Gina Parkinson enjoys the late flowering bud of the sedum spectabile, or the 'Ice Plant'.

SEDUM spectabile certainly lives up to its name in October, with fleshy green stems and leaves carrying large flowerheads for weeks in autumn.

Pale green buds gradually open into tiny light pink flowers at the end of the summer and darken with maturity.

By the end of October they are a rich reddish-brown that glows in the low late summer sun and contrasts beautifully with other richly coloured late flowers, such as dahlias and the last of the penstemons.

Sedum spectabile belongs to a large family of plants from low-growing members that flower in early summer, through to their large herbaceous cousins that bring welcome colour to the garden at the end of the summer and well into autumn.

Sedum spectabile is a tough customer that will spread into a large clump of soft looking succulent pale to mid-green stems and leaves that are cool to the touch and gives rise to the common name of 'Ice Plant'.

Although the late flowers are the main attraction of this plant, it is a 'good doer' for almost the whole year.

The first signs of growth are in late winter when tight buds of foliage make a neat mound on the surface of the soil. As the weather warms and daylight lengthens the rosettes grow into stems and by summer have formed a clump of foliage topped with tight green buds looking rather like bunches of broccoli.

Some will flower in July, but most wait until August, and last to October or even November depending on the weather and planting site.

Sedum spectabile is pink flowered but other members of the group have different coloured blooms, including creamy white Stardust, white Iceberg, red Meteor and dark pink Carmen.

Sedum Autumn Joy is a popular plant and is the result of a cross between Sedum spectabile and Sedum telephium in 1955. Its pale foliage grows up to 60cm high, topped with large plates of salmon flowers that deepen to red bronze as they age.

Easy to grow and drought tolerant, Sedum spectabile prefers well-drained soil and full sun, although the unusual variety Brilliant Variegated is best in light shade.

Large clumps are best supported with pea sticks or a purpose-made plant support placed around the plant as it emerges in spring and which, although unsightly at first, will soon be hidden by foliage.

Spent flowerheads can remain on the plant through winter - they will dry and be supported on stiff brown stems for several months before having to be tidied up. By this time the new leaves will be emerging through the soil.

Mature clumps of Sedum spectabile need to be divided every three to four years as they will become too big to support themselves. Even with careful staking the stems will collapse in the summer and look irritatingly messy. Divide clumps in spring or autumn and replant or pot up immediately.

A new shrub to our garden this year is the summer flowering Spiraea japonica Anthony Waterer which is still blooming here well into October.

Its clusters of fluffy pink flowers echo those of the sedum and although it is small this year it will quickly grow into a rounded shrub a metre or so high with a similar spread. This spiraea is common and sometimes derided because of this, but it is an easy-to-grow deciduous shrub with attractive reddish young leaves that mature to dark green and lovely deep carmine pink flowers from mid to late summer.

It will grow in most soils in sun or light shade and needs no care other than hard pruning in spring to keep a good shape and to encourage new growth on which the flowers will be carried.

Gardening TV and Radio

Tomorrow

9am, Radio York, Down To Earth. Presented by William Jenkyns. (Repeated on Wednesday at 8pm).

9am, Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

Thursday

8pm, BBC2, A Year At Kew.

An hour-long programme completes the series with Kew's director Sir Peter Crane revealing his vision for the gardens, which are a world heritage site. Meanwhile, Dave Cook has to deal with problems in the Temperate House caused by the most controversial art display ever attempted at Kew.

Friday

8pm, BBC2, Garden School.

The students are only one week into their five-month course and Diarmuid Gavin's unorthodox teaching methods are already creating tensions.

8.30pm, BBC2, Gardeners' World.

Carole starts a hedge to encourage wildlife, Joe pots up containers for long- lasting colour and Monty looks back on the work the team have done on the shrubbery.

Saturday, October 29.

8am, Radio York, Gardening Phone-in. With Nigel Harrison. Telephone number 0845 300 3000.

Updated: 10:50 Saturday, October 22, 2005