Sedum telephium Lajos Autumn Charm - Autumn Stonecrop

Sedum 'Autumn Charm' is a variety of autumn stonecrop that resonates in soft shades. Its fleshy foliage with dentate edges is variegated in cream-yellow to cream-white. Its cream flower buds open into pale-pink. This cultivar, resulting from a mutation of the famous Sedum 'Autumn Joy', forms a compact, fairly low plant with remarkable thick foliage. It blooms in late summer and early autumn and remains decorative in winter with its dried reddish inflorescences. It is a hardy and carefree plant, adapted to dry and shallow soils, which requires very little maintenance and adds charm to the late season.

Sedum 'Autumn Charm', also known as Sedum 'Lajos' and Hylotelephium × mottramianum 'Lajos', belongs to the Crassulaceae family. It is a cultivar derived from S. telephium, now renamed H. telephium, originating from Eurasia. It forms bushy, upright clumps with a slightly spreading habit, reaching 40cm (16in) in height and spreading up to 45cm (18in) over time. Flowering occurs between late August and October. The tiny star-shaped flowers emerge as cream buds, then open into pale-pink. They form intensely nectar-rich and honey-producing false umbels. The deciduous foliage is thick and fleshy, with a grey-green colour bordered in cream, creating a beautiful harmony with the flowering. The leaves are flat and ovate, with large rounded teeth on the upper half. The decorative brown-violet seeds serve as food for birds in winter. The above-ground vegetation emerges in spring and dries up in late autumn.

A great choice for gardens with thin soil, Sedum 'Autumn Charm' is primarily a drought-tolerant plant. Combine it in a rock garden with grasses and grey-foliaged plants that tolerate the same difficult living conditions. On the edge of a sunny but slightly moist flower bed, plant it with stipa, asters, solidago, and tanacetum. Beautiful as a potted plant, it is also an excellent dried flower or bouquet flower.