Name: Delosperma | Ice Plant
Brand: Surreal Succulents
SKU: F610-PURPLE+K721
Rating: 5.0 (8 reviews)

Delosperma | Ice Plant

£5.00

At a glance

Light: Full sun5+ hours of sun
Lowest temperature: 0°C Keep it frost free
Mature size: 20 cm x 80 cm Height x width
Growability: BeginnerWhat this means

Where it grows best and how to care for it

In stock

Colour 'Purple' 'Red' 'Peach' haworthii (Lilac) 'Yellow' 'Orange' 'White' 'Light Purple'

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What arrives

Sent by Royal Mail, with tracking
Unless stated otherwise, grown in a 6cm pot and around 5-7cm wide. Size guide
Sent bare-root, so it travels safely. Why we ship without pots and soil
Packed without plastic, apart from the plant label
Grown at our nursery in Cornwall and picked by hand for your order

The plant you receive may not look exactly like the photos.

Delosperma is a bright-flowering group of plants formerly known as the Lampranthus family, featuring stunning flowers in the spring/summer. Flowers are approximately 1-2 inches in diameter.

Perfect for a rockery or granite wall as they love the full sun. They love plenty of water and feed during the growing season.

Native to South Africa.

Ideally, plant straight away and water well once you receive the plant to get the best results. Shipped with roots undisturbed.

You will receive a plant similar to the plant in the picture in the orange pot.

We send everything by Royal Mail, and you'll get tracking updates once your order is on its way.

Standard: we send your order within 3 working days by Tracked 48, so it takes 3 to 5 days to arrive.

Super Express: order before 2pm on a working day and it goes out the same day by Tracked 24, arriving in 1 to 2 working days.

Our packaging is 100% plastic-free. The plant label is the only plastic in the box.

Your plants travel bare-root, nested carefully in the packaging.

Light

Full sun

5+ hours of sun

Full shade
Partial shade
Full sun

Lowest temperature

0°C

Keep it above 0°C, so it needs protecting from frost.

0°C

Good places to grow it

Outdoor tabletop
In the ground
Rockery

Growability: Beginner
Growth form: Trailing
Growth rate: Fast
Mature size (H x W): 20 cm x 80 cm
Foliage colour: Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, PeachPuff, Pink, Purple, Plum

Customer reviews

On arrival

Unpacking and planting

Delosperma | Ice Plant is delivered bare-root. Unpack it promptly and either pot it up or plant it out into gritty, sharply drained compost or soil, spreading the roots naturally and keeping the crown level with the surface.

Settle it in with one light watering, then let all excess drain away. A bright, sunny, open spot suits it best; a bare-root ice plant may look limp at first but plumps up and roots quickly.

Once established it needs very little from you. Full sun, sharp drainage and airflow matter far more than watering, and from there this tough, free-flowering mat simply spreads.

We supply the recommended care essentials for mail order. Find the relevant products here: succulent compost

Watering

Delosperma | Ice Plant is exceptionally drought-tolerant. Water it in after planting and during prolonged dry spells, then let the soil or compost drain completely. Established plants in the open ground need little supplementary water in normal UK conditions.

Containers dry faster than open ground, so give them an occasional thorough soak in hot weather, always letting the excess drain away. Water in the morning.

Cut watering right back through autumn and winter. Cold, sodden soil around the roots and crown is the quickest way to lose an otherwise hardy ice plant.

We supply the recommended care essentials for mail order. Find the relevant products here: succulent compost

Light and position

Give Delosperma | Ice Plant Full Sun - 5+ Hours of Sun. Suitable positions include Outdoor Tabletop, In the Ground, and Rockery. Full, open sun is essential: it drives the flowering that ice plants are grown for and keeps the mat tight and healthy. The flowers typically open in bright sunshine and close in dull weather or shade.

In shade the plant grows thin and sparse and flowers poorly, so keep it clear of anything that will overshadow it. Good airflow matters as much as sunshine, particularly through wet spells.

Compost and drainage

Plant Delosperma | Ice Plant in gritty, sharply drained soil or compost. For containers use roughly 50% multi-purpose or loam-based compost to 50% horticultural grit or perlite, in a pot with open drainage holes. Ice plants revel in poor, stony, free-draining ground.

In the garden, improve heavy soil with plenty of grit and plant on a slight slope, raised bed, wall or gravel area where winter water drains away quickly. A mineral top-dressing of grit around the base keeps the trailing stems off damp soil.

Do not enrich the site heavily. Lean, sharply drained conditions give the toughest, most free-flowering plants.

We supply the recommended care essentials for mail order. Find the relevant products here: succulent compost horticultural grit perlite

Feeding

Delosperma | Ice Plant needs very little feeding, and plants in reasonable soil or fresh gritty compost generally need none at all.

If a long-established container plant looks weak, a single dilute, balanced feed in late spring is plenty, applied when the compost is moist and growth is active.

Avoid over-feeding. Excess nutrients produce soft, lush growth at the expense of flowers and winter resilience.

We supply the recommended care essentials for mail order. Find the relevant products here: succulent compost

Winter care

The recorded minimum temperature for Delosperma | Ice Plant is 0°C. Many hardy Delosperma shrug off UK frost and even lying snow when their roots are dry, so they can usually stay outside all year; check the recorded figure, as a few species are less hardy.

Winter care is really about drainage. Keep the crown and roots from sitting wet, clear fallen leaves and soggy debris from the mat, and if a container cannot drain freely, tip it or move it under an open shelter during long wet spells.

The foliage may shrink, redden or look tired through the cold months. This is normal, and the plant flushes back into growth in spring.

Summer care

Summer is when Delosperma | Ice Plant comes into its own, flowering freely in full sun and heat. Water only during genuinely prolonged dry spells once established, and give containers the occasional soak.

Keep neighbouring plants and weeds cut back so nothing shades or smothers the spreading mat. Strong light through summer gives the best flowering.

Trim back any straggly or bare stems after the main flush to keep the plant dense and encourage further flowering.

Repotting

Repot or divide Delosperma | Ice Plant in spring when a container fills with growth, the mat becomes bare in the centre or the compost has broken down.

Lift and split healthy, well-rooted sections and replant them at the same depth in fresh, gritty compost, discarding tired or bare stems. Trailing stems often root where they touch the soil and can be lifted with roots attached.

Water once to settle the roots, then let the compost drain. Newly divided plants establish quickly in a bright, airy spot.

We supply the recommended care essentials for mail order. Find the relevant products here: succulent compost

Common problems

The main cause of losing an otherwise hardy ice plant is winter wet and poor drainage, leading to soft, blackened, rotting stems. Sharpen the drainage, clear wet debris and never let the roots sit in cold, saturated soil.

Sparse growth and few flowers usually mean too little sun. Move Delosperma | Ice Plant into the brightest, most open position you can.

A bare, woody centre on an old mat is natural with age. Trim it back, lift and divide, or root fresh cuttings to rejuvenate the planting.