TABLE FOR FOUR

I rarely buy single plants, but when I do, I usually grow them in pots for a season or two before I plant them out. This selection came from a Rare Plant Fair and I had a small table in mind when selecting them. The Hylotelephium ewersii var. homophyllum ‘Rosenteppich’ is a great low-growing sedum and the star of this group. Buddleja glomerata provides a great background and a bowl of Geranium ‘Dusky Crûg’ adds more colour and texture.

How to achieve the look

I have a soft spot for grey- and silver-leaved plants and was very happy to find a beautiful specimen of sedum. The colour fits perfectly with an old metal pot, where the paint is partially worn off. The buddleja is still young and should flower in the summer next year. It has velvety, silver leaves with ruffled edges and will develop into a medium-sized shrub once planted out. Geranium ‘Dusky Crûg’ features chocolate-purple leaves and light-pink flowers and works well in an old terracotta bowl. The little sempervivum has produced some offsets and seems to feature all the colours of its neighbours. I quite like the skirt of the old, brown leaves, which also features on its young offsets. I drilled drainage holes in the metal containers for the sedum. After covering the holes with crocks and a layer of grit, I used multi-purpose compost with added grit as a planting medium. It is important to loosen the existing rootball to prevent roots from growing in a circle. All plants will be potted on or planted out in spring, so the pots I am using are not much bigger than the ones the plants were grown in. I will be able to split Hylotelephium ewersii var. homophyllum ‘Rosenteppich’ and Geranium ‘Dusky Crûg’ in spring and so increase them in number. The buddleja will be trained against a south-facing wall and the sempervivum will find new neighbours for another season.