Mesembryanthemum, Baby Sunrose, Dew Plant, Heartleaf Ice Plant 'Red Apple'

@ Awfulart:
I think the concern on 50 deg weather is that it probably won't do well in temperatures that are not decidedly...Read More warm. It does fine until you hit a cold snap. That being said it can stand temperatures close to freezing such as overnight cold weather, as long as you have reasonably decent warm weather overall. I live in a transitional area between the warm, frostless inland valleys of Southern California, but not quite in the desert where there are cold extremes. I get occasional freezing temperatures in the winter, and that kills some of the plants. In a winter cold snap, yes, the plant can be killed . . however, it produces a profusion of seed throughout the year as bench and backup, and once the parent plant is dead, the seeds readily germinates and literally hundreds of seedlings spring up where the old plant was

i have one of these plants which has varigated leaves. I grew it from a two inch cutting and it is now about six inches tall. When is i...Read Moret the best time to take cuttings?

I grew red apple in California with great success. Now I live in Az in Rio Rico. Altitude is 3,800 ft. It does freeze here in the Wint...Read Moreer for as much as a week. It gets down to 20 degrees .

I am really confused as to the temperature problem as they told me at Home Depot in Tucson that its tolerance was no lower than 50 degrees and I have a problem with that info.

Please confirm what Dave's Garden website indicates it can tolerate freezing. I have a large area for ground cover and Red Apple fits the situation, maybe??

Looking to purchase this plant. Unable to find in Louisiana.
Unable to ship from California to my area. Any ideas on where to get ...Read Morethis plant locally or otherwise??

Let's clear something up - the invasive version of ice plant, aka "sea fig" or Carpobrotus edulis is the invasive species that grows alon...Read Moreg the California coast. The C. edulis ice plant actually produces fruit which is made into a jam in its native country of South Africa. The succulent leaves look like fingers and they are not heart shaped. C. edulis is famous for causing major issues on the coast of California.

The Baby sunrose or Heartleaf ice plant, "Aptenia cordifolia" is not invasive. There is much misinformation regarding ice plants in general due to the invasive aspects of C. edulis, but not all ice plants are bad. The difference between ice plants C. edulis and A. cordifolia are akin to the difference between the highly invasive Creeping Charlie and a mint plant (both in the mint family).

It must also be noted that A. "Red Apple" is a hybrid cross of A. cordifolia and A. (Platythyra) haeckeliana, and Red Apple can become invasive whereas true A. cordifolia does not. True A. cordifolia has magenta/purple flowers and is not invasive. If you want to grow this, make sure this is the case, especially if you live near wild lands! Do not plant the Red Apple hybrid if you are concerned about invasive qualities and make sure it is the true purple A. cordifolia variety.

Additionally, we have A. cordifolia (purple flowers) growing at my housing complex here in California where we have many large gardens throughout the grounds. A. cordifolia grows as ground cover along with English ivy, and it does not become invasive even with the sprinklers going off every night to water every square inch of this place.

In my experience, this plant is easy to grow (I have it in a container) and requires little water in the hot southern California landscape without becoming invasive. People even plant in their lawns instead of grass so they don't have to waste precious water on grass, but it doesn't take over the landscape like Creeping Charlie does. It does just fine on our balcony.

Most people don't know that Baby Sun Rose is actually edible and can be used in salads. The plant was also used in traditional Zulu medic...Read Moreine. You can read more about its edible and medicinal uses here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/228529537184607/

My plants are all in pots. Started off with one, then as I pinched off tips to encourage the plant to thicken up I just pushed the tips i...Read Morento new pots and they are all rooting. One problem I have is that although my earlier plants are now large and lush green, none are flowering. They get what looks like a little flowering bud..but it never opens into a flower. Has anyone had this problem? I get morning sun (about 5 hours) and then (living in Phoenix AZ area) have very bright light for the rest of the day. Any ideas would be appreciated. I'm having the same problem with Calibrachoa Hybrid (Strawberry Punch Superbells) which gets about an hour more sun a day.

This is absolutely the BEST ground cover solution for areas of hot sun, poor soil and limited watering. A tenant had planted some as an e...Read Morexperiment to the horrible grass situation. For years, with no sprinklers, dogs and gardeners only watering a little once in a while the lawn situation was horrible. It was such a success, that I had the gardeners plant it in all the other areas. Within about a year and a half, it looks like an amazing green carpet. It even draped over the 5ft retaining wall, so much that it looks like a hedge. With little water needed, no fertilization ( oh that nasty manure smell), dog pee resistant and no mowing what more could somebody ask for?

I have a question for those with this, since i've just transplanted it and had someone tell me that it was responsible for the stains on ...Read Moremy t-shirt. does it stain? i'm been googling and searching and can't find confirmation, but i've had mystery stains on my t shirt two of the last 3 mornings out watering this to get it started. any input would be appreciated, particularly since we're contemplating putting it in an area that the dogs will walk on regularly. thanks.

we have a large amount of this growing on a hill in our backyard and i love it! the only problem is, there are areas that tend to turn y...Read Moreellow or brown. this part of the yard gets a lot of sun so i water it with a hose a few times a week; is this enough? does anyone know how often i should water this stuff? am i drowning it or not watering enough? is there some sort of fertilizer or anything i can use to make it more green?

I have been growing this for 3 years now and it is not growing anywhere I don't want it to. It does grow vigorously, but it doesn't take...Read More root easily, so all you have to do is cut it back. It is not invasive, just vigorous.

IMO it's the best ground cover there is, for warmer climates. It needs my attention once a year to cut it back. The rest of the year, I just enjoy it. It attracts tons of bees, stays green, and flowers all year.

About the only negative I can think of is that you can not walk on it, at all. It crushes very easy.

I have been searching for a drought tolerant ground cover for a large area of poor soil and I think i finally found it! I am so excited a...Read Morebout baby sunrose. my neighbore gave me a bunch of clippings from her garden and i started them in the dirt yesterday - i really hope they grow, they are in shade. thanks everyone for the info.

I'm in Los Angeles area, and have only had Aptenia since ca. january. by accident, recently found a great use for those yanked-out overg...Read Morerowths.

pulled out a bunch of it, and stuck it in a pail of water in the sun, planning to plant the cuttings around the garden. after about a week, or maybe 2, with some heat, the pail started smelling unbelievably rotten. so disgusting, i couldn't get the smell off my fingers.

which gave me an idea: like stinky fish emulsion, it must be full of fantastic decomposing bacteria and nutrients for plants. used the rotten green fluid to fertilize a passion flower vine, snake plant, bougainvillea, philadendron, tomatoes, honeydew melons--everything LOVES the stuff. a truly satisfying way of creating one's own organic fertilizer.

and in S. Africa, Aptenia has medicinal use as an anti-inflammatory. just a great plant!

When I bought my house 12 years ago I planted this along my front fence near an arborvitae hedge. Since then it has gradually climbed the...Read More chain-link fence and covered the ground between the curb and fence. (I have no sidewalk). It has made the front of my property look very neat and keeps the weeds down. How I wish I had planted it along the north side of my corner lot. I battle weeds constantly over there.

I have this growing in a flower garden that is 100' long. I love it!! It is a fast grower, frost hardy, drought tolerant and looks beau...Read Moretiful all year round. Easy to take care, just cut it back. IT IS NOT INVASIVE------IF YOU DON'T WANT IT PULL IT UP AND THROW IT OUT!!!

This is not the same plant that grows along California coast and it is NOT INVASIVE at all. It does well on the trellis or as a ground co...Read Morever, grows fast, looks good and does not require much attention.

I have never ad a problem removing it from where I don't want it however, maybe its just because of the climate here. It does grow prof...Read Moreusely, but that's what I want where I have it planted. I have found that comes up easily when pulled. I lop it off when it is spreading too far and have it growing over the top of mulch in some areas. It loves the heat and blooms continuously. It does not freeze unless it is a really hard freeze for sustained hours. Maybe I ahve a different plant than the ones that other people have.

If this plant acts the same as the ice plant that grows all along California's coast, you should know that not only is it invasive (crowd...Read Mores out native dune plants) but it also puts a lot of salt into the soil. I'd think very carefully before putting this plant anywhere.

We found this delightful little plant thriving in many corners of Egypt this summer: from the mountains of Sinai to the delta gardens of...Read More Alexandria and everywhere in between. I am planning to try some in my garden in Jax - can't be any more invasive than a whole lot of other plants that we have to pull and pull after such a summer of heat and rain!

this plant grows on a hill on my aunts property. for years she has been trying to get rid of it, but with no success. this plant is a pai...Read Moren to get rid of!!!

if any one knows how to get rid of it, please e-mail me at:
future-rock-star@hotmail.com

We love this plant! It grows like crazy, so it might be called invasive, but it's easy to clip away and isn't hard to pull out. It prop...Read Moreogates very easily from clippings, and once established hardly needs any water. It's a great plant for filling in a large area and I've been able to fill in several bedsfrom one 4-inch pot . It's done well in both shade and sun, and easily recovered from being frozen.

I find it kind of blah, but "familiarity breeds contempt", they say.

Having been warned it could be invasive, I grew this in a pot and it did wonderfully. It looked great trailing from a hanging basket and ...Read Morestayed looking full when pinched back to incourage branching out.

This iceplant relative is a terrific groundcover IF you are able to keep it confined; e.g., urban areas. It is an extremely aggressive gr...Read Moreower and will overrun native species so do NOT plant this if you are near a park, wildland area, etc. 6-8" H, length infinite if you water it. Color is very bright clear green, unusual in a succulent-type plant. Without water it gets an amber or reddish tone. Flowers are bright red, like little ox-eye daisies that form at the base of each pair of leaves. Bees absolutely love it. Also excellent as a trailing plant over walls, or in planters. I keep it in-bounds by occasionally ripping off runners or even yanking out entire plants. Tough plant; even a single leaf left will resprout. It loves No. Cal. weather and a single flat will cover an entire city lot in one year with a weekly watering.