Sedum spectabile Purple Emperor - Autumn Stonecrop

Sedum 'Purple Emperor' is a variety of autumn stonecrop, beautifully coloured. It is a succulent and fleshy plant with sturdy stems adorned with dark purple foliage, almost violet and very shiny, which forms a superb setting for its large, flattened inflorescences, of crushed strawberry-red colour, where butterflies gather. The flowering period is long and it is followed by the formation of decorative seeds that persist in winter. It is a stocky and compact plant that has a real presence in the garden. Adapted to dry, chalky, and shallow soils, this robust perennial requires very little maintenance and adds a lot of charm to the late season.

The 'Purple Emperor' autumn stonecrop belongs to the Crassulaceae family. It is one of the many cultivars derived from Sedum spectabile, native to China and Korea. It forms bushy, upright tufts with a slightly spreading habit reaching 50cm (20in) in height and spreading over 40cm (16in), its growth is quite slow. The flowering takes place as early as the end of August and in September, and ceases with the first frost. The inflorescences, in flat and dense terminal cymes, reach 15cm (6in) in diameter. The tiny flowers are born in crimson-red buds, then open up in a brighter pink and then old rose-red. They make up the false umbels that are intensely nectar-rich. The plant is deciduous, it emerges from the ground in spring and disappears with the first frost. The foliage is thick and fleshy, composed of rather rounded and dentate ovate leaves. They are very dark purple-violet in colour and very shiny, creating a beautiful harmony with the thick stems, also very dark, and the pink and red flowering. The flowering beautifully fades to brown, transforming the plant into a bouquet with warm chocolate tones in late autumn and winter. The very decorative brown-violet seeds serve as food for birds in winter.

A blessing for gardens where the soil lacks depth, the 'Purple Emperor' Sedum is above all a plant adapted to drought. Mix it with grasses and plants with grey foliage (cotton lavenders, dwarf lavenders, small artemisias, Helichrysum italicum) that also accept these difficult living conditions. You can create an original scene by combining it with asters or fuchsias, in good garden soil. Magnificent with its stylised appearance in a pot, it is also an excellent flower for drying or for bouquets.

Sedums are impossible to pollinate manually, so new varieties appear by chance. 'Purple Emperor' bears the name of a rare and elusive butterfly. It was spotted in England by Graham Gough, in his parents' garden a few years ago. It is probably the result of cross-breeding between the Sedum telephium maximum 'Atropurpureum', large, dark, and very beautiful.