Ice Plant

Ice Plant (Delosperma cooperi) is the groundcover for the strip of garden nothing else will hold: hot, dry, sandy and sloping. It sits at about 15cm high and spreads to 60cm across, forming a low succulent mat that covers itself in bright purple pink daisy flowers through the warm months. It grows fast, needs almost no water once established, and is not toxic to cats or dogs.

Why you'll love it

• Flowers most of the warm season. Purple pink blooms open with the sun and keep coming from spring through summer.
• It thrives on neglect. Drought tolerant, heat tolerant, frost hardy and happy in poor soil. Overwatering does more harm than leaving it alone.
• Fast cover on a bank. One plant spreads to 60cm, so a slope closes over in a season or two and the mat holds soil.
• Coastal ready. Salt tolerance means it works on exposed verges where lawn and most groundcovers burn.
• Safe around pets. Not toxic to cats or dogs.

Where it works best

Groundcover and mass planting. Plant 40cm apart for quick cover on sunny banks. At that spacing the mats meet within one warm season and weeds lose their opening.

Retaining walls and slopes. Plant along the top edge of a wall at 40cm centres and let it trail over the face, or use it to stabilise a bank too steep to mow.

Rockeries and coastal gardens. It looks natural threaded between rocks and gravel, and it takes salt wind without protection.

Growing ice plant in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, without qualification. The flowers only open in strong light and the plant thins in shade. It suits warm temperate, cool temperate, Mediterranean and arid gardens and is frost hardy once established. Humid tropical and subtropical summers rot the mat from the centre.

Soil. Sharp drainage is the only real requirement, and poor ground suits it better than an improved bed. On clay, plant into a raised bed or a gravel mulched slope. Do not mulch with bark over the crown.

Water and feed. Water weekly for the first six to eight weeks only. After that an occasional deep soak in a long dry spell is plenty. Fertiliser is unnecessary and produces soft leggy growth with fewer flowers.

Pruning. Shear the mat back by about a third in early spring if it has opened up in the middle. Broken pieces root where they touch soil, so you can replant sections to fill gaps.

What to expect when it arrives

Ice plant is grown here as tube stock, so what arrives is a small rooted plant with a few succulent stems, usually under 10cm across. That is the right size for a groundcover project, because tubes establish quickly and you need a lot of them: roughly six plants per square metre at 40cm spacing.

Succulents travel better than almost anything else. Some stems may snap in transit, which is harmless, and the pieces can be pushed into the soil to strike. Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Expect visible spread within four to six weeks in warm weather, and every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Best trailing plants for a retaining wall
• Browse groundcover plants
• Shop the succulent range
• Compare plants that are safe around pets

Common questions

How many plants do I need per square metre?

About six at 40cm spacing, which closes over in one warm season. Stretch to 50cm and you use four per square metre but wait twice as long for cover.

Can I walk on it?

Light foot traffic is tolerated but it is not a lawn substitute. The stems crush easily and take weeks to recover. Use steppers rather than treating the mat as a path.

Does it become a weed?

It spreads steadily by trailing stems that root where they touch soil, so keep it clear of bed edges you want to hold. It pulls up easily by hand and does not seed aggressively.