Sedum telephium 'Xenox'

Sizes available: True gallon

Basics: zones 3-9, 10-14" x 18", full sun, pink flowers over dark, mauvy foliage late summer into fall, the foliage emerges more grey-green in the spring and deepens toward smoky purples as the season progresses, the flower buds are red prior to bloom, likes gravelly or sandy soil with medium to low fertility and good drainage

Common names: Orpine, Showy Orpine, Livelong, Frog's-stomach, Harping Johnny, Life-everlasting, Live-forever, Midsummer-men, Orphan John, Witch's Moneybags, Garden Stonecrop

Synonyms: Hylotelephium telephium 'Xenox'

Family: Crassulaceae, often crossed with the closely related Hylotelephium spectabile to create hybrids such as 'Autumn Joy'

Origin/Distribution: Europe, Russia, and northern China, has started to establish in England and North America

Habitat: Fields, near hedges, hilly and sunny sites, woodland edges, gravelly soil, calcareous soil. Hylo means forest or woodland in Greek.

More: Although 'Xenox' is a cultivar on the short side, I think it might make a good addition to posies either in bud, blooming, or as a dried stem. The long blooming flowers attract pollinators. Excellent in a rock garden (perhaps even a somewhat shady one), container planting, or front of a border. The species has been used medicinally and for love-divination. These darker-leaved cultivars remind me of the phrase "It was a dark and stormy night..."

Nursery: Van Berkum

Image credits: good example of foliage color from David J. Stang, Wikimedia Commons