Ornamental · Aizoaceae
Ice Plant
Delosperma cooperi
Give it full sun and sharp drainage, and this succulent throws down a low carpet of jewel-toned flowers all summer.
Full sun
USDA 6–10
3–6 in · 8–15 cm
Overview
Ice plant charges across the ground as a low, mat-forming succulent from South Africa, knitting fast into a dense carpet of fleshy, finger-like leaves. Come summer it blazes into daisy-like flowers in purple, pink, orange, and yellow that catch the light like crushed glass. It rarely tops 3 to 6 inches, so it slots right in as a groundcover, a crisp edging, or a spiller pouring over a wall or rockery.
The trait that lifts it above the crowd of look-alikes sharing its name is flat-out cold hardiness. Delosperma cooperi powers through winters down to USDA zone 6, way past what the tender ice plants most people picture could ever take. Stack on real drought and heat tolerance and it becomes the go-to for hot, dry banks where almost nothing else grips the soil.
The one catch is that it flat refuses wet feet, so growing it well hinges entirely on drainage. Hand it gritty soil and full sun and it practically runs itself, but park it in cold, soggy ground over winter and it melts clean away. Nail the drainage and it rewards you for years.
Care
The short version: full sun, gritty fast-draining soil, and a light hand with the watering can. Let it dry out between drinks, keep it nearly dry through winter, and it barely asks for anything more.
Light
Ice plant craves full sun, so hand it 6 or more hours of direct light a day. It puts up with a touch of partial sun, but push it any shadier and you get weak, stretched growth with only a few scattered flowers.
Water
Water sparingly, and hold off until the soil dries out completely. An occasional deep drink powers it through the growing season, and over winter it should ride nearly dry. It is a true succulent, so overwatering drops it faster than anything.
Soil
Drainage runs the whole show. Plant it in a gritty, sharply drained sandy or gravelly mix, and if your ground leans clay, work in loads of grit or throw up a raised spot. Soggy soil rots the crown flat out.
Temperature
It shrugs off both extremes, cruising anywhere from -9°F to 100°F (-23°C to 38°C). That deep cold tolerance is exactly what lets it overwinter outdoors where most succulents throw in the towel.
Humidity
It runs on low humidity and dry air, no shock for a plant tuned to hot, dry banks. Damp, stagnant corners drag it down, so keep the air moving and it stays in top shape.
Feeding
It barely wants feeding at all. In lean, well-drained soil you can skip it flat, and at most slip it a light, balanced feed in spring. Rich soil and heavy feeding just pump out soft, floppy growth.
Pruning
Run a light shear over the mat after the main flush of bloom to sharpen it up and spur a second wave of flowers. Then in spring, strip off any dead or frost-damaged growth to clear the deck for fresh shoots.
Repotting
In a pot it only wants moving up every 2 to 3 years. Keep an eye out for roots bursting through the drainage holes or the middle of the mat thinning, both signs the pot has maxed out and it is time to bump it.
Size & spacing
Plants stay low at 3 to 6 inches (8 to 15 cm) tall while surging out into a wide mat of 12 to 24 inches (30 to 60 cm). Space them so the carpets rush together and knit up without heaping over each other.
When to plant
Ice plant is a hardy perennial, so plant it once and it storms back on its own every year. Set new plants out in spring once the worst frost clears, and the flowers come pouring in from June through September. Winter cold barely fazes it; wet soil is the thing to dodge.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Harvest: Summer; flowers roughly June to September
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 6–10
Temperature: down to -23°C
Troubleshooting
Ice plant throws almost no curveballs, and nearly everything that goes wrong traces to one culprit: water pooling around the roots. Catch the early signs and you head off most trouble on the spot. Match what you see below, then jump on it before a soft patch spreads.
Plant turns black or skips its spring comeback
This is crown and root rot, the one thing that can topple a plant this tough. Cold, wet soil pressing on the crown all winter softens the stems and roots to mush, and heavy clay speeds the whole slide. Turn it around fast: dig grit into the bed, raise the plant onto a sharply drained mound, and pile gravel against the base instead of bark.
Fix:
- Improve drainage with grit or gravel and replant in a raised, sharply drained spot
- Avoid bark mulch over the crown; use gravel instead
- Provide a sheltered, drier site in marginal zones
Sticky film or cottony puffs riding the stems
Two sap-feeders show up here, and both come off fast. Aphids swarm the tender new growth and crumple it, while mealybugs park themselves as white cottony puffs along the stems. Blast them off with a hard jet of water, and pull out insecticidal soap only if a stubborn few keep marching back.
Fix:
- Rinse off with a strong jet of water
- Treat with insecticidal soap if populations persist
Weak, reaching stems and hardly any bloom
Chalk this up to too little sun and nothing else. Tuck it in shade and it stretches toward the light and barely flowers, but drop it into the open and it erupts into color. Shift it to a spot that soaks up 6 or more hours of direct sun a day and watch it take off.
Fix:
- Relocate to a position receiving 6 or more hours of direct sun
Toxicity
Good news for pet owners and parents: ice plant is not known to be toxic, and there are no reports of cats, dogs, or curious kids getting sick after brushing past it or chomping a leaf. That said, Delosperma cooperi itself hasn't been formally evaluated by name — the ASPCA's non-toxic "Ice Plant" listing actually covers a closely related species, not this exact one. So call it low-risk rather than certified safe, and it is still worth steering pets and children away from snacking on any garden plant.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats Non-toxic
Cats get a free pass here. Let a curious one chew a fleshy stem and this succulent shrugs it off, no harm done.
Dogs Non-toxic
Dogs are in the clear. One can dig up a clump or gnaw a few leaves and still bounce back just fine.
Horses Non-toxic
A horse grazing the foliage along a border or path runs into nothing worth worrying about.
Rabbits Non-toxic
Rabbits can crunch the soft leaves without a hitch, though most breeze right past a succulent this fleshy.
Livestock Non-toxic
Cattle, goats, and sheep clear the mat and its flowers with zero risk.
Birds Non-toxic
Garden birds and backyard poultry can peck right into it and stay perfectly safe.
People Non-toxic
Handle it all you like, and a stray nibble from a child sets off no emergency.
Varieties
Breeders have loaded hardy ice plant with color, and a handful of series and selections leap out ahead of the pack. These are the names worth chasing down.
Jewel of Desert series
Compact powerhouses that flower like mad in colors sweeping from peridot-yellow to garnet-red, and the RHS lists them widely.
Wheels of Wonder series (e.g., Hot Pink Wonder, Orange Wonder)
Vigorous spreaders that gardeners chase for their flowers, which run unusually large.
'Mesa Verde' (Delosperma 'Kelaidis')
A salmon-pink Plant Select star that sprang up as a sport of a dwarf alpine form of D. cooperi at Denver Botanic Gardens.
How to propagate
Ice plant multiplies about as easily as any plant going, so dive in. Three simple, forgiving methods sit ready for you, whether you want a single new plant or a whole tray bursting with them.
Stem cuttingsEasy
Spring to summer · 2-4 weeks to root
Cuttings crank out new plants the fastest. Snip short, fleshy stem chunks any time from spring through summer, let the cut ends callus for a day or two, then push them into a gritty mix and watch them root in 2 to 4 weeks.
DivisionEasy
Spring · One growing season
An old mat splits apart in a heartbeat. Lift it in spring, tear it into chunks, and drop the rooted runners straight into new ground, where they surge in to fill the gap over a single growing season.
SeedEasy
Spring · One growing season
Chasing a whole flat of plants? Seed delivers. Scatter the fine seed across the surface in spring, hand it warmth and light, and the seedlings race up to planting-out size over one growing season.
Myths
Every plant called 'ice plant' is the same species and equally weedy or toxic.
Not a chance, because that name spreads across several unrelated Aizoaceae genera. The invasive coastal weed is Carpobrotus, and the ASPCA's non-toxic 'ice plant' is Lampranthus piquetbergensis. Hardy Delosperma cooperi stands on its own as an ornamental and has no business getting lumped in with either.
Ice plant needs frequent watering to thrive.
Flip that around. This drought-tolerant succulent thrives in dry, sharply drained ground, and too much water is what takes it down, since a soggy crown and roots slide straight into rot.