Ice Plant

Ice Plant (Mesembryanthemum) - Dwarf or trailing succulent plants, of which there are several grown in the open air, though none are hardy. The Common Ice Plant (M. crystallinum) is grown for garnishing in most large gardens and is also used as a pot plant; but it is most effective when planted out in the rock garden or on an old wall. In a sunny situation it will grow in any good soil, and will grow from 3 to 4 feet in a season. On warm days has a refreshing look, and its flowers, unimportant compared with the stems and foliage, are bespangled with crystal. Seeds should be sown in heat in March, and the seedlings planted out 6 to 8 inches apart. There are two varieties—one red and the other white. M. cordifolium is a perennial, the variegated form of which is used in carpet-gardening. M. Pomeridianum is a strong species with broad foliage and large purple and rose flowers. It is not so common as the last, but it deserves a place on the south border. M. tricolor is the most showy of the annual Mesembryanthemums. It is a neat plant with cylindrical foliage, growing in neat tufts 4 to 6 inches in height; its abundant flowers, of purple-rose or white, afford good contrast. It should be sown in sandy soil in the open garden about the end of April; it dislikes transplantation, and lasts longer in the ground than in a pot. They are children of the sun, and a rock garden devoted to a collection in an open sunny spot is worth seeing. A soil consisting of little besides sand and gravel suits them perfectly.

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