What is this plant in my back garden?

March 27, 2016 1:05 PM

Can someone identify this plant? For the record, everything that looks red in the photo is actually a dead brown colour. It's looked mostly like this since I moved into this house in October, but the green bits on the ground are new. I'd like to know what it is so I know how to manage it.

I have no idea where to start with the googles. Is it a type of flower? Is it a bush? Should I cut down the dead-looking brown stalk/flower things? Are they actually dead? Or should I leave them for some kind of resurrection?

If it's relevant, I'm in Hertfordshire, UK, just on the edge of the Chilterns.

posted by Eumachia L F to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

Best answer: It is a sedum, perhaps this popular cultivar 'Autumn Joy'. You'll want to cut off the brown parts and let the green parts grow up. It will have flowers that could range from pink to dark orangish pink depending on the cultivar. At the end of the growing season, leave the dead flowers to dry out. You'll have those dead brown things through the winter to give some structure when everything else is dead. It is a perennial and requires limited care.
posted by sciencegeek at 1:09 PM on March 27, 2016 [4 favorites]

Yep, sciencegeek has it. It's a sedum.
posted by conic at 1:11 PM on March 27, 2016

Response by poster: 4 minutes! That link seems pretty clear. Cheers.
posted by Eumachia L F at 1:16 PM on March 27, 2016

One other thing that might be worth mentioning about sedums is that they attract a massive variety of bees and wasps in massive numbers. That can make for truly fascinating beewatching sessions (really! they're neat! it's like a miniature Serengeti!), but also horrible barbecues. Keep them far, far away from all food and drink, and vice-versa.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:56 PM on March 27, 2016