This is a really classy plant and a great choice for a contemporary planting scheme throughout summer sedum telephium 39purple emperor39 has fleshy burgundy45coloured leaves which form a neat sculptural mound and are a feature in themselves in late summer flowers of ruby45red add to the impact borne on dark red stems each bloom is a wide flat mass of small starry flowers much loved by butterflies it thrives in a sunny spot and is tolerant of drought it has the rhs award of