Botanical Name: Delosperma cooperi
Common Names: Hardy Ice Plant, Pink Ice Plant, Trailing Ice Plant, Carpet Ice Plant, Purple Ice Plant
📌 Product Description
Delosperma cooperi is a vibrant, low-growing succulent groundcover known for its brilliant magenta-pink daisy-like flowers with bright yellow centres. Blooming profusely in warm weather, it forms a dense carpet of colour that transforms garden beds, rockeries, and pathways.
Its narrow, fleshy leaves store water efficiently, making it exceptionally drought-tolerant and ideal for South African water-wise landscapes. Once established, this fast-spreading plant creates a striking, weed-suppressing mat of foliage covered in dazzling blooms.
A hardy, sun-loving groundcover perfect for hot, dry conditions.
📏 Size When Fully Grown
Height: 10 – 15 cm
Spread: 50 – 100 cm
Growth Habit: Low-growing, spreading groundcover
Growth Rate: Fast
🌱 Best Growing Conditions
Light: Full sun (essential for heavy flowering)
Soil: Well-draining sandy or gritty soil
Water:
Water moderately during establishment
Highly drought-tolerant once established
Avoid waterlogged soil
Feeding: Minimal feeding required
Maintenance:
Trim lightly after flowering if needed
Very low maintenance
Ensure excellent drainage
Tolerates coastal conditions
🌦️ Planting & Growing Season (South Africa)
Best Planting Time: Spring or early autumn
Growing Season: Spring and summer
Flowering Season: Spring through summer (can extend into autumn in warm regions)
Climate Suitability: Ideal for warm temperate, dry, and coastal regions
Frost Tolerance: Tolerates light frost; protect in heavy frost areas
🌼 Additional Benefits
Masses of bright, long-lasting flowers
Excellent drought resistance
Low-maintenance groundcover
Weed-suppressing growth
Pollinator-friendly
Heat tolerant
🌿 Ideal Uses
✔ Groundcover in sunny beds
✔ Rock gardens
✔ Pathway edging
✔ Water-wise landscapes
✔ Slopes and embankments
✔ Coastal gardens