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Sedum telephium 'Red Cauli' |
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| Common name |
stonecrop |
| Family |
crassulaceae |
| Life cycle |
perennial (Z3-8) |
| Flowers |
red (July-Oct) |
| Size |
12" |
| Light |
sun |
When I saw this plant in an article on garden designer's Piet Oudolf's garden, I was hooked. It was more difficult than I thought to find a source, but I did, and received a small bareroot plant in spring of 2008. In its first year, it gave a preview of its dark burgundy stems and bright reddish-pink flowers – not quite as spectacular as in the magazine photos. The following year, I realized that the once sunny border in which I had planted it was in fact partly shaded now – so I moved the plant to a more reliably bright position in our rock garden annex, in hopes of the stunning performance I'd come to expect. In subsequent years, I still wasn't all that impressed, but kept hoping it would hit its stride. And perhaps now it has. I'm pleased with the way it combines, in a messy kind of way, with the liatris, alliums and other naturalistic denizens of that rockery. Perhaps it will get even better in years to come.
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| | Similar view as top photo, taken a few weeks earlier |
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| | I love the contrast with the soft blue-green foliage of Artemisia 'Powis Castle' |
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We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston. About my plant portraits
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| bb | Sep 11, 2009 | i love this plant! had it for about 3 years, this year its spectacular.
deep red stems, dark leaves , big and bushy. Taller than supposed to be, think i'll try pinching it back next year. |
| DiegoJames | Jul 05, 2011 | I have a Red Cauli now in my first season. I am having trouble "reading" it's level of happiness. Everywhere online says it loves full sun, but mine certainly does not act like that. It wilts every day in the sun. It also does not seem to tell me that it likes when I water it and it looses it's wilt when the sun gets off it, not necessarily when I water it. May I'm giving it too much water? I just can not read this plant so I will not be surprised if it starts to totally fail on my, in which case I'll cross this one off the list for my yard. I hope that it proves me wrong and starts to like it around here, just not sure how to help it. |
| DiegoJames | Jul 06, 2011 | One more comment from DiegoJames. I did not know when I posted a response to Rob's Plants blog that we both share life in the Leigh Valley, Eastern PA.. I'm in Allentown. I'll come back and give one more update on my Red Cauli Sedum in the Autumn when it's gotten through the summer. Leigh Valley has lots of clay soil, or my yard does. I've dumped tons of bagged topsoil and sphagnum in this little yard. I'm going to re plant the Cauli in the same rather sunny spot but give it a mostly sphagnum bed to root in and will see how it goes. |
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