This sedum, H. ‘Carl’ is now technically classified as a , Hylotelephium. He appears to a son of H. Autumn Joy’. With just as sunny of a disposition and a similar stout habit, He has been reported to be able to keep his composure and upright posture all season long. When bloom, he is professed to be able to balance and abundance of flower clusters touted to be the brightest / clearest crystal pink for a sedum to date! I will have to do my own side by side comparison, but I have seen the flowers and the ones I saw were an exceptionally crisp clear pink!
I recommend going on a , Hylotelephium Hunt, for H. ‘Carl’. He should not be the only great dry / hot garden performing Hylotelephium available. I suggest starting a collection. I am excited to see the difference in flower color and habits!
Rumor also has it that the several of the , Hylotelephium promoted through some of the plant programs have been difficult to actually find this year! It has been a tough growing year. It may have just been too wet early to find little starter size plants. Besides, I like mature full grown,” I'm loving the summer heat-bring it on” gallon size perrenials. I personally prefer shopping for a plant when it is close to its blooming time in local gardens.
Side Note: I am still looking for H. ‘Thundercloud’, it was a white flowering form that was a big hit last year in the perennial plant trials at MoBot. I had hoped to get one going in my sister’s memorial garden- none yet. At least H. ‘Carl’ is out there and holding up the excitement for this great family as it process their name change!
Personal Note, My Name Change:
Apparently the sedum plant family actually made the shift from “easy to say ” to "what the heck, Hylotelephium” in public ages ago.
I personally can” re-late”. I am struggling with a name shift that was private but now has become wonderfully public. I have asked my friends and family to call me by my baby sister Joanne’s pet name for me, “Re”.
I will try and make this long story short as my last paragraph “re-lates” one of my most precious moments when Joanne called me Re.
My condensed life story story:
I came from what was a big family, 5 girls and one boy. We have quickly and sadly w shrunk down considerably. We have lost our mother and then our two youngest siblings. Joanne was the “baby’ of the five girls, John was “the caboose”.
In the daily commotion of endless chatter with so many girls in one house, there apparently was a time Joanne thought my name was “Re-re” instead of “Ma-ry”.
She eventually called me, Mare, (like a horse) and later she used my given and professional name , MaryAnn. But as sisters can do, in private moments, prayers, or moments of distress, or when she needed to get my “sister” attention, she would “re-laps” and just call me “Re”.
I especially cherish the many ways she would work “re” and her faith into our daily conversations. She was most creative with stressing the “re” in her comments and sometimes she would do some fancy “underlining” and “quirky quote marks” in her notes, (a business no-no that I have never given up as everyone knows) She was always “re’-minding me of God and His ability to re: ( go back to a particular or original place, often merely intensive-no joke!.)
She was the most able person I knew to “re” me, always able to pick me up and carry me back to a particular point or place. I miss those “re-“ days and have decided to honor God and her by celebrating her impact on my life by acknowledging her childhood name for me.
God has ”re-kindled, re-started, re-organized, re-placed, re-formed, and re-deemed my life. I KNOW Joanne is in heaven, I see her artwork in the clouds and she dwells in the hearts of all who love her.
My cloud “re”-ference and my most favorite “Re” memory:
In the last weeks, we did some momentary fretting about all the “stuff” of letting go.
I would take notes and try to look “re-liable”. On the last visit to the hospital, I tried to hide some of tears and instead focused on using my “gift of distraction” to its very best. How I made light of anything, when time was so short and serious, was a miracle itself.
Somehow that first day as we moved from department to department and from one test to another, we drifted to a subject that we were both having some difficulty accepting: work. Even in her final weeks she was managing a tremendous amount of work. She was artfully inspired, maintaining her selflessness and professionalism through the entire process of closing down her business.
All the details were mind boggling. I will be forever grateful that my sister Margaret stepped in and completed that final phase.
While waiting around between an endless series of more tests at the hospital, God allowed me to put into words what was on our hearts. I am still amazed but so thankful that I said it out loud. WE had just been “re-flecting” on the “busy-ness” that still surrounded her, I expressed some minor confusion I was having and in the process asked an odd sounding question: “What will you “do” in Heaven?" she had no time to respond as the orderly had come to wisk her off again.
She rolled off for another test, and I heard myself mumbled weakly something about how “we don’t know how to not work”. I heard nothing but a chilling clanking noice as they pushed her further down the hall and into another room and I felt so alone. I collapsed on a overused couch and ached, forgetting about everything, I prayed. .
Sometime later, she was ‘re-parked” against the same wall and couch. She truly didn’t look like she was resting but she was quiet and her eyelids were tightly squeezed closed. I had no words, I just held her hand.
Suddenly, as if it had just registered that the activity had finally stopped, she opened her eyes and nodded for to me to bend in close. Her tired eyes looked almost too big and bright for her face, and I was struck by her paleness and beauty.
She smiled like she had one of her “silly sister secrets” to share. I leaned into the tall and chilling hospital car, and prayed I would be able to help with whatever she needed.
I got as close as my short legs allowed to hear her soft voice. With way too much effort, she whispered/ croak/coughed the word “clouds”.
I had though my mind was slipping. I couldn’t make the connection fast enough not to cause her to strain again. I thought I saw a just a trace of sadness when she realized that I had lost the thread of our last conversation.
With a calmness and peacefulness that struck me then and again now as I remember the moment, she raise up on her elbow and smiled with forced breath and said “ I’m going ask to do the clouds”.
How I ever caught back up to her thought trail, I don’t know, another miracle, but I smiled right back at her and quickly rattled off a condensed “ re-viewed” of her “project check list” formula from her “job coaching” lessons she had given me for the past year. We had grown so close in the past two years that it had become automatic to run through the "work check list" together.
As I ran through the “pre-project check list” from memory, I felt an unexpected rush enthusiasm that had been missing before that moment ( it has become a permanent feeling now that swells every time I “re-call” this moment.) I ended my work toned prattle on a “solution sounding” high note with an offer to collect all the zip codes for all the areas I knew she had a people connection to and put them in her bible since I felt sure that would be our “door”. I don’t know if she saw the burst of tears or if I was just crying on the inside, because in a quickly following moment, she smiled her brightest “ little girl smile” and reassured me, “Don’t Bother, Re, I will have the “ Master File”.
He Comforts and "re"-assures us of His Love,
Forever.....Re
I do miss her voice and so appreciate every time I hear her in those around me. Thank you to those who make the effort to call me “re” as it is a wonderful “re’-minder of that moment when her face looked so happy and full of joy!
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