Garden Photo of the Day

A successful experiment

Michelle Gervais, Associate Editor

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Michelle Gervais

Click here to enlarge this photo.

Michelle Gervais

Click here to enlarge this photo.

Michelle Gervais

Click here to enlarge this photo.

Photo: Michelle Gervais

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Three years ago, Sydney Eddison decided to try something new in her Newtown, Connecticut garden: a sedum hedge. She planted a long row of 'Autumn Joy' sedum (Sedum 'Autumn Joy', Zones 3-9) against a backdrop of evergreens in a far corner of her garden and stood back to see what happened. Now it's a stunning feature in her garden. Because she wanted it to be as tall as possible, she didn't trim the plants back in spring, as she normally does for her sedums. Consequently, this hedge does require staking, but the effect is worth the effort!

To see more of Sydney's garden through the years (she's been a Fine Gardening contributor for over 20 years!), click here, here, here, and here.

Welcome to the Fine Gardening GARDEN PHOTO OF THE DAY blog! Every weekday we post a new photo of a great garden, a spectacular plant, a stunning plant combination, or any number of other subjects. Think of it as your morning jolt of green.

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If you think you have a photo that we should share on the Garden Photo of the day, email us. Send hi-res images to mgervais@taunton.com with GPOD in the subject line. We'll only respond if we plan to use your photo.

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Can you spot the flowers?

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READER PHOTO! Small lot, BIG garden!

Comments (5)

CompoGrow writes: I have used many varieties of Sedum over the years and have found them to be great and hardy plants that work well in my customers gardens.

Several customers have now successfully added sedums to locations where they previously used annuals. Mostly to save money on annual plantings but also because they offer such a great amount of color and variation every year. Posted: 2:18 am on October 15th

wwross writes:
Sorry, but its a bit awkward and harsh, visually. Posted: 3:32 pm on October 11th

arboretum writes: I do agree with tree. i would do an edge of miniature purple berberis, Bagatelle, which is carried by CT's own amazing Nursery,Broken Arrow.(Berberis, fyi, are not on the official invasive species list for CT.) Berberis is one of the few things strong enough to hold up those hefty sedum, and the purple foliage and red berries would complement the Autumn Joy.

My one concern is that this(dense)sedum hedge will kill the bottom of the backing conifers. It is true that sedum become a garden presence very early in the gardening year, so maybe they have gained enough of their height to hide the dead edge - by the time that visitors start to arrive.And, as the conifers are in a non-prime time corner, maybe their dead bases are not seen much in the winter.If so, this is a cool design idea!

best,
mindy
www.cottonarboretum.com/
a teaching website Posted: 3:30 pm on October 8th

ShedGuy writes: those flowers make a very pretty hedge, I like it :)

Eric
gardenandstorageshedplans.com Posted: 3:08 pm on October 8th

tree_ee writes: This is beautiful! I'd be inclined to add a row of something lower growing in front of it, to bloom in the spring or summer--and to help support the sedum in the fall.

I've enjoyed reading your FG articles, Sydney. Posted: 8:49 am on October 8th

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