Please help identify GROUND COVER?

I'm not sure what forum to post this under, so I will start here.

My mother gave me this plant. She use it as a ground cover on the edge of her garden. The small purple flowers are beautiful.

Lili, that's an ice plant. Three times I've planted this and three times it didn't return in spring. I think I can safely say I cannot grow this plant.

Whatever it is, it's pretty. : )
~Lucy

thanks maoza.

I concur - Delosperma something or other.... I think the big problem is the amount of rain/ humidity makes them rot - they like it hot and dry. In California you can see slopes absolutely covered in them and it is an incredible sight.

Make sure you give it good drainage, don't water it much (if at all) and let it climb over some rocks or something - that would be my suggestion.

Oh, and enjoy, they're so pretty!

Maoza, I'll ask my mom how she keeps those in the winter. She must dig some up and keep them inside or something....

Will they multiply? Could I put some in the railroad tires?

Lili,
Those are said to be invasive in my area (note, we're in the same zone). But from my experience? They grew beautifully in the growing season, but never have I lucky enough to witness the blooms. So congrats on your blooms, ask mom what condition did she grow them under? lol, I'd love to learn too.

They are perennial here, mine are confined in big pot where I used them as pot fillers. Tolerate ordinary garden soil, but good drainage since it's in a pot.

yep thats an ice plant. maybe to cold in some of your areas. i live in zn. 8 and it does fine. doesnt like to get frozen since its mostly water inside those fat leaves. :P they come in all kinds of colors, pinks, purple, yellows, white. i have a small patch in my yard and its doing ok.

Just break off a piece and lay it on some dirt. It will root itself and grow with no help. I just brought some back to Texas from San Diego. It is an awesome sight seeing a mountainside covered in iceplant, blooming. Amazing stuff.

Interesting. Are they related to Moss Rose (portulaca)? The leaves look very similar.

I did think of the Portaluca when I saw it, but I noticed the flowers are very different.

I saw these growing in Knoxville, Tn yesterday and I was mesmerized. I think the plant can stand alone by itself, because of the way it spreads, but the blooms were just icing on the cake. I thought it might be a type of sedum.

These were at a nationwide auto sales place, and I was tempted to 'liberate' some, but when I attempted to pull up a piece that was growing over the curb, the root was about a foot long, and I didnt have anything to put it in.

I'm adding this plant to my 'need' list for sure.

Hey, neighbor! I bought my husband's horse in Oneida.

I'm betting you could find this one at http://www.highcountrygardens.com ...

Well Howdy...there's lots of them here. My brother has 4 or 5 now.

I don't think I've ever been to Gainesboro, though. Are there any quilt stores there? =)

>grin<
If there had been a quilt shop, my sister would have emptied it out by now..... *sigh*. I think there's one in Cookeville - it was there for a while but was just bought by another gal 6 or so months ago - don't know if they changed the name or not. No plants in there, so I only go if DS needs something.

But Gainesboro, naw - doesn't even have McDonalds. (And I'm quite happy about that.)

Sorry for hijacking the thread, Lili - there's just not many DG'ers in this neck of the woods... not many people, actually!

I've heard of Cookeville, TN. One of my high school friend's mom used to live up there. Small world. Mentioning of small world. I returned to Atlanta today from NYC and rode the train out to the suburb of Atlanta, which is about 45 minutes train ride from the airport. Guy sit across from me told a girl sitting behind me the area he lives in and just happens he is my neighbor. We got to talking and his wife plays on my tennis team, but I've never met her because I'm out of tennis this season because I just had ACL reconstruction. This happens to me all the time. World is getting smaller everyday.

Maoza, I asked my mom about winterizing this plant and she said that she doesn't do anything to it and it comes right back in our zone, which is true because I noticed one of my neighbor has it at her mailbox underneath some rocks. However, mom said she had some of the white ice plants and those did not do as well and they did not come back the next year either.

Pagan, I'm going to Cookeville next week =) we do have a Mc Donalds, but we only have 5 traffic lights here! woooohoooo booming metropolis. What kind of horse did you buy?

....and Lili...I've lived in Smyrna, then Lawrenceville, and last lived in Columbus. My DD lives in Winder so I'm up there too. Norcross has the BEST Thai restaurant....yummo.

Mmm - looking for any plants? We have some nice nurseries!

We're up to 3 lights, heh....

Got a Spotted Saddle horse from the Smiths, to ride with my Walker. Also have 2 paint/ Shire crosses from a rescue, my Walker's baby and my ol' Appaloosa.

Ooooo... Thai food... one of the few things I miss from Phoenix. That, and decent Sushi.

I started some ice plant from seed this year. I'm going to be disappointed if it doesn't over-winter but by the sounds of it that might be just what happens.

Maybe you can keep some inside?

Yes, just a little bit in a container in the garage. It will quickly multiply in the spring.

I will probably do that just as an "in case of" but I'd really wanted to use it as a ground cover. Oh well, it will still be pretty in a pot even that doesn't work.

This is a wonderful but slow-growing groundcover in our part of Florida, but the most marvelous part was that it bloomed occasionally in the winter.

My dad has some that came back this year in the gound. His is pink and he's in the same zone as me, 6B) I have to say we had a pretty mild winter this year compared to the 2 previously.

He found some for me at Lowe's yesterday. =) the tag says 'copper', which is pink.

I was told all you need is a leaf to start it, so we're experimenting with some that we pulled off.

Pagan.... are they your nurseries? I want a greenhouse !!!!! My dream is to grow heirloom plants.

Well, I should probably own them, as much as I buy, but sadly, no. I want a greenhouse, too - I'm still weighing the cost and benefits of having one, however. I do think the variety for a small area is kinda interesting, though - we have one quite high-end place that sells tons of Monrovia, J&P, etc. - all gorgeous stuff, with tons of beautiful accessories and priced in a way to make me faint. All the way down to the Mom & Pop place that has weeds growing out of some of the plants, you never know what you'll find and has the best prices I've ever seen.

But I've not seen the Delosperma at either!

Before I ran into some health problems, my dad and I drove up here (from GA) to check into leasing a location to put a small dad and daughter place =) but someone else was putting up a small green house in the same exact spot!! so I gave up the idea. But not the dream.

It's on my list =)

I'm sure you've been down to McMinnville - talking about competition. There must be over 50 nurseries. I'd hate to be in a garden club there - if your yard wasn't beyond fabulous, you'd look kinda bad.

But if some one else put a greenhouse on that spot, it must've been absolutely perfect.