Once upon a time or so long ago that it could well be imagined, a little girl was given a jade tree cutting. Well, not quite a cutting. As the story goes, a colleague of her father had sent it for her and somehow during the transfer the bottom half broke off. Her father couldn't bring it home to her like that, so he jury-rigged a tinfoil support to keep it upright in a tiny glass, and he kept it on his desk until it had sprouted roots again. (Clearly her father had no experience with jade trees or he would have known this wasn't necessary – they're practically weeds!) As for the little girl, she thought it was the tiniest glass she had ever seen. The cutting was only an inch (2.5 cm) high.
You might guess by the title of this post, the little girl was me and this is about my jade tree, now in its 5th decade.
From the tiny cutting, the tree grew. We both grew. When I left home, it was one of two plants that came with me. I gained a third one that summer and all three of them easily fit on my coffee table in my first apartment. Above, that's just one of its many offspring.
When I decided to go to college, it came along and it suffered the frequent moves of my co-op work terms, and a roommate's cat, Speedball, that occasionally “pruned” it while stressing about not being fed, as cats sometimes do. By then it was big enough for the cat to lie underneath.
After graduation, I moved into my own apartment with my now growing collection of plants, and I remember when I later moved into my house that one of the most stressful days of my life was trying to prevent my three biggest plants from colliding with each other in the back of a borrowed van on moving day. They were my jade tree, the pot wedged firmly between my legs; the 6' (1.83 m) tangerine tree, lying on its side and rolling with every turn; and my 6' (1.83 m) euphorbia, also on its side and trying to roll the other way. I was pretty much sprawled backwards across the van floor with a hand on each of the tall plants. We made it! The photo, above, is from just minutes ago on a snowy Ottawa day.
All of these years, the jade tree was growing and being repotted into progressively bigger pots and, all of that time, I was still able to rotate it when it grew towards the light and it was gorgeous. Believe it or not, I had never pruned it although I often thought about what I might trim when it got bigger.
I tried putting it in the center of the window for a summer and it even bloomed for me but the purple on the undersides of its leaves indicated that it was a little too bright and I moved it again.
Late one night, I was in bed when I heard a large CRACK and I ran downstairs to see what had happened.
I really thought a window had broken. But no, the jade tree's trunk had sheared off right at the soil level. I thought that was the end of it. There was nothing I could do except pick up some pieces and pull out a big knife to finish the cut. The culprit seemed to be some rot in the trunk but knowing how hardy these plants are, I wasn't going to give up. So rather than putting it in water, I found a bucket big enough to hold the plant and just let it sit on the floor of my kitchen.
I let it sit for over a week until I knew it had dried out. Then I added water and set out to root the biggest cutting I had ever seen, and it worked! At the start of roots, I repotted it, now 6" (15 cm) shorter and more stable, I thought. Years passed and it continued to grow.
The plant was past the point of being easy to rotate and it was somewhat lopsided. On the day it fell, the house shook.
I lost half of it that day, bought a bigger and sturdier pot, and repotted it again. And because it had suffered so much trauma, I just left it alone.
Many of the best cuttings became more jade trees which I gave away.
I had so many baby jades.
Above, that's all that was left, and more years went by.
This photo is from a few years ago. When I went to Australia for 9 months, I had little choice but to leave it it in the hands of a tenant I hadn't met and request that he please water it, and I was thrilled to see it well taken care of when I returned.
Here it is again for comparison and once again I'm contemplating how the heck I'm going to prune it.
Images
Photos from my iPad and Canon SX620 HS by @kansuze in Kanata (Ottawa), Canada.
Enjoy!
@kansuze
Oh, wow, this story of your plant is amazing. A life companion, your jade tree.
It is almost unbelievable, that it happened, that it fell, but check this out: My Ruby Blush did the same... so, I have also baby plants now 😂
Oh my I saw the accident and thought of your plant!
Can not be a coincidence, these plant attitudes towards jumping from the stand... Better you check out your balcony every hour if happens something similar :)
I have foreseen this to happen. They are all on the flood. No tall stands there :p
But one orchid did that some time ago. Poor thing I found her only the net day in a poor state surrounded by bark chips.
I suppose the orchid did not have recovery, as the succulents? Or?
I see in some of the leaves of my fuzzy that they are damaged, because of the fall, they have now some dark stains. I also changed now the place where they are, not to fall again.
Oh, no! It didn't even occur to me until now that my piano playing caused it! lol
Thank you for the humour.
heheh, you are welcome, I made up that story to bring some laughter here around :)
But the plant indeed fell, just that by itself... :(
That is a nice, big tree with a history.
I really like when they get old and get the big trunk. Such cool and forgiving plant. I have one too :)
I like that bonsai look to them.
very nice ornamental plant friends. I really like your picture.
Yes. One like that is impossible to replace. Thank you for visiting.
Yeah, I was also thinking, "hope it doesn't tip over", before I realized what happened. These plants are so rubbery, I am not surprised the plant survived the fall. I bet Jade even spreads in the wild by falling over.
Growing the tree with a cascade structure looks so well, but it really needs something to help counterbalance it. When masters grow a bonsai tree with a low hanging trunk, usually they plant into a very tall/deep pot for visual balance. I have also seen people place a heavy rock or deadwood as an accent asscessory to weigh the pot down firmly.
Do you ever rotate the pot to encourage the back side of the plant to grow some back branches to balance it out? It seems to want to grow heavy on the side where all the light is.
I used to rotate the pot regularly when it was easy to move. This pot is a little heavier than the last one and, of course, the jade needs a trim. It has a lankier growth then other jades I have seen.
I love this story - it's so sweet. Isn't it amazing that we can kinda feel so affectionate about plants when they have grown up with us? My parents have got a fiddle leaf fig they've had as long as I can remember and it's HUGE!
This one is my longest story but I'll write about a few other plants that are decade old. Thanks for dropping by!
You have a story about plants and you are amazing.
I have many plant stories. Thank you for dropping by and commenting.
I like to see your story is very good, looks like it's real? and I hope I can write like you with old stories and apply them well? good luck to you, I'm your fan here.
Thank you, @lingkar-photo. Every bit of the story is true. If I could give you one tip, it's to take photos now. I don't have very many old photos of my plants and that makes it tougher to illustrate the post.
I like your idea, and I was inspired by you, thank you for shaking hands for this initial introduction. but I believe you are a wise writer.
O that is such a cool looking plant,
That sucks it fell over 😔 hate when that happens, such a mess to clean up
It sure was a mess. I'm at the point where I dread repotting it!
O I know that feeling, we got a umbrella tree that I am at that point
Love the Jades, they look so cute! Greetings from the Philippines!
Greetings to you! If you lived close to me, I could give you one.
Oh, so kind of you, thank you very much (^_^)