Grow this flower in a pot on the balcony and it will shoot up one meter in a month, covered in bright red blooms, and it is really tasty

The leaves of the heartleaf ice plant (Mesembryanthemum cordifolium) are fresh and emerald green, and in spring, summer and autumn it is covered in small rose-red flowers. It can be grown both for its foliage and its flowers. Keep one pot on the balcony and it stays green all day long, blooming all over the pot. It is a plant very well suited to balconies.

In recent years, many people have started eating the tender leaves of the heartleaf ice plant, calling it by the name "chuānxīnlián"; it can be served as a cold salad or cooked by blanching. This plant grows very fast, reaching half a meter in a month. If you want to eat it, pinch off some tender shoots, and it will also send out many side shoots. Isn't that great?

The heartleaf ice plant likes a warm, humid environment. The potting soil needs to be kept slightly moist, and in a semi-shaded spot it will grow like crazy, reaching several meters in just a few months. Trailing downward, doesn't it look spectacular too?

Just pinch off a branch and stick it into a flower pot, and in four or five days it will take root and start growing. This heartleaf ice plant is not picky about soil, anyone can keep it alive, and even a plant killer would find it hard to kill.

The routine pruning of the heartleaf ice plant is the same as pruning other flowers and plants: promptly cut off any yellow leaves, dry leaves and diseased leaves. In addition, to reduce the heartleaf ice plant getting sick or being plagued by pests, the small shoots growing near the roots or along the surface of the pot should also be cut off, to improve ventilation and light penetration and leave the potting soil exposed.

Pruning the heartleaf ice plant is not so fussy. It grows very fast, and the more often you pinch off the growing tips, the more lush the heartleaf ice plant becomes. Wherever you pinch the top, new shoots will sprout from there, and that is where more flowers will appear. In some places people eat the heartleaf ice plant, eating those tender tips. After pinching off the tender tips and applying fertilizer as appropriate, several more tender tips will sprout. The more you pinch, the more the pot fills out. It is quite good fun too.