Use hardy ice plants to bring low-growing color

2Colorado is fortunate to have a wide assortment of plants introduced by Denver Botanic Gardens’ Senior Curator, Panayoti Kelaidis.

Among his finds are South African ice plants that have come to the Colorado’s horticultural scene through Plant Select® because of his love of hardy succulents.  Learn what he has to say about them in the video and read more about hardy ice plants below.
These water-wise groundcovers come from high altitudes and have proven to be durable and resilient to our Colorado climate.  All bloom in early summer, are hardy in Zones 4-5 and grow well with in full sun in soils with excellent drainage. They prefer not to have heavy snow cover in winter, so south-facing sites may be best at higher elevations.

These cold-hardy cheerful bloomers are also:

  • deer resistant
  • attractive to smaller pollinators such as bees and bee look-alikes
  • low growers with all but one being under 2″ tall
  • shallow-rooted and can be used as a living mulch under and between other plants provided direct sun hits the leaves for at least 6 hours per day. Perfect for shading the roots of Clematis, and usually blooming in tandem!4 3

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