PlantFiles Pictures: Jade Plant (Crassula ovata), 0 by Happenstance

Happenstance wrote:
I should qualify my opinion that they need a good deal of water.

If you want them to be extremely healthy, succulent, swollen and puffy like little pillows....they need a lot of water. This assumes that you have established a situation where the drainage is excellent and/or something else is planted nearby to suck up any excess water that might be standing. In the case of the original image posted in the PDB.....the Giant Timber Bamboo takes care of sucking up any extra water from this bed.

I have C. ovata growing in many situations in my garden and I prefer the "fat puffy" green look or the "plump red/yellow" look, which both require a good deal of water in our windy HOT (85-110F) location.

I also have C. ovata growing in solid adobe type clay with no water and no care. Winter rains are the only water they get. They are still a wonderful plant, but they grow more slowly, have a "red wrinkly parched" look to them. Then there are the ones that kind of live half-way in between, getting some water from the drip system and they are more colorful, but still not the "chubby" look I like.

As I said, these are just about indesctructible and will grow in almost any situation.....I've never drowned one yet, but I did lose them in the midwest as houseplants. Can you say, "The furnace quit, the pipes froze, and the jade plants turned to green smelly mush."