Plant Library

Group/Class:  Jewel Of Desert Series

Description:

A low growing carpet-like, succulent, native to South Africa but amazingly hardy in North America; bright ruby daisy-like flowers with white centers and yellow eyes; perfect for xeriscapes, rock gardens, screes and sandy soils

Ornamental Features

Jewel Of Desert Ruby Ice Plant features showy ruby-red daisy flowers with yellow eyes and white centers rising above the foliage from late spring to late summer. Its attractive small succulent narrow leaves are dark green in colour. As an added bonus, the foliage turns a gorgeous burgundy in the fall.

Landscape Attributes

Jewel Of Desert Ruby Ice Plant is an herbaceous evergreen perennial with a ground-hugging habit of growth. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other garden plants with less refined foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Jewel Of Desert Ruby Ice Plant is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Jewel Of Desert Ruby Ice Plant will grow to be only 4 inches tall at maturity extending to 6 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 10 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 10 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain low and dense right to the ground. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 5 years. As an evegreen perennial, this plant will typically keep its form and foliage year-round.

This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in sandy soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid. It can be propagated by cuttings; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Jewel Of Desert Ruby Ice Plant is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its spreading habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.