Garden Tip 62:

FALL PERFORMING PERENNIALS!

This late in the summer some annuals and summer perennials have passed their prime, and garden editing oftentimes results in empty spaces. Luckily your local garden center is well stocked with fall color for the garden. Besides the usual garden mums and asters, there are some great fall performing perennials such as Helianthus, Japanese Anemones, and my favorite, the sedums.

Sedums seem to be indestructible. They thrive in full sun, are heat and drought resistant, and are not touched by deer or rabbit! Upright sedum varieties grow in thick fleshy clumps of foliage in colors of green, blue, and maroon. Flower buds resemble broccoli and open into clusters of tiny star-like flowers much appreciated by bees, butterflies and humming birds.

Good for cut flowers and dried flowers, the dry seed heads can also remain attractive in the garden from late fall into winter. Sedum Matrona is one of my favorites with purple tinged leaves and pink flowers, and it looks great mixed with Sedum Autumn Fire, with its gray green foliage and large pink flowers!