Random Ramblings

Random Ramblings: Personal observations on a wide variety of subjects. Photographs of creatures and things that are taken on seeing the unusual as well as everyday things.

Sedum Ice Plant

Autumn races like a fit athlete with the finishing line in sight, bringing daily changes. One plant that shows the pace of the call of Winter is the Sedum Ice Plant. It often hardly opens its tiny pink star petal flowers barely enough for the honey bees to sip its nectar. Many of these small perfect flower formations remain tinged with green, right up until the moment when the roots begin to suck the faint frothy colour away and replace it with a deeper bloody pink pallet as it slowly dies. Eventually each petal becomes brown and crisp, not dried by the sun but scorched by death. The flower heads and stems will remain upright all through the Winter and stand to attention like soldiers on parade until the following Summer if not pruned neatly back.

The dried flower heads are useful additions to Winter flower arrangements and can be sprayed different colours including gold or silver with a sprinkle of glitter for Christmas table decorations.

Sedum Ice Plant Sedum Ice Plant in the sun

Sedum Ice Plant - with basking honey bees 

Sedum Ice Plant - mid October

Sedum Ice Plant

4 comments:

L.D.L said...

nice plants...

Ann said...

I love those, how pretty they are. I'm not familiar with the plant but your descripition of it fascinates me. I want some :)

BK said...

Love those tiny pink star petal flowers. But I couldn't help feel a little sad from the way you described its 'death.' And yet this is how nature has been always. Next year we'll still see it blooming beautifully.

Edna / HandmadeDiva said...

Beautiful plant.