Description
Delosperma dell-oh-SPUR-muh
The hardy ice plant (Delosperma) is a succulent, perennial ground cover with daisy-like flowers. The ice plant is not called an ice plant because it is cold hardy, but rather because the flowers and leaves seem to shimmer as though covered in frost or ice crystals. Ice plant flowers grow in USDA plant hardiness zones 5-9 and will bloom for most of the summer and fall. Their foliage is mostly evergreen and, because of this, they make a great year-round ground cover. While the plant is evergreen, it will often have some dieback of foliage in the winter. Ice plants prefer full sun but can tolerate some light shade in the garden. Because ice plants are succulents, they do not tolerate wet soil, though they do well in poor soils.