As you probably already know, I have a LOVE for Ice Plants! They were one of the first plants I fell in love with when I started my renewed adult passion for gardening. When I first saw them blooming in early June, I was just shocked at how full the blooms were. The only thing I had seen bloom that profusely was creeping phlox. So of course, off to the nursey I went and picked myself up about one of each Ice Plant they had.

When I got home with all my Ice Plants I was excited to get them in and found they produced amazing blooms even the first year they were planted. I had Fire Spinner, Red Mountain Flame, Table Mountain, and Mesa Verde. That first year they spread almost 2 feet across and cover my garden in a wonderful color palette. I found that once they did their late spring/early summer explosion of color, they continue to bloom on and off the rest of the growing season. So naturally I feel in love with a flower that could just keep on giving. In fact, they were so great, I got numerous compliments from the neighbors and walkers passing by. Below is an example of my hodge podge of Ice Plants I had to test out for the first year.


A few years later when I moved, it was the same year the Granita series was released by the Plant Select program. It was a volunteer seedling discovered by John Stireman in Salt Lake City. Where he was able to hybridize Orange and Raspberry Granita into the Plant Select program. When I saw the plant profile on Plant Selects website I was jaw dropped at the colors! Obviously, that was the year I went on the hunt for who had the Granita series in stock. Once I got my hands on them, I was stunningly surprised at just how much of a show these two plants put on! I love the Orange Granita but I LOVE the Raspberry Granita even more.

The Raspberry Granita is by far my favorite and the best Ice Plant on the market in my region to date. The Raspberry forms a very dense mat that doesn’t allow you to see the ground through it. It blooms so profusely in the spring that you can’t even see its green mat in the afternoon. It is literally a full mat of raspberry-red flowers. What makes it even better is that unlike most Ice Plant (Delosperma) varieties, it continues to bloom throughout the season. Now you won’t get a full flush like it does in the spring but you’ll have continuous blooms throughout the season to provide you color to your garden. Plus, you can count on a great groundcover to help suppress those weeds. Also, since it is so dense, it makes a great plant to put on a slope for soil retainment and stabilization.