This is installment number 4 in the series where I tell it like it is in my Northwest Suburban Chicago garden. It also ties in with Gardening Gone Wild's plant pick of the month selection. The specimen under the microscope today is Hylotelephium/Sedum 'Black Jack.'
I bought two of them several years ago from the Morton Arborteum's plant sale. It is planted in two different situations: in a container that gets morning light and afternoon shade, and in the ground under a Physocarpus, where it gets afternoon sun.
'Black Jack' burst onto the horticultural scene with great fanfare for its dark purple, almost black foliage. It was discovered as a sport of 'Matrona,' which is a large, wonderful plant. How do I know 'Matrona' is a great plant when I never bought it or had anyone give it to me? Because of major flaw number 1 with 'Black Jack': it has a serious reversion problem.
Every year I have to remove sections of it that fail to turn purple. One of them I stuffed into the seashell planter, where it rooted and thrived.
This 'Matrona' is now bigger than either of the 'Black Jacks', which brings us to problem number 2, it's not robust.
'Black Jack's' most damning flaw, however, is that its foliage just doesn't look as good as other Sedums.
Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. I'm so disgusted with this performance that I'm thinking of ripping it all out and replacing it with this:
I bought a pot of this mystery Sedum at Deep Cut Perennials north of Woodstock, Illinois. This photo is of the plant growing in the display garden. The flower heads may be smaller, but that foliage looks great, which is pretty much the whole point of growing Sedum.