Jade plants bloom; yes, they do
...given time and the right conditions.
The common jade plant (Crassula ovata) is native to South Africa and Mozambique, but has made its home in practically every household on the planet.
The RainyDayGarden crew loves this plant because it requires almost zero maintenance, minimal watering, and is very disease-resistant. They actually killed one (way back when) with “too much fussing.” Once the crew learned to BTF off, the Rainy Day’s jade plants have thrived ever since, and today, the RainyDayGarden collection now includes four large (and wicked healthy) plants over 20-years old!
“Can’t stop…staring…jade plant has…me in its thrall…”
One surprising thing about jade plants, which we kind of only learned by accident, is that they bloom! Great big swaths of blooming, too, not just a bit here and a bit there.
Getting jade plants to bloom
Very, very unexpected.
To get a jade plant to bloom you have to:
- Keep one alive for a while (10-15 years), mostly by not over-watering it;
- Put it in the sun in the summer (June-Oct), and bright indirect light in the other seasons; and
- Provide fresh soil/repot every 3-5 years.
Well hi! How long have you been hiding there?
If everything goes well, buds will form in late Oct/early November and the flowers will open by the beginning of December.
This is not what I thought a jade plant bloom would look like.
The flowers are small, but still fairly…complicated. When a cluster opens, the plant takes on a different character. We would love to capture a slow-mo of them opening at some point…a RainyDayProject for another day for sure!
Update: Three weeks later…in full bloom. No watering since they came inside at the end of Oct. The average temperature of the “plant room” is typically around 60º. BTW, the flowers can hang around for as long as the end of January!!!
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