Hi there, Sorry I donâ??t know the name of the plant, but maybe you can enlighten me. My Mother, they are her plants, at the end of autumn she trims the tops off with a pair of shears and leaves the previous years stalks on until the last frosts in spring, and then snips each stalk off as low as possible, (hundreds of stalks):snz: Is it essential to leave the stalks until the new growth appears, or can they be trimmed before hand? (with shears or hedge trimmer). If it is best to leave the stalks â??til spring, as they are in the picâ??s, Can I just trim them close to the new growth with a hedge trimmer or shears. Many thanks Steve et all
It's called sedum and it's such a tough plant I dont think you could kill it whatever you do, althouth hedgecutters sound a bit drastic. If you like things tidy over the winter you can cut it right down in the autumn, or leave it until spring (the more stuff you leave over the winter the better for wildlife). The main problem with sedum is that if you treat it too well it goes all floppy, so no feeding or watering. Treat it mean!
Yep, Sedum. To prevent it going floppy before it flowers in late Summer, it is advised to give it the 'Chelsea Crop', cutting back the growth by 1/3 in late Spring (around the time that the Chelsea Flower Show is held, hence the name).
another name for this, the common name is 'ice plant', i have several, they flower late summer-autumn
