I remember picking up this plant at Bunnings about 2 seasons ago as we tried adding some autumn colour to our garden. I was infatuated with the colour of the foliage and even more impressed when they began to flower.

However, winter followed autumn and the foliage began to turn yellow and eventually brown and finally withered completely.

I had no idea what was going on and there didn’t seem to be a wealth of material on this plant that could advise me in any practical way. I poured on some fertiliser, increased the water rate – then hastily decreased it, checked the soil for problems…and that’s when I found it. Or should I say, found them!

These little nodes at the bottom of their elongated stalks were beginning to protrude from the soil’s surface. It was then I realised what was happening. This sedum was replenishing itself after it had spent all last year’s growth.

I cut the stalks back to ground level and as expected the nodes became stalks and eventually the stalks bore blooms. Such is the cycle of life when it comes to the Sedum “Autumn Joy”.