These useful, succulents add intense colours to the Sunny Autumn garden but their natural tolerance for drier conditions makes them even more precious. They come in a range of foliage and flower colours as well as differing forms. Easy to establish and grow, they need very little care and attention and will reward you with reliable growth year on year. Loved by bees and butterflies due to the close arrangement of the prolific numbers of small flowers, these happy and easy plants will add an extra layer of late season interest and increase the range of beneficial visitors to your garden.

Taller varieties benefit from being cut back by up to 50% at the end of May. This ensures that the plant will produce lots of extra shoots and therefore more flowers. This kind formative pruning, each year, also stops the plant stems from collapsing outward due to the increased weight of the flowers.

Shorter, spreading varieties will root wherever their stems touch the ground and will help to stabilise the soil particularly on banks which can be unstable. Their mat-like growth can also suppress weeds.

Hylotelephium 'Carl@ Hylotelephium Carl

Height x Spread: 45cm x 45cm

This form of 'stonecrop' bears gently domed heads of vivid pink star-like flowers, on sturdy stems with fleshy greyish-green foliage. 'Carl' is a fabulous and prolific plant, producing striking, nectar rich flowers much beloved by bees and butterflies.

Its intense colour really packs a punch when planted in groups at the front of a sunny border, or in containers around a seating area. Very versatile, its preference for dry soil with a fair amount of nutrients means that it is also an excellent choice for a gravel garden, or areas subject to occasional droughts.

Hylotelephium 'Iceberg' Hylotelephium spectabile 'Iceberg'

Height x Spread: 45cm x 45cm

Dense clusters of tiny white flowers like starbursts, open from greenish-white buds above fleshy grey-green stems with rounded foliage. Like most Hylotelephium this plant starts to perform in spring, when its pale buds emerge from the ground, slowly developing into clumps of distinctive foliage. In late summer the white flowers appear, becoming more fluffy as the season moves into autumn. Seedheads stay upright through winter, looking attractive, especially when edged with frost.. Makes a great cut flower.

Hylotelephium spectabile (Brilliant Group) 'Brilliant'

Height x Spread: 40cm x 40cm

Starbursts of small, bright pink flowers emerge from clusters of green buds carried above rosettes of fleshy blue-green rounded foliage. From late spring onwards, its foliage plays a strong supporting role to surrounding plants with its distinctive and structural form. This hard-working plant then delivers further interest in winter with its seedheads that look gorgeous touched with frost.

This much-beloved cottage garden staple really draws the eye at the front of a border when in full flower during summer heading into autumn.

Hylotelephium cauticola 'Coca-Cola'

Height x Spread: 15cm x 30cm

In spring 'Coca Cola's' new shoots emerge silver-grey from the ground, growing quickly to form low gently sprawling mounds of neat rounded succulent leaves chalky blue-grey flushed with palest pink, the perfect low-lying foil for early summer flower perennials. Come mid to late summer masses of rosy-red flowers burst from tiny soft pink buds luring the bees and butterflies in.

Show off its slightly informal habit by using it to edge a gravel path or raised bed, allowing its flowering stems to tumble over the edge. Suiting a variety of garden styles from mediterranean through coastal to cottage, it grows best in a free draining soil in full sun.

Hylotelephium telephium (Atropurpureum Group) ‘Picolette’

Height x Spread: 50cms x 50cms

A compact, mound forming plant of this large genus, ‘Picolette’ is well suited for use in pots and containers. It has dark green succulent foliage that becomes flushed with deep maroon hues the more exposed to sunlight it is. The flowers are held in neat, rounded clusters of dusky pink in late Summer and early Autumn.

Loved by bees and butterflies, it can also be susceptible to slugs and snails. Happiest in neutral to alkaline, free draining soil. Beware of placing it in areas that do not drain well as this can cause root rot.

Ideal for gravel, coastal and courtyard gardens due to its modest size and drought tolerant nature. Can also be utilised in sunny beds and borders. Cut back after flowering to maintain its shape or remove old growth in late Spring as the new buds emerge from the base.

Hylotelephium 'Matrona'

Height x Spread: 50cm x 45cm

Flattish domes of small, pale pink, star-like flowers are carried high on strong, dark red tinged stems with beefy bronzed leaves. This Hylotelephium is highly regarded for its striking combination of pale flowers and dark foliage, which acts as a contrast and foil for other plants in a bed or border.

A reliable performer in the garden, it flowers from late summer deep into autumn and stays upright into winter, where its seedheads look gorgeous frosted with ice.

Click on this link to see our entire collection Genus - Hylotelephium (hardysplants.co.uk)