PlantFiles: Hardy Ice Plant, Trailing Ice Plant, Cooper's Ice Plant
Delosperma cooperi

I garden on sandy soil just north of Savannah, GA. I did not know of this plant until I moved here two years ago, but it is now a staple in my garden. It is THE plant that draws the most comment from visitors, despite it's small size.
In my garden, D. Cooperi is evergreen, thrives in sun in dry or damp soil (my soil is sandy, but well enriched and well drained). It forms a 2" high dense medium green mat (sorry - no foot traffic, please), and has the best color and bloom in damper areas. From early spring through fall it produces small daisy like bright magenta flowers. It spreads at a reasonable rate, but is easy to control. I have not had any seedlings appear. It is easy to propagate from cuttings at any time and seems to have no pest or disease problems. Also looks good spilling over the edges of containers if kept well watered. I love this plant.

I planted Delosperma cooperi in my yard here in southcentral Kansas last year and it did beautifully in spite of severe drought and many days of temperatures in excess of 100 degrees. It started blooming in the spring this year and has bloomed profusely every day since then. It has been a beautiful addition to my garden. Since we are once again experiencing drought conditions, I am so glad I planted it last year. Although it definitely spreads, I have found that easy to controll.

I've had this plant draping beautifully over the cedar edging and down onto the cement curbing for at least ten years. It is fantastic. This is a very hot, dry, sunny bed where Autumn Sage, Russian Sage, Purple Heart, bearded iris, Nandina, and so on thrive together happily. I was admiring the blooms the other day and noticed that the stem of this plant has grown quite big and tough. I like the way that it softens the edge of that bed so have taken a few cuttings so I can spread it around.

The Purple Ice Plant was planted by my daughter-in-law along her front sidewalk. Her house is in Independence, Kentucky. I did not have any experience with this plant until she planted three of them. They thrived and had many, big purple daisy-like flowers in the Summer of 2011 which seemed to glow in the sunlight. I love this plant! It survived the Northern Kentucky Winter and has spread out somewhat, which looks great this Spring 2012! She wants to complete the sidewalk area with two more of these, and I just found them for her. Her sidewalk area is in mostly full sun, and the Ice Plant did great. I am thinking about planting some in my perennial bed as well.

If you are looking for a beautiful groundcover for full sun areas prone to drought, this is your plant! I grow it in tough, unamended Georgia clay, and it absolutely flourishes and has spread several feet in wide in only two years. It forms a thick web of stems a few inches tall. Also, the flowers open during the day and close at night. One note is that it is not suitable for foot traffic, as it is a succulent.

This plant is actually not invasive in the CA bay area, as has been posted by some. Carpobrotus edulis is an iceplant that is highly invasive, but delosperma cooperi is recommended as a non-invasive alternative groundcover by CAL-IPC (http://www.cal-ipc.org/landscaping/dpp/pdf/SFDPPPrintable.pd...).

It looks beautiful here and grows really well and should not be confused with another 'iceplant' carpobrotus edulis.

Awesome plant that blooms continuously from Spring to Fall for me. Who cares if it's native or not? I grow many plants that aren't native to this area. There is no rule that says a plant must be native. If you think that, fine but don't try to force that view on everyone else. It's not invasive in my flower bed either. It grows where I plant it and stays inside the edge of my flower bed. It also hasn't harmed the "native" plants that grow beside it in my flower beds. Don't be so closed minded about plants. These plants can be used to prevent the spread of fires in dry areas of the country and save on watering since they contain so much water and require little water to grow. There are many other positives to them as plants as well.

Ice plant is an invasive! Please don't plant this in California, at least.

Delosperma cooperi:

I have only grown this in pots and as a short-lived ground cover. In containers it creates a nice drought-tolerant cascading plant, alone or with other plants. As a ground cover it performs where elevation permits excessive precipitation to quickly drain off. Unbearable heat and humidity melts ice plant in no time especially when soil is clayey.

Colors of flowers and silvery-blue/green leaves (punctuated with little whitish-silver dots) add radiance to landscape: Ice plant reflects and scatters light well and should be used in the landscape where passersby attention needs to be garnered.

Basic care is more than sufficient--care requirement is so minimal, that if it were a higher organism such as a human, you might get reported to the authorities for neglect. Though a smidge of fertilizer and a little water to get it going is probably enough. Some of my favorite planting combinations are with agastache, sedums, low ornamental grasses, cacti, yuccas, lantana, vinca, in rock gardens or xeriscapes, to name a few. A good rule of thumb: plant with other silver-foliaged plants.

This seems to be the only 'Ice plant' (Aizoaceae) which is reasonably hardy and successful in British gardens. It's tolerant of wet and cold and can tolerate less than perfect drainage.

In a hot situation it grows quite fast and flowers extremely well from May to the first frosts, and the flowers can be 5 cm across. I've grown this plant for about thirty years, but unlike the U.S., it has never been very popular in the U.K.- our sunshine levels are just not high enough.

In the UK this plant needs very different treatment compared to the US.The average sunshine levels in the US and South Africa are over 30% higher than in Britain. So the only way to get this plant to flower well is to position it where it gets masses of reflected light - near a white house wall, facing south, and to surround it with white stones. Grow it near a white patio and you're (almost) guaranteed success! In these conditions my plants produced 6cm flowers from June until October. The soil should really be 75% sharp sand and gravel mixed with peaty soil - similar to the soil used for hardy cacti. But don't allow it to get too dry.

I'm surprised to hear it's invasive in Britain unless there is an unusually hot summer, or possibly grown on cliffs by the sea.

This is a NON native, invasive plant. It will overwhelm the native plants and deplete the soil.

Absolutely LOVE this plant. This grows in the worst soil with NO maintenance. Perfect for my large 3/4 acre landscape and poor sandy/clay soil. You can easily propagate this plant by breaking off pieces, plopping them in the ground and a little water...once. Let them be and they still thrive.

I happened upon this plant at a local Menards. I used it in a container this past season. It was lovely. I have already shared with friends by rooting clippings. It roots from clippings dipped into rooting compound very quickly. I tried one plant in the ground in a rock garden and it died. I thought it may have gotten too hot. I have brought it inside for the winter since I was unsure if it was hardy in my area.

This plant has its positive and its negatives.

Firstly the positives are that it has beautiful flowers, creating masses of colour in summer, along with interesting foliage, and is completely hardy.

The negative side is that it grows extraordinarily fast, needs to be contained or it becomes invasive, and also like to self seed everywhere. If not checked it could take over entire areas of garden, and even escape into the wild.

Nice substitute for Lampranthus for colder areas.

I just happened across this plant last year, looking for a border plant for my garden/waterfall area.... I wound up planting around 50 by the time I was done.... THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL !! The plants have more than quadrupled in size! This year I needed more, bought all that I could find. I'm trying to grow some of my own, not having too much luck yet, but I haven't given up! I am also trying to start some from the dried tops... I'll let you know if I have any success.

I absolutely love this plant. It is very hardy and can withstand our common temperatures of over 100 degrees and since it is a succulant, it can go without water if necessary. It is a fast growing ground cover, so it is probably best planted in a confined area. I first planted a half a dozen or so starts in a large 2x15 area late last summer. The area is at least 3/4 filled in and I have transferred some plants to other planters. It looks beautiful!

This is my third year with these plants and last year they were beautiful and spreading but so far this year (May 15, 2006) they look dead. I don't know yet if they're dead or dormant. I see a few dark pink buds at the base of some but the rest of the plant looks dead. I have to withhold judgment for another 3 or 4 weeks.

Zone 6-7, elevation 2600'. Living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of WNC. A friend gave us a handful of ice plant, most with roots a little over two years ago (2004). We now have a solid patch that is about 40' X 20'. It's mid May now and I can see several flowers. Can't wait to see the whole patch in bloom this year. Great ground cover and almost no work involved. We have very little foot traffic on the plants, usually only to pull a few weeds.

This plant was one of 2 that I bought from a seller on E-bay. It has performed like a champ in my xeriscape rock garden. The pink flowers contrast nicely with my yellow hymenoxys scaposa (thrift-leaved perky sue).

Supposed to be hardy to Zone 5 but last year our winter was very, very bad and it didn't survive. It doesn't matter though, it's so inexpensive to buy I got another one and it flourished just as well this summer as it did last. So if it survives this winter, great. If it doesn't, I'll still get another one next year.

Although this plant is non-native to and considered to grow too well in California's central coast, being a new-comer to this area, I just love the trailing ice plant with it's velvety looking blanket of bright flowers. I have planted 1 shoot that has taken root and is trailing off nicely. I want to find a way to thicken it up.

I love these plants. I have yellow, and blue.They grow rapidly here and the color is magnificant.

hardy ice plant is too hardy here in coastal california. it is categorized as a noxious weed and has invaded sand-dune plant communities. it has smothered and marginalized many native sand-dune plants - many which are rare and endangered. please do not plant in zones 7-10!

The ice plant is one of my favorite plants. It really makes a statement in your garden.

The color is a bright fusha, with pink petals too.
To compliment this plant Dusty Miller's work well with it, as Dusty Millers prefer about 80% sun too.

They also make a nice contrast against the ice plant.


I live in Silicon Valley {California} & the plant grows quite well here. Water it every day {in the summer} after the sun goes down.

Propagation is painless.

Just cut off a piece long piece, gently take off the small leaves from the stem {about 1/2 inch} then place in good dirt. walla... you have more plants.

If you have cuttings from the ice plant, please don't discard them.

"Replant" the cuttings.

You will be mildly surprised at the outcome.

For anyone who wants a burst of colour in their garden, the ice plant is for you.

Ease of growing is a 9.5.

Spray with waek tea too.

I bought ice plant in 4" pot in May 2002. I planted it in planter under south facing porch. Partial afternoon shade. It is now appr. 30" round and spilling over side. Has been blooming pink daisy-like blooms profusely since late May. Water every few days. Goes nicely with Lotus Vine.

It hates wet feet! I have had it in a raised bed and it seems to be happier to trail into the solid clay below!

Beautiful dark pink flowers in spring and summer. Prefers zones 7-10. Doesn't grow as fast as I want it to. :)