Jade plants are low maintenance, beautiful succulents with naturally glossy, thick, rich green leaves, often forming clusters like rosettes with rosy, blush edges on long stems.
This spring, as I spruced up my parents’ backyard décor, sorting through various plant containers my mother tended before her passing, I rescued a pot of jade plants long overgrown by flowering ground cover. In its hidden, shaded spot, the long stems reaching for sunlight were scrawny and mostly bare.
Bringing the plastic pot of jade plants home with us, I set it on our deck. After a month or two of soaking up the morning sunlight, warm weather, and intentionally, infrequent watering, new leaves popped out on the long, bare stems.
Yet, many of the overlapping stems in the pot have yet to fill out. After nearly four months, it was time to repot and give the overcrowded jade plants more space. I arranged the plants in a grouping of three stylish clay pots.
My favorite and shining star of the trio, a strawberry pot, handmade from red clay. The lovely jade peeks out from the side pockets, beautifully from every angle. Being a southern girl, I was excited to find this handmade Georgia red clay jar made in, you guessed it, the state of Georgia. How cool is that!! A son and daughter-in-love gifted the strawberry jar planter to me for my birthday. Now, my mother’s old jade plant is cared for, displayed and treasured in a special pot on my bakers rack on the covered patio.
Growing and Caring for Jade Plants
Jade plants are easy to propagate.
Place stem cuttings in a vase of water and allow it to sit where it receives sunlight until roots grow. You’ll need to change water periodically throughout the process. Roots should form in a couple of weeks but allow them to grow for a month or more before potting.
Potting Jade in a Strawberry Jar Planter
A strawberry jar planter with side pockets is my favorite container to display jade plants. And it’s easy to plant. Strawberry pots are available in a variety of sizes. Check Etsy. The other two clay pots I used had cream swirl designs from the Better Homes & Gardens collection, available from Walmart. To coordinate the look, I brushed fine outlines of cream-colored chalk paint to the Georgia clay pot to compliment the BH&G pots.
About the Soil.
Choose a well-draining soil, such as a succulent or cactus potting mix. If using regular potting soil, you’ll need to mix in some perlite or coarse sand to enhance thorough drainage.
Add soil to the pot until it reaches the first side pocket. Place a jade plant with roots through the side opening, covering roots with soil and continue planting.
Watering and Sunlight.
Allow the soil to dry between waterings. Like most succulents, Jade only needs watering every other week during the growing season. Every 3 or 4 weeks during the fall and winter.
They make great porch plants, but should be moved indoors in fall, before the first frost. Wherever you display them, jade thrives on four to six hours of sunlight daily.
Do you have a jade plant or other succulents growing in a strawberry jar planter?
Here’s to prettying up the porch and patio with plants.
Happy Summer,
Deborah S. Tukua