Jade Plant (Crassula ovata)

Just gorgeous!!! I just bought a new jade plant about a month ago and it has already grown over an inch in height. My Mom had one years ago and hers reach over 3 feet tall in the house. I hope mine does as well as her's did and looks as beautiful as yours is.

Charleen43

What a magnificent jade! I am envious! Mine is about 6 years old and just struggles. I put it outside in the summer and it seems to like it there. I worked with a gal who had about 5 of them and they were just like trees! She brought them to school each fall to bask in her south windows. Does this one have a special name? Certainly is healthy!

They are truly a "weed" in our climate. They do tend to fade into the background in many landscapes because we are so used to seeing them everywhere. Leaves that fall to the ground root and become new plants, branches do the same.

I grew them as houseplants in the midwest, so I know what a struggle it is to give them the conditions they like:

They need a good deal of water to be fat and puffy when planted outside. Do NOT overwater them if you grow them indoors in pots.

They can take full shade to full sun and will color up if sun is your choice.

They like to get cold in the late fall and winter....this will help them bloom.

They will turn into mush if there is a hard freeze, as we had in about 1991 when most of the Bay Area dropped to 17F. Generally they will return from the ground even after completely collapsing.

They are all forgiving plants. I've had cuttings sit in the HOT sun all summer and as soon as the rains come they start to root and puff up. Even if it looks all shriveled up, given some water they generally will revive.

Just some general tips on my experiences, your conditions may not be the same.

This message was edited Wednesday, Apr 28th 11:42 PM

I congratulate you on a job well done on this informative email. The pictures are just beautiful.
I feel a great deal of water could rot them. Down here in the San Fernando Valley they just grow, many not getting any water except when it rains. Many not a full as your beautiful plants.
They are also good fire retardents, great on hillsides where there are grasses and bushes that can burn, they contain a great deal of water. Crasulady2

Thanks for all the information. I looked at your jade page and wow! They are really huge! The trunks are unbelievable, especially to a mid-westerner. But, if you trim again, I'd love to have some of those cuttings! Nice pictures of your plants.

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."