The Colorful Heat-Tolerant Plant That'll Thrive In Your Sunny Garden

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Some plants have names that disguise their true nature. The trailing ice plant (Lampranthus spectabilis) is one of them. Despite its moniker, this flowering succulent craves hot, sunny weather and can't handle icy conditions. In fact, it's an ideal plant for desert-like areas that experience drought regularly, as it needs little water to thrive. The trailing ice plant expands its territory quickly, creeping forward to blanket uninhabited patches of ground. It can unfurl to a length of two feet, but it's usually no taller than 12 inches. For these reasons, it's often used as a ground cover. This plant is also a popular choice for rock gardens, where its pink, purple, or red flowers provide a nice contrast to neutral-colored stones. It will even grow in hanging baskets, crawling over the sides to create a cascading look. No matter how you're using it in your landscape, give it full sun and well-drained soil to keep it happy and healthy.

Trailing ice plants don't need much care, which makes them a fuss-free choice for beginning gardeners. They'll tolerate planting sites with rocky or salty soil, and they'll gladly grow on hills. If a sandy spot is available, plant your trailing ice plants there since that's their favorite type of soil. These cheerful specimens will produce flowers for months when grown in a suitable climate, in relatively dry soil. In the United States, this climate is found in USDA hardiness zones 8 through 10. Butterflies adore this plant's blossoms, which are also likely to attract bees to your garden while resisting deer. If the ground is too wet, trailing ice plants may protest with lackluster growth. 

To prevent most problems that affect trailing ice plants, choose a sun-drenched planting site that's unlikely to collect water. In addition to hampering trailing ice plants' growth, overly wet soil makes them more likely to develop downy mildew. Avoid growing trailing ice plants in low-lying areas, which may have standing water after heavy rainfall. If your soil is soggy because it contains a lot of clay, you can amend it with compost to improve water drainage.

Also monitor your trailing ice plants for pest infestations. Aphids and mealybugs are the two most common offenders. Swarms of ants are an indication that one or both of these pests have moved in. That's because they cover the plants with honeydew, a sugary substance that ants love to eat. This sticky liquid encourages black, sooty-looking mold to grow on foliage, too. Deformed leaves are a sign of aphid and mealybug damage in trailing ice plants and other succulents. If you see evidence of aphids or mealybugs, spraying the flowers and foliage with a product such as Garden Safe insecticidal soap can eradicate these invaders. Or, banish aphids with a solution made of Epsom salt, dish soap, and water.