Succulent Love!

I confess that I am a new convert to the joy of succulents. Growing up I was never drawn to them but my mother had a hulking mass of one in our yard that seemed to always be freezing to death and coming back to life. Other than that, it wasn’t very spectacular to me.

A couple years ago we lived in a house that had several massive Jade plants growing out front. They started to bloom and their flowers, extending upward like tiny fireworks, struck me as really cool looking. As an experiment I cut a couple pieces off here and there and used them in bouquets. It provided a really great contrast and texture. I started playing with various sizes of Echeveria crowns – filling silver bowls with their numerous rose-shaped bodies to make a visually arresting arrangement that lasted for weeks (months if you watered it).

One morning, I woke up to my neighbor (in his bathrobe) chopping down my Jade plants! He said they had gotten too big and he was doing me a favor by “trimming them”. I pleaded with him to stop and he grudgingly dragged his giant trash bin behind him – filled with what used to be my 30 year old Jade plants. I was heartbroken. That was when I realized how much I adored them for their odd and humble beauty.


At the shop I carry a wide variety of succulents in many different types of containers. A good cross section of textures, shapes and sizes, there’s something for everyone here. Echeverias tend to be my favorite because of their complex symmetry. I recently brought in a very old and wise Flapjack succulent that is fittingly planted in an antique Chinese water bucket. His giant, shiny, leaves are slightly tinged with red and look otherwordly. I often get asked if he is real. He is indeed!

I had a very large Agave at the shop that almost immediately upon arriving started to bloom and shoot offspring out of its center. It was snapped up in less than a week and is now flourishing in a wooden bucket on the patio of a good friend.

Having just finished potting several different types of succulent arrangements, I can step back and watch as they grow and change. A lot of my plants are in various stages of blooming. I love the simplicity of their flowers, like when they sprout a single, impossibly long “branch” from their center as a sort of fishing rod for bees. Succulents are extremely easy to care for, produce super charming blooms, are easy to propagate, grow rapidly and provide a living source of art for their owners.

Melisa

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