Autumn Joy Sedum
Hylotelephium ‘Herbstfreude’ · an upright pink fall-blooming sedum
A classic late-season succulent whose flower heads open pink in late summer and deepen to rusty red, crowded by butterflies and bees, then stand as brown seed heads all winter. It's drought and salt tolerant, and deer leave it alone. Lean, well-drained soil keeps it upright; rich or wet soil makes it flop and rot.
- Mature size
- 2 × 1.5 ft
- 0.6 × 0.5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 3a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Dry to medium
- Blooms
- Aug–Oct
Autumn Joy Sedum at its mature size
A mature Autumn Joy Sedum grows 1.5 to 2 feet tall and just as wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, Walters Gardens, Chicago Botanic Garden.
Through the year
What Autumn Joy Sedum looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Feb
Dried dark brown heads on standing stems.
Below ground · Mar–Apr
Dies back to the ground; draw nothing but keep it selectable.
In leaf · May–Jul
Stout stems of fleshy gray-green leaves topped with pale green bud heads.
In flower · Aug–Sep
Flat heads of dusty pink flowers.
Fall · Oct–Nov
Flower heads turned rusty red.
Photos
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Growing Autumn Joy Sedum
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, the Plains and Mountain West, the Pacific Northwest, and California.
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Good for
- Foundation planting, specimen, drought tolerant, pollinators, winter interest, and fast growing
- Leaves
- Dies back in winter
- Native to
- Garden hybrid
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Autumn Joy Sedum, that’s about 1.5 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Autumn Joy Sedum in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other stonecrops
Angelina Stonecrop
Sedum / Stonecrop
Autumn Joy SedumAll drawn to the same scale.