Re: Late summer flowers, Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Kurt, I share your disappointment with Sedum 'Autumn Joy'.  It looks great
in the spring when in the mound-of-tidy-rosettes stage, but after sunburn
and deer it survives to flower, the flowers are blah and the fruits are
ratty.  Pastel shades are kind of lost in this climate anyway.  And it
refuses to die; just spreads itself around wherever a fragment of stem gets
moved.  Oh well, one has to respect a survivor in this climate.
I am enjoying a clump of native Solidago californica that has increased in
size every year under a blue oak tree out front.  I haven't given it any
supplemental water this summer, and it looks good enough to cut for indoors.
By the way, does anyone know if goldenrod is allergenic?  It's hard to tell
with all the smoke in the air.
A purple aster, 'Prof. Kippenburg' (?) is starting to put on a good show.
It really is a show stopper once the nights get cool in late Sept.  This has
been one of the most vigorous (i.e. invasive) plants I've tried here, but
it's easy enough to pull out where it's not wanted.
Caryopteris is lovely right now.  Verbena rigida keeps on blooming.  I am
envious of the naked ladies I see around town.

-----Original Message-----
From: K1MIZE@aol.com <K1MIZE@aol.com>
To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Date: Tuesday, August 31, 1999 2:41 PM
Subject: Re: Late summer flowers


>In a message dated 8/31/99 12:10:54 PM EST, paul@nevco.k12.ca.us writes:
>
><< I love the California fuschias (Zauschneria spp.), which are big
> hummingbird magnets >>
>
>Although not a true "mediterranean," (it doesn't like to dry out), my
>favorite plant this year for attracting hummingbirds is Fuschia
>"Gartenmeister."  I find it particularly attractive, with pendant clusters
of
>tubular, brilliant-scarlet flowers perfectly complemented by dark, purplish
>foliage.  I have mine in a large terracotta pot on the patio, and it has to
>be watered every few days, but it has bloomed non-stop for three months
>already and shows no signs of letting up.  The hummingbirds find it so
>irresistible that they will come and feed within a couple of feet of
humans,
>or even canines (although my dog is a rather unmotivated Welsh corgi).
>
><sedum "Autumn Joy" which blooms late (pinkish-orange) and changes to a
>cinamon brown when dry.>
>
>I have been rather disappointed with the performance of this plant in my
>California garden.  I love the form and the strong, vigorous growth, and
>would grow them for that alone (indeed, I've ended up growing them for that
>alone), but "Autumn Joy" is really a misnomer.  "Autumn Chagrin" would be a
>better description.  The broccoli-like flower heads start out pale green,
of
>course, and then they gradually "deepen" in color (if you can use that term
>to describe what they do) to a sort of pinky-tan.  Mine are just now
changing
>to the washed-out, pinkish color that represents the height of their floral
>beauty.  Then, they just turn brown.  Not the dark, rich, cinnamon brown of
>the garden catalogues, just plain old brown - the color of dead weeds,
which
>is what the plants resemble in the garden until you cut them to the ground.
>Now, this might be garden "joy" when everything else in the garden is dead
>and flat, but here in California, most gardens are still in their flowery
>summer garb until the end of October, or later, long after sedum "Autumn
Joy"
>is looking dead and baleful.  I don't know if it's the absence of frosty
>nights that causes the plant to perform differently here (which is, I
>believe, why many trees with spectacular fall foliage elsewhere in the
>country just turn brown here), or whether I just managed to purchase a
sucky
>cultivar.  Whatever the reason, I don't think it's as outstanding a garden
>plant for most California gardens as it seems to be in less favorable
>climates.
>
>Kurt Mize
>Stockton, California
>USDA Zone 9
>
>
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