PlantFiles: Silver Dichondra, Silver Pony-foot, Kidneyweed
Dichondra argentea

I think the Zone number should be changed to Zone 8. I have had no trouble with it coming back from it's roots every year. I love it. I make strange cubes and forms in the garden. It is very fun to play with in modern form building ways. It also looks great in the rock garden but I am a little wary of it touching my cactus. since I am on the rotting side of growing cactus. Once it gets established it goes to town. It drapes out of a pot and spills over the balcony and drips 8 feet . It sailed through 100 days of above 100 and very little rain. It likes my very alkaline dirt. Can't ask for more.

Silver pony-foot (Dichondra argentea) is also known as silver nickel vine and aluminum vine. It is a native plant that inhabits West Texas to southeastern Arizona and the Mexican states of Durango and Michoacan. In Mexico, its preferred habitat is on igneous substrates. It prefers alkaline to neutral pH soils, but is adaptable.

It is the only desert-adapted Dichondra, but does best as a cultivated plant with occasional irrigation especially during periods of drought. It requires well-drained soil if planted in the ground as a groundcover and is deer resistant in areas that are not overpopulated with deer. Silver pony-foot thrives in full sun to light shade and is winter hardy to 20-25° F.

Silver pony-foot is a herbaceous, perennial, semi to fully deciduous in winter, prostrate, creeping, trailing groundcover that seldom grows over 3" tall, but can spread to 6 feet. Silver pony-foot roots at the leaf nodes and spreads seeking available moisture. As shown in my photo, it grows into a dense ground cover that is useful in erosion control.

Covered with silver-gray hairs, the round or kidney-shaped, soft textured, silver-green, gray-green to bluish-gray-green leaves are 3/4- to 1-inch long. From May through August, tiny, inconspicuous creamy white blooms appear. Tiny seed capsules follow the blooms.

It is perfect for hanging baskets, as a ground cover, in window boxes, as a cascading plant over walls and even as a lawn (does not take frequent foot traffic).

Available cultivar: 'Silver Falls' has soft, pure silver-white foliage and stems.

'Emerald Falls', a cultivar of Dichondra repens, has soft deep green leaves and stems.

One of the best plants to use to cover an unsightly retainig wall .It will cascade down and over giving the illusion of a waterfall. ( a water feature without the water)
Can also be used around water features to spill through rock work.
Highly visual to use in decorative pots or hanging baskets with other more bolder style plants such as Agavae, Rhoeo (Tradescantea spathecea) Succulents, and ornamental Grasses.
Requires some initial watering for best results.