{"id":67,"date":"2010-10-14T20:02:38","date_gmt":"2010-10-14T20:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/how-to-care-and-grow-crassula-ovata-or-jade-plants-flowering-container-garden-favorites\/"},"modified":"2010-10-14T20:02:38","modified_gmt":"2010-10-14T20:02:38","slug":"how-to-care-and-grow-crassula-ovata-or-jade-plants-flowering-container-garden-favorites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/how-to-care-and-grow-crassula-ovata-or-jade-plants-flowering-container-garden-favorites\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Care and Grow Crassula Ovata or Jade Plants Flowering Container Garden Favorites"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to Care and Grow Crassula Ovata or Jade Plants Flowering Container Garden Favorites<\/strong><\/p>\n

Crassula ovata or Jade plants are shrubby succulent plants that make excellent choices for dry gardens and container plants.\u00a0 Xeriscaping with drought tolerant cactus and succulent plants has become popular in dry areas or places where water conservation is a concern.\u00a0 Jades have thick, deep green leaves sometimes tinged with red on the edges. The leaf shape, like the name ovata implies, are oval from 1 – 2 inches long.<\/p>\n

Crassula ovata develop thick, fat trunks that have an aged look and will eventually grow up to 8 feet tall.\u00a0 In late winter jade plants get 3 inch clusters of light pink to pale salmon flowers with five petals. These perennial plants are drought tolerant and only need water once a month or so.<\/p>\n

Indoors, succulent jade plants make good houseplants in containers.\u00a0 They prefer bright, indirect light and can take a few hours of direct sunlight but they are also adapted to low light.\u00a0 In a pot, Jade stay small and can even be used for bonsai.\u00a0 Crassula ovata is sometimes confused with Crassula argentia, which has a similar growth habit, but has silvery grey leaves.\u00a0 Crassula are usually not bothered by insects or disease.\u00a0 The biggest problem crassulas face may come from over watering.\u00a0 This will result in a soggy brown, rotting trunk.<\/p>\n

In the garden, drought tolerant jade plants will grow in light shade to full sun.\u00a0 In hottest desert areas, crassula do better when they don’t have an entire day of full sun.\u00a0 Crassula ovata are hardy to 41 degrees (5 degrees centigrade).\u00a0 A light frost will show up at brown dots on leaves.\u00a0 Overhead protection is usually enough to protect succulents during a light frost.\u00a0 Heavy frost, or a deep freeze will turn leaves brown and shriveled.\u00a0 Frozen leaves will fall off, or you can brush them off with your hands.\u00a0 If the plant branch or trunk is not damaged, new sprouts should form in a few weeks.<\/p>\n

Green jade plants are able to live off rainfall alone in many areas.\u00a0 In my southern California garden, crassula are happily growing in both full sun and shade, in heavy alkaline, clay soil.\u00a0 You can see photos of flowering jade plants at http:\/\/www.theGardenPages.com .<\/p>\n

To root cuttings like jade plant or gollum jade, start with a 5 or 6 inch cutting.\u00a0 Bury about half of the stalk in soil.\u00a0 This will give you deep roots and helps the plant withstand drought better.\u00a0 Keep the soil moist (like a squeezed sponge).\u00a0 After a month, cut back to monthly watering.\u00a0 The leaves will probably shrivel a bit as the plant forms roots: it is living off the stored energy in its leaves.\u00a0 This is normal.\u00a0 You may also lose a few leaves, which is also normal.\u00a0 The plant will start growing again and may even flower in a year.<\/p>\n

Visit at http:\/\/www.theGardenPages.com to see crassula plant photos and read about more plants that are versatile and easy to grow.\u00a0 Their winter bloom make jade plants a great addition to any garden or home.<\/p>\n

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Laura Zinkan cultivates a gardening site at http:\/\/www.theGardenPages.com with plant profiles and growing tips on cactus, succulents and California native plants. Drop by to smell the flowers. Or visit the gardening blog at http:\/\/thegardenpages.blogspot.com for up-to-date seasonal information. \u00a9 2009 by Laura Zinkan. Article may be reprinted if author credit is given with a website link. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

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How to Care and Grow Crassula Ovata or Jade Plants Flowering Container Garden Favorites Crassula ovata or Jade plants are shrubby succulent plants that make excellent choices for dry gardens and container plants.\u00a0 Xeriscaping with drought tolerant cactus and succulent plants has become popular in dry areas or places where water conservation is a concern.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[122,32,55,123,127,126,16,27,125,124,46],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-flower-container-gardening","tag-care","tag-container","tag-container-gardening","tag-crassula","tag-favorites","tag-flowering","tag-garden","tag-grow","tag-jade","tag-ovata","tag-plants"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}