Tell me about ice plants

[dolkapots]

I saw these on Pinterest and have fallen in love. Sold as bedding plants in the garden centre very cheaply. Does anyone have any experience with these? I already have an alpine bed with poor but well drained soil that i would love to plant these in.

Will they tolerate the British (wet) weather?
Also according to differing sites they are annuals/perennial/evergreen?! What seems to be most correct?

Quite a few things are called ice plants - do you mean sedums like Hylotelephium spectabile, or Aizoaceae, like delosperma or Mesembryanthemum?

According to google images they are the delosperma type.

Cool - in that case, unless you are on fiercely well-drained soil (almost sand) in an area of the country with very little rainfall (e.g. the extreme East of East Anglia), they won't love it in the garden. They will especially not like clay! You can still grow them, though, in pots with loads and loads of grit. This will also make them easier to protect from the scourge that is slugs.

The 'semi-evergreen' thing is confusing. I generally interpret it as meaning that the plant will keep its leaves but look a bit ragged all winter anywhere except the south-west!!

Shove they should be happy in my bed then, when I improved my clay soil I overdid I think; it looks like a desert soil about an hour after watering it! Will give them a go then, they are very cheap so nothing to lose!

You might want to add even more grit if you're trying them in the ground (sounds crazy, I know! But it's surprising how much you need to get it to drain really freely).

I have several Delosperma cooperi 'Jewel of Desert' in a trough, planted last year. They have done well, slowly spreading, and are just coming into flower now. These plants are fairly hardy, but do need very well drained soil, and full sun, they are perennial. They are usually stocked in the Alpine section of garden centres, and there are about 6 different flower colours, some seem to do better than others. They should do well in an alpine bed.
Just remember that these are succulent plants, originating from South Africa.

Ooo I googled the name and it turns out I grow these! I thought they were called something else. I love them and they have gone bonkers, photo is of one small patch but also planted some pink ones and they are about 4 times the size again. They are on builders sand on top of gravel and just the soil they came with , planted on the cracks inbetween patio slabs. We are south west so mild but quite wet winters and they seem ok so far. I have some in pots and they are doing less well but they actually have soil so maybe too wet.

Cath they are gorgeous!

I bought some yesterday, but they look like they have the plant version of erectile dysfunction, is that normal? No amount of poking, prodding, supporting could make them stand up a bit. they have a very thin thread like stalk attaching the waxy leaves to the base of the plant, again is that normal? They were all like this in the garden centre so I don't think I got a dud batch. I planted half in the alpine bed and half in a pot so it will be interesting to see what happens.

They can be very low growing so not standing up might not be a problem, and the stems are thin. They can look a bit ropey outside the summer- I'm not at home for another few weeks so I can't go and look at mine, sorry. What colour did you go for?

Good to know that they don't sound a write off just yet. They are "magic carpet" so I'm excited to see what colour they (hopefully!) turn into.