I have sedum autumn joy and would send a couple of cuttings in trade for your Dahlia Redskin mix. Also have ice plant with bright pink flowers that I could send cuttings of. Becky ramazz

So, the next and most important question: Let's say I replace my Autumn Joy by buying a full price plant at a reputable local nursery (that's saying a lot for a frugal WS and swapper!). When I buy the plant it is blooming in a brilliant and delightful shade. Can that brilliant and delightful shade be a product of special nursery conditions, i.e. high amounts of a particular fertilizer, etc.? Can I depend on that color in my garden being close enough to what I saw in the nursery? Let me note that this morning I went out to look at one of my hardy mums blooming. Last year it was purchased and was a fairly common color up here, can't remember the name. It had petals that were pink on the edges and became lighter, to almost a white, as the petals moved inward to the center, which I believe was yellow. Now it still has the yellow center and the petals are a deep burgany. No, nothing reseeded. I have not had any burgandy mums as I don't like burgandy. This was also my first year to really notice spring as a gardener. I checked that bed everyday, watching as each of the plants broke ground. This plant did now show up from seed with the starter leaves, followed by true leaves. I emerged from its roots in the ground with the thicker stalks you see in a returning perennial. This mum reverted on its own to one of its parents. I have seen posters post this before, and many people have responded by saying it had to have been a seed and the poster just didn't know it. I know it with this one. It is the same plant. So, even though I don't think Autumn Joy will revert to anything different, I know it is possible for the plant to behave differently once in the garden. I appreciate all your thoughts and input!

I was lucky to inherit mature plants in Baltimore. HUGE. Happy in full sun and needed plenty of water. The did flop pver some, but they were lovely. I had a mix of Autumn Joy and Brilliants. Never pinched back. I let them die back but did not cut them back at all. I tied the dried stalks up until usually March when I saw new growth peeking out. By then, the dried stalks broke right off and new growth was ready to go. We had people drive from all over to see them - they called our house the "butterfly house" because of the many butteflies attracted to sedum. This year, now in coastal NC z7b (almost 8a), I bought a nunmber of Autumn Joys, Brilliant and white sedum (snow somthing) from bluestone perrenials. They were lovely when they arrived and lived and bloomed all summer, but they were never really "pretty". The white did not fair well at all. Brilliants fared best. The about doubled their size (but they were in little 4" pony packs to begin with, so not hard to do!). I think it will take several years for them to mature, but I am going to still try my "let them die back" method. Other sedum types seem to do better here, bronze carpet for example and hen&chik have both done really well. But as for Autumn Joy, I think it is patience game and being willing to deal with not so pretty plants for the first couple of years.

I was born in Thailand and was given a Thai Name . When I was 7 , I moved to Philladelphia where my school mates and everyone else butchered my name so bad that my mom's toes curled in disgust, so without my permission, she changed my name to something I could not stand when I was 13. I changed my name to a shortened version of my thai name that eastcoast city folk could wrap their tongues around without creating a gawd awful sound. What I changed it to has a negative meaning in Thailand (who knew, I had forgotten my Thai). I did not know this till I met my father and he gave me another nickname to use. I went to mainland China to go to college for a semester, and when I arrived there, they immediately gave me a Chinese name . No matter, I am still the same person and I respond to quite a few names. As far as what is my proper name...god only knows. I choose to be flexible about naming issues. Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.