Pretty nice, eh?
Please notice we are talking ‘Autumn Fire’ and not the more common ‘Autumn Joy’. After years of struggling with AJ and its tendency to sprawl when in bloom, I made the move to ‘Autumn Fire’:
To date, AF has performed up to its reputation as a better “upright” sedum than AJ. The foliage remains tighter and seems to be a bit more robust than AJ. Of course, my AF are still relatively young so the jury may still be out.
Which brings me to current day. While Tracy DiSabato-Aust discusses how to pinch/prune ‘Autumn Joy’ in “The Well Tended Perennial Garden”, I figured I would apply that same reasoning to my ‘Autumn Fire’. Pinching, rather than cutting back, seems to be the preferred option so count me in on that choice.
Here is an AF before pinching:
And here is the same plant “post pinch”:
I have two others I decided not to touch for now (or maybe I will pinch one at a later date):
I would expect the pinched AF to produce more blooms but at a smaller size, and would also expect a more compact plant. We’ll see.
This is damn fun isn’t it?
John
I went with Autumn Fire in my alley garden so it would not flop. It doesn’t flop, no pinching needed, but it does not have the rich color of Autumn Joy. However, I am staying with it as the flopping drove me nuts!
Eileen
It IS fun. I just went out and pinched my one and only Sedum spectabile, which I think is ‘Neon.’ It’s way too bright to be Autumn Joy.
Your Autumn Joy is beautiful. I’m going to have to get some of those.
This IS fun! The other way of curbing ‘Autumn Joy”s excesses is to stop it becoming established by lifting and replanting when is it dormant. Breaking the roots helps too as this set-back will mean the stems will be shorter and therefore they should also be better able to cope with the weight of the flowers. It’s a bit of work, but worth it if you love the blooms. It will be interesting to see if ‘Autumn Fire’ stays upright once it is established.
The AF is beautiful. I only have AJ. No flopping. I have it in a nice dry hot spot where it gets heat reflected off the house. That seems to keep it more solid.
This is a perfect reminder for me to get out there and pinch my sedums back. I find it really helps them not to flop when in flower. Have a great weekend John!
The Sedum AF is fabulous – with such big heads of flowers. Your plants are so robust and healthy. I don’t have much luck with them. They either die from root rot or refuse to bloom.
Liking these installment posts on what to clip back this time of year. My sedum is about 3 inches tall (very new) so pinching will wait until next year.
Goods morning John!… and thanks for your visit… I too have Autumn Joy… and did not know that about “pinching” them… so, since you said it is “damn fun” I will give it a try!… thanks for the info!… xoxo Julie Marie
Oops!… that was supposed to say “good morning” not “goods morning”!… I need to stop typing so fast and proofread my comments!… wishing you a blissful Summers day, xoxo Julie Marie
Goods morning John!… and thanks for your visit… I too have Autumn Joy… and did not know that about “pinching” them… so, since you said it is “damn fun” I will give it a try!… thanks for the info!… xoxo Julie Marie
The Autumn Fire is gorgeous! It will be interesting to see the difference between the pinched and unpinched ones! And by the way, happy birthday! I hope it is a great one.
That’s funny. I never had a sprawling problem with my Autumn Joy, but the Fire does look nice.
Enjoyed this post! I will have to visit often…maybe my brown thumb will turn to green!