THE LAST WORD
This year, I’ve gone for a simple combination of four plants that I know will thrive with very little fuss, and which look absolutely gorgeous together. At the heart of it is Hylotelephium telephium ‘Dark Magic’ (otherwise known as a sedum to you and me), a stunner with deep, almost black foliage and dusky pink flower heads that fade beautifully to soft copper as the season moves on. It’s a compact variety, perfect for containers, and it brings that bold vertical lift that really anchors the whole arrangement.
It loves a sunny spot and well-drained soil, making it perfect for the centre of a pot where it can catch the low autumn sun and anchor the whole composition. Even after its flowers are past their best, the structural seedheads hold their shape through the frosts, giving the planter winter backbone.
On either side, I’ve tucked in two contrasting heuchera varieties. I must admit to being a late lover to the heuchera party but I find myself slightly obsessed this year and have used several varieties as repeat planting in the back garden to anchor together a new border, so I thought I’d try another two varieties at the front to see if I fall for these ones too.
One is Heuchera ‘Silver Scrolls’, with silvery foliage traced with deep plum veins, picking up the tones of the sedum and echoing the season’s cooler edge.
The other is Heuchera ‘Lime Marmalade’, which I love for its frilly, citrus-green foliage that glows against the darker tones and really lifts the whole arrangement.
Together, they fill and spill over the edges of the pot and soften the overall look with their lush, mounding growth. Both are tough, semi-evergreen, and happy in the kind of autumnal light my doorstep gets through the day. In milder winters, they’ll keep much of their foliage, while in colder areas they die back neatly and bounce back in spring. A light tidy-up of old leaves in February or March will keep them looking their best.
To finish it off, I’ve added a small Chrysanthemum indicum ‘Ruby Mound’ at the front. It’s one of those compact ‘garden mum’ types, full of tightly packed buds that are just starting to open into soft red blooms for the perfect hit of seasonal colour. It should be hardy but I don’t think I’ve managed to bring a chrysanthemum through a winter yet.
What I love about this mix is that it looks good from the moment you plant it. There’s no waiting for it to fill out, the foliage is already doing most of the work, and the chrysanthemum brings an instant pop of colour, although full disclosure, I popped two wee pelargoniums in at the back just to cover a bit of bare soil whilst the heuchera fills out.
As for care, I’ll keep gently watering if the weather stays dry, but all four plants are pretty low-maintenance. The hylotelephium won’t need feeding, and the heucheras just need the occasional leaf tidy-up. Once the chrysanthemum finishes flowering, I’ll cut it back and mulch around the base with leafmould to help it through winter.
I always underplant my autumn and winter containers with spring bulbs like Narcissi and Muscari to keep the display going until it's time for a burst of summer colour, when I can lift these plants from the pot and plant them out in the garden.
If you fancy mixing things up, there are plenty of alternative varieties to explore. Try sedums like ‘Herbstfreude’ (marketed as ‘Autumn Joy’) or ‘Purple Emperor’ for different tones at the centre, or swap in heuchera with delicious names like ‘Caramel’, ‘Plum Pudding’, or ‘Lime Ricky’ for different foliage effects. For a softer colour palette, chrysanthemums in coral, bronze, or creamy white can completely shift the mood.
This planter feels like a celebration of the season: rich colours, strong shapes, and just enough vibrancy to make me smile every time I come home. It’s a little bit of autumn joy, right on my doorstep.
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