Once again this year, my old Jade plant bloomed for me. In addition, two of the younger plants, (about 10 years old), had a couple blooms this year. It looks like the blooms will last well beyond Christmas this year, as I kept them outside until the very last minute in the fall. If you’d like some hints on how to get your Jade to bloom, drop me a line and I’ll help you out.
I love that Jade blooms will only happen on an older plant. It appears that until a plant is about 10 years old, it’s not able to bloom. In my experience, the older the plant is, the better I can get it to bloom.
I like to think we’re like that too. While we’ve got lots of flash and slick glamour when we’re young, many of us really blossom as we accumulate years and experience.
A friend was recently lamenting the perception that women don’t age as well as men do. While that may be the case through the lens of the media gods, I’m not sure that’s the most wise lens through which to see things. Regardless of gender, it seems to me that when we’re young, we rely heavily on those gifts of youth. But as we accumulate years, we take the time to build the wisdom and character of who we are, and rely less on those fading and superficial youthful charms.
My young jade plants are fine and healthy, and I enjoy ‘em in the summer. But as winter approaches, there are few things as beautiful and wonderful as an old Jade showing off the flowers that the younger Jade can only dream about…
“Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?”
-Â Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road
Blooming Jade 2011 – http://t.co/Begabi63
Blooming Jade 2011 – http://t.co/Begabi63