile soil. Plus, it would look stunning!
10. Stone Stairs and Autumn Joy Sedum Entrance
Clear a couple of feet of soil along both sides of your stairway and grow your plant on the inclined surface. Once the plant matures, the leaves and flowers will create a colorful edge to the flight of stairs.
11. Add a Birdhouse Near it
Humans are not the only creatures that love autumn joy sedums; birds flock to the succulent, too! This plant is a source of winter food for birds like chickadees and finches, so adding a birdhouse among its colorful features will only increase the charm of your garden.
12. Spruce Up a Boring Fence
A plain old fence might not be very inviting, but the autumn joy sedum makes it a sight to behold. Like in the image above, you can use the immediate space around the fencing to grow your autumn joys.
13. Lined a Pathway with Autumn Joy Sedum
Here’s another thing to do with your autumn joy sedum: plant it with other colorful plants near a garden pathway so you can take a stroll and admire its beauty whenever you want!
