I transplanted two small clumps of Ice Plant this Spring. It has spread profusely this growing season. Control is not a problem, as they are easily “broken off” and transplanted elsewhere. Seems like they flower all the time, though this has slowed somewhat now in the fall. The blooms close at night. My wife has had these plants in pots for years. Outdoors, year round here in growing zone 6. They get full sun here and seem to thrive. Plants grew right over two large rocks. The Ice Plant is said to prefer “sandy soil”. But my soil is high in clay content and far from sandy. Ralph

Ralph,

We saw something like that and wondered what it was. Your picture is “Very Timely”.

ICE PLANT.

Ice plant (Delosperma) is a neat ground cover. I tried some in one of my beds but it didn’t take (also have lots of red clay soil). Good drainage (like being on a slope) is probably more important than soil type. I had it in a fairly flat spot.

-Brian

“Very Good”
I guess they don’t like it in California.
Even the government can’t figure out if it is one word or two.
Ralph
http://www.nps.gov/archive/redw/iceplant.htm

Iceplant was developed by Disney to be a quick spreading, low maintainence plant for use in Disneyland. I think that Brian is right about the slope being more important than the condition of the soil. I used to live on a cut in Sandy Eggo. Across the street from me was a granite wall with some decomposed granite here and there. The iceplant took to it like gangbusters.

It is in the succulent family. Take another look at Ralph’s first photo. Those leaves are full of water. They just do not need any extra moisture besides what they get from Ma Nature. We never watered them and they thrived. From one small plant we were able to cover the entire area, perhaps 30 ft up by 80 feet across, in just two years by “cutting and pasting.”

All of my plants this morning were “Ice Plants”