a must-have sedum: ‘matrona’
Her names derives from the German for “lady of well-rounded form,” but I grow her a little on the lean and wiry side, which if you’ve ever seen me will come as no surprise. I grow several plants weaving up and out through the perimeter of an old winterhazel, or Corylopsis spicata, whose foliage (like that of ‘Matrona’) has a pinkish-purple cast in places (in the winterhazel, it’s on new growth). You can see a Corylopsis leaf with this characteristic in the upper right of the photo above.
These two same-but-different plants have become good friends, and the Corylopsis shades the Sedum just enough to make it stretch to 30 inches or thereabouts (24 would be more the norm in full sun). It also seems to stay bluer in this spot (like that wonderful blue of the best blue hostas) than out in the open.The flowers are just now beginning to color up from ivory with the slightest blush to a proper pale-to-medium pink, and oh those stems: a vivid purple-pink all along. Again, it would be bushy and upright in other circumstances (adopting the well-rounded form its name promises), but ‘Matrona’ and I are happy just the way we are here, thanks.
Your local nursery should have this beauty, a hybrid of familiar ‘Autumn Joy’ and the gorgeous dark-colored ‘Atropurpureum.’
Categoriesannuals & perennials trees & shrubsTagsperennialssedum Read more on awaytogarden.com
