GROW IT
Jade's a tolerant little tree
January 28, 2010
Sonia Day
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Jade plant; Crassula ovata
This may come as a surprise, but I hate many houseplants. Anything that requires fiddling and fussing? Forget it.
I once tossed a potted red and yellow croton out into a snowdrift, then watched (guiltily, I'll admit) as the darn thing died of the cold. But the spider mites in its leaves had started to drive me nuts.
Yet here's one tough customer that I love: the jade plant. Belonging to the botanical family with the weird name of Crassulaceae, it is incredibly easy to grow. In fact, these natives of South Africa are almost too easy. Mine (now at least 15 years old) is the size of a stocky tree and weighs a ton. It practically gives me a hernia every fall when I haul the pot indoors for the winter – but hey, that's gardeners for you.
And I confess to being a neglectful parent. Watering is hit and miss, its potting soil never gets changed, and during the cold season, the pot is usually shoved into a dark corner. Even so, this tolerant little tree never throws hissy fits. It just sits there like some patient dog, not doing much, waiting for the signal to spring into action again. Then, restored to the heat of summer outside, it always churns out new fleshy leaves and grows a bit, with a sculptural shape that looks lovely on the deck.
If you're attentive, jade plants will bloom (this has only happened to me once). Suddenly, surprisingly, there'll be sprays of little white flowers appearing on the branches, usually in winter. But sun all day is a key requirement and I can never supply enough.
To see these houseplant stalwarts at their best, drop by the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington. In one of the greenhouses, there's an impressive collection – and they were all blooming beautifully when I visited a few weeks ago.
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Toronto Star