PlantFiles: Dichondra, Kidneyweed
Dichondra argentea 'Silver Falls'

I absolutely love this plant! I've grown it in containers for the last couple of years and although it can be slow to start, it gets going really well with the heat of summer. By summer's end it'll be nearly 6 ft long. I love running my fingers thru the strands - it's soft & feels almost like hair.

I love adding this plant to my hanging baskets. It drapes over the sides so nicely and adds a nice flowing soft touch. I have grown it in full shade and in full sun. Where ever it touches the soil it will root. Very easy to grow.

Have never had any luck with this plant in containers in Phoenix, AZ area, but it grows nearly out of control when it's in the ground. Have never had an issue with it burning up in the heat or with freezing in cold temps. It is, however, yummy to the gophers, and they will pull it all the way underground if they are running underneath. I use it as a ground cover to shade roots of tender shrubs & vines (like clematis), and also to cover rocky mounds. I love this stuff, and only wish I could figure out how to get it to grow successfully in a pot. I don't know if I'm over or underwatering, or if the roots are just cooking from the heat.

I bought 2 plants when they were very small, and once outside in a larger hanging pot they grew very quickly. The trails of silver leaves are now about 3 feet long, and just stunning.

Absolutely smashing silver plant grown in hanging basket or from pot on pedestal. Ordered first in 2004, took our humid hot summer with ease. and grew inside over winter fairly easily in sunny west window letting it dry some between watering.

No disease or pests noted. Just a winner. Silver Falls...it is well named! joshz8a

Not the easiest material to find but it's also an alternative to grass so long as you don't need to walk or drive on it.

I purchased two 4" pots of, what I now know is Dichondra, (Silver Falls) at a fruit market in mid-July. The pots were full of 3 ft. long vines that were,covered by tiny, soft, gray-green leaves shaped like those of a Ginko tree. I had never seen this plant before. (I suspect the plants had been rescued from a hanging planter when the other flowers were spent and discarded.)
At the time, I was looking for something to disguise a couple of 20" tall white PVC pipes, that were sticking straight up (as part of a sprinkling system) in in the middle my sunny, flower garden.
I stuck a green wire "beverage holder" into the ground to hold the pots next to sprinkler heads. Then I spread out the Dichondra vines and lightly wrapped them, all together, round and round the pipes, all the way to the ground. It worked beautifully. The pots held very little water so I have made sure to keep the soil slightly moist.
To my surprise, when I looked closely at them today, both plants have propagated themselves, not only is there some tiny new growth in each pot, but one plant has rooted where 6-8 inches of vine lay on loose, lighty mulched soil at the foot of the pipe, and the other has 3 tiny seedlings, each bearing one leaf, at the foot of the sprinkler.
Now that I know how to propagate it, I hope to take individual cuttings from the rooting vines and grow them inside, under lights, this Winter, with the hope that Dichondra will again hide that ugly PVC pipe, next Summer; as well as make some beautiful additions to hanging planters.

In its native form, it is known as "Silver Ponyfoot" in my neck of the woods. Its native relative occurs in Mexico and Texas. 'Silver Falls' dichondra is a cultivar that is a vine-like, trailing, perennial herb that forms low mats like its native relative. It bears 3/4 to 1-inch long and wide velvety-soft, silver coin-like leaves that are on stems that look like on white thread. The leaf color is a pure silver-white which distinguishes it from the native variety. It can spread or cascade to 6 feet and is about 3 inches tall. 'Silver Falls' is heat tolerant and although it does better with medium moisture, it is drought-tolerant and recovers quickly even if wilted. It requires well-drained soil.

It produces small, almost insignificant creamish-white blooms from May through August. It produces seeds in tiny seed capsules. It is somewhat deer resistant and will usually not be eaten in areas that are not overpopulated by deer. It is perfect for hanging baskets, as a ground cover, in window boxes and even as a lawn (does not take frequent foot traffic).

My plant is in a hanging basket and it has grown to about 6 feet or more long. In the spring, I thought that someone was cutting off the stems and I wondered why on earth anyone would do this. They would be "clipped" right at the edge of the hanging basket. Everytime it would start cascading well, the stems would be "clipped". I finally found the culprit. Cardinals were breaking off pieces that were almost exactly 4 inches long, flying off with them and using them to build their nests. I started placing pieces of strng and grass in the pot hoping the birds would use these instead of my plant; however, they preferred the plant's strands that has soft foliage.