Pruning sedum

Sedum looks incredible at this time of year, especially following the warm, wet weather we’ve been experiencing here on the South coast. But come late July and August, as the plant limbers up to produce those spectacular helipad blooms, the stems become unwieldy, obese, and unable to balance. They flop over and recline on the soil. It’s not pretty. A plant which resembles a doughnut, with a large map of bare, ugly stems in the middle needs tough treatment now.

So it’s time to give your sedum a haircut. Yes, a nice big chop. Cut those lush and soft stems back by half in the next few weeks, and you’ll be rewarded with better blooms on an upright clump. It might look a little spiky for a while, like a young boy emerging from an enthusiastic barber’s, but this plant needs tough love. And you don’t need a doughnut in your herbaceous border.