While I'm focussing on preparing for winter (!) there are still things flowering in the garden and around the acreage. Here some Malva flowers keep the season bright, while Parthenocissus /Virginia Creeper behind has already turned fall colours! September *is* fall, in Alberta! Weather could be warm or cool, we could see snow, or rain (no snow yet this year, but we've alternated pleasant with cool and damp)-- so it is time to wrap up garden tasks for the year-- there should be some weeks left to get stuff done, but nothing is guaranteed! And after a spring and half of summer where I barely got out there, I have a lot to do! I've spent a couple of recent afternoons outside, trying to catch up on weeding and other tasks, so,yesterday, pulled a few more tons of weeds, esp thistles, collected seeds, chopped a few dozen poplar saplings and stuffed them in the Fedge (that's another topic), did a touch of mowing, picked up some fallen apples-- of course spent too
Sedum is a genus with a long history of decorative, medicinal and edible use, well known to many gardeners, with long popular plants for physic gardens, rockeries, walls, rooves (including modern style green rooves), perennial borders and houseplant collections. It is also one of those huge old genera packed full of hundreds of not always very closely related species. As studies have continued over time, including genetic studies in recent years, many plants have been separated out into smaller genera, including some important in gardens such as Hylotelephium ( often late flowering, herbaceous plants, such as Autumn Joy), Phedimus (typically partially deciduous, low-growing ground covers, such as the spurium types, with serious flower power). These changes are not universally known or accepted, so you will still see the plants often labelled as Sedum. Now here is where our subject for today gets a bit more controversial: Phedimus. As mentioned, this genus is the home of a number