Sedum Puff Pastry™ White Chocolate

Sedum Puff Pastry™ White Chocolate: Creamy Domes, No Flopping Allowed

This stonecrop is the dessert cart at a fancy restaurant. Creamy white clusters go pale yellow, then blush red, like a creme brulee getting the blowtorch. ZERO CALORIES. ALL SWEETNESS.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Sedum hybrid (also listed as Hylotelephium)
• Common Name: Stonecrop
• Series: Puff Pastry™, a Bloomin' Easy® perennial
• Height: 30–35 cm (12–14 in)
• Spread: 35–45 cm (14–18 in)
• Flowers: Clusters of creamy white, star-shaped flowers that fade to pale yellow, then take on reddish tones as they age
• Bloom Time: Late summer to fall (August to October)
• Foliage: Fleshy green leaves with a purple tint, on sturdy, purple-tinged stems
• Features: Rabbit resistant

Where to Plant: Use it at the front or middle of a sunny border, in a gravel or rock garden, or in containers. The compact, upright habit fits small gardens and tidy designs where a big, sprawling plant would flop. Leave the dried flower heads standing for texture through fall and early winter.

Companion Plants: Echinacea 'Mellow Yellows' stands behind this stonecrop at about 80 cm, and its soft yellow coneflowers run from June into October, right alongside the cream sedum heads. Stachys 'Hummelo' brings upright purple spikes at 45 to 60 cm from June to August, so there is colour before the sedum opens. Edge the planting with Campanula 'Blue Magic'®, a 10 to 20 cm carpet of blue bells from June to September. Each one handles full sun or partial sun, so the group works in a bright bed with a little afternoon shade.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun for the sturdiest stems and the best flowering. It tolerates a little afternoon shade. Give it well-drained, average to lean soil; skip the fertilizer, since rich soil makes sedums soft and floppy. In heavy clay, add grit or plant it a little high so the crown doesn't sit wet over winter. Water through the first season, then only during long dry spells. Leave the dried flower heads for winter interest and cut the stems to the ground in early spring. Divide in spring every few years if the clump opens in the centre.

History: Puff Pastry™ is a newer series of compact, upright stonecrops sold under the Bloomin' Easy® brand, a line of low-care plants for home gardens. Upright stonecrops like this one descend mainly from East Asian species, and gardeners have relied on them for generations for late-season colour in dry, sunny spots.

Final Thoughts: Deer and rabbits are on a diet, apparently. The bees and butterflies are not. ORDER DESSERT FIRST.