Known variously as Ice Plants, Stonecrops and Orpines, the sedum family comprises very tough perennials, sought after for their easy-to-grow nature. Most of the hardy species and varieties are best known for their tolerance of dry—even drought—conditions. In terms of their garden value, they offer a good range of foliage and flower colours on architecturally interesting plants. The flowers comprise wide, tightly-packed heads of many dozens, or even hundreds, of tiny star-shaped blooms; they are at their best in late summer and autumn, when many other border plants have gone over, but they are also worthwhile during wintertime! Sedums are regarded as succulent in nature. Bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects will flock to them.  In order to separate the taller border sedums from the ground-covering and alpine sedums, botanists these days call the taller ones Hylotelephium—but gardeners prefer to use the easier and more traditional Sedum name!