Hardy Succulents - Aizoaceae

[Hoy]

Yes, Rick is right. It is the wet winters and the sudden change between mild/wet and cold/dry that kills.
Maybe that is changing. The weather forecast says cold, dry and sunny weather the next weeks. Very extraordinary, last year we had only two days with freezing temperatures in November. (Cold, that is -4C/25F; and sunny, that is only a few hours sunshine at this time of the year).

[Weiser]

Rick
I don't know quite what takes some out. We get most of our moisture in the winter with a lot of freeze thaw cycles(almost every day). Average winter temperatures don't vary a lot how ever our snow cover varies widely from year to year. Last year we had a lot that stayed around for a couple of months. The year before what little we had didn't stay for more a couple of days in a row. The planting medium is the same through out the garden. The exposures to sun and wind are the same. So I have no ready answer.
Age of the plants may play into the answer. I have had the older woody/stringy centers of some mats die out but the rooted edges lived on. So if I were to give my best guess I would have to say older plants seem more vulnerable to die off due to moisture around the crown.

By the way, I know how hard it is to keep Delosperma alive in the northern latitudes. I gardened in Bismarck, ND for twenty years before moving to Reno. I do not envy your struggles. I never was able to keep them alive for even one winter. It was very frustrating for about three years then, I decided to just give up and live with the dream of growing them. Little did I know, I would get to fulfill that dream. Of course I still can't grow them all.    

[McDonough]

Great photos guys!
I grow a few of these myself!
The two smaller ones are D. Basuticum and D. sphalmanthoides. They have never given me any worries and are very reliable.

First three D. sphalmanthoides
Second three D. Basuticum

Catching up here, I've been preoccupied.  Oh my, I love these things, John the D. sphalmanthoides is stunning.  Another thing I like about them, they have NO THORNS nor glochids   Well, I sure hope at least a few of these things survive the winter here, and I'm encouraged by the success of a yellow Delosperma in Peter George's garden (in Central, Massachusetts) which is probably D. basuticum.

[Weiser]

Mark
This is an alpine Delosperma that should work for you (maybe??) Delosperma nubigenum.
It has a hard time with my hot, low humidity, summers. It will scorch and look very tattered and abused. I have had them die if they are not given enough water. They always plump back up in the fall when the weather cools down.

[RickR]

I echo John's comments about D. nubigenum.  And for a delosperma, it flowers rather sparsely, or at least I have never gotten it to bloom spectacularly in the 10 years that I have grown it. I still have it, just because I still have it, but I won't cry a tear if it were to disappear in my collection.  You might find this pic of mine interesting in the Wiki image gallery:
http://nargs.org/nargswiki/tiki-browse_gallery.php?galleryId=21&offset=20

MUCH better, and equally hardy is D. basuticum.  It grows tighter, is more adaptable to winter moisture, and puts on a great floral show every year.  Prettier flowers, too, in my opinion.

Delosperma basuticum

[Lori S.]

The taxonomy of the hardy yellow-flowered Delosperma is in great disarray...  Here's discussion over at SRGC about the messy state of affairs:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3795.60

I'm encouraged by the success of a yellow Delosperma in Peter George's garden (in Central, Massachusetts) which is probably D. basuticum.

Well, Mark, if it's encouraging to know a yellow Delosperma can be hardy in zones 5/6, then you must be over the moon to hear they can be hardy even in zone 3!   
 This one, whatever it really is, has been hardy here since 2004, and another slightly-different yellow one shows signs of hanging in there too.

[Weiser]

Lori
I agree! Disarray is a good description.

Last year I was involved in this same discussion on a cactus and succulent forum. I own two plants that in all respects  are the same species but they came to me labled as separate species. One as congestum the other as basuticum.  I decided to accept the opinion of a very experience collector and  currently use the name D. basuticum (but that could change  ).   

[Weiser]

Do any of you grow Ruschia pulvinaris?
It forms a hard congested mat for me. I have never had it get damaged in my climate. I was wondering how hardy it is in wetter climates.

[Hoy]

Do any of you grow Ruschia pulvinaris?
It forms a hard congested mat for me. I have never had it get damaged in my climate. I was wondering how hardy it is in wetter climates.

I can't help you there. But it looks like a plant worth trying!
I have a place (at my summerhouse) where the climate is drier, the summers are warmer and the winters are but a little colder. All your colorful pictures have convinced me that I have to try many more of these plants!

[McDonough]

Lori
I agree! Disarray is a good description.

Last year I was involved in this same discussion on a cactus and succulent forum. I own two plants that in all respects  are the same species but they came to me labled as separate species. One as congestum the other as basuticum.  I decided to accept the opinion of a very experience collector and  currently use the name D. basuticum (but that could change  ).   

Here's another link on the same multi-page SRGC thread, member Iann comments on congestum, basuticum, & nubigenum:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3795.msg120597#msg120597

John, the Ruschia looks great too.  Cold has finally hit here, still below freezing as I write this at noontime, we shall see what happens this winter.

[Hoy]

Mark, your weather will be warmer the next week!

[Todd Boland]

What gorgeous plants!  D. basuticum barely survives here outside but does fine in our alpine house where excess winter moisture can be minimized.  I grow several other Delosperma but keep them in my basement window over the winter.

I saw loads of Aizoaceae in South Africa but most were probably not hardy forms.  I didn't see any blooming in the Drakensberg but then I was not there at the peak blooming season.  I did see lots of blooming Helichrysum on the other hand.

[Lori S.]

More about Delosperma taxonomy and confusion:
http://www.fgas-sukkulenten.de/downloads/delosperma_e.htm

[Peter George]

I've had D. basuticum for 15 years, and it spreads around a bit each year, and it's seeded itself as well. I've grown D. cooperi for 5 years, and then it was gone after a miserable winter with at least two major thaws accompanied by rain and followed by sub-zero temps. That same year I lost R. pulvinaris as well.

For the past two years I've overwintered a Delosperma from Wrightman's he calls D. 'wolfgang.'  It's tiny and has a very small white flower, which is not really even noticeable in the open garden, but which would be quite at home in a trough.

A neighbor, who has a heated greenhouse, grows several mesembs in the areas around the greenhouse, and they grow beautifully and flower for weeks. I've tried a couple in my sunniest spots, but so far they've failed to make it over the winter. For me, the trick would be to get a nice sunny spot next to my foundation, with perfect drainage. I'll give it a shot this next spring and see if I can expand my Delosperma horizons.

The pictures were taken by Mark McDonough this past spring, and are also found in his 'Garden Visits' thread. The Delosperma was labeled incorrectly around 1998 when I first obtained this particular plant.

[Weiser]

Delosperma cooperi hybrid ''Kelaidis" (aka "Mesa Verde"). One of my favorites!