Delosperma cooperi, Cooper’s ice plant

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Delosperma cooperi is a perennial succulent that blooms in abundance from spring to summer.

Key Delosperma cooperi facts

Name – Delosperma cooperi
Family – Aizoaceae
Type – perennial, succulent

Height – 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm)
Exposure – full sun
Soil – well-drained

Foliage – evergreen
Flowering – June to October

A succulent plant with very interesting leaves, it survives dry spells and is particularly hardy when winters are cold.

Planting Delosperma cooperi

Delosperma cooperi is planted indifferently in fall or spring.

• Prefer any emplacement that has full sun exposure or eventually with part shade during the hottest hours.
• Soil type isn’t too important, even though this plant prefers having soil that is very well drained.
• In spring, it’s a good thing to add a bit of flower plant fertilizer in order to intensify the blooming.

This is a plant that is at peak beauty when it sprawls over like a thick carpet, as ground cover or spilling over a mound of rocks.

• Plant 4 or 5 Delosperma cooperi to a square yard (1 m²).
• Water abundantly after planting.

Caring for Delosperma cooperi

Even though this particular plant is easy to care for and grows back year in, year out, a couple good habits will help you magnify the blooming and, especially, to extend it as long as can be.

• Being a typical drought plant, there’s no need to water.
• The succulent leaves will store water in cell tissue.
• Eliminate wilted flowers as soon as they wilt will help the plant to not waste energy and flower more.

Every every 2 or 3 years, it pays to regenerate older specimens through crown division in fall or at the beginning of spring.

• Dividing the clump will extend the lifespan of your delosperma cooperi.
• This presents advice on dividing perennials.

If you’re looking to inhibit excessive spreading, annual pruning at the beginning of spring is called for.

• Delosperma will propagate indefinitely, since every time a stem touches the ground, it can start growing roots.

Learn more about Delosperma cooperi

Native to South Africa and sometimes called Cooper’s ice plant, Delosperma cooperi is a plant that bears succulent leaves which blooms abundantly from spring to winter.

Its flowers that are an absolutely magnificent purple color will lend an exotic touch to your low rock walls, edges, flower beds and rocky terrain, as well as to your pot arrangements or garden boxes.

Note that there are over 120 different Delosperma species and some of them bear differently-colored flowers.

Among these closely related species, you’ll find Delosperma crassuloides with its white flowers and Delosperma echinatum which has yellow flowers.

Its hardiness is quite good since it can withstand freezing down to about 14°F (-10°C).

If you’re looking for this plant’s cousin, edible purslane, which is grown for its leaves, here is the page on purslane in the vegetable patch.