A Well Traveled Jade Plant

Almost 40 years ago a small succulent plant, a "Jade Plant" to be exact, was given to my cousins as a wedding gift. David was in the Navy, doing things he wasn't allowed to talk about. His bride, Maggie, was in the Marine Corps teaching organic chemistry, among other things.

David and Maggie moved a lot, but finally settled on Guam and the little jade plant, being not so little any more, was probably pleased that finally it could settle down and do its thing - grow some more. I never saw their home on Guam, but doubtlessly the plant took pride of place in its pot of soil and sand, sitting in some sunny spot, growing and blooming each December.

After several years on Guam, David and Maggie were transferred back to the US. They brought their treasures with them, the sorts of things you accumulate when you don't have kids, and live or travel in exotic places. But they only brought one plant back with them - the jade plant.

It turned out that their new assignments kept them on the road so much they decided not to buy a house for a while, and the plant sat neglected in their apartment in Texas. So on a trip up to Topeka they loaded the jade plant in the car - I'm told it took up the entire back seat - and gave it to my grandmother as a Christmas gift.

Grandma was somewhat taken aback. She'd had lots of houseplants over the years, and every room in her modest house had one or two plants parked near a window. Her yard, especially the iris bed, was the talk of the neighborhood. But this jade plant was new to her. She'd never had a houseplant that was the size of an upholstered chair.

But she was game for anything, and the jade plant was installed on a low footstool in the big southeast corner window of her kitchen. Since she got it at Christmas, it was blooming, which caused much comment.

The jade plant sat in that window spot, growing and blooming each December for another ten years. I think Grandma potted it up once when David and Maggie came to visit because she mentioned some of the branches breaking off and Maggie taking them back to Texas with her.

Then in 1977, my grandmother died. Her sons and daughters took couches and beds and china and pictures from the house. By that time there were few plants left - a drachnea, a Christmas cactus I'd bought her, a lush pulmonaria with pink spots on its leaves, and the jade plant.

My aunt took the jade plant to her house about five miles away and put it in her southeast corner window. In the move, some branches broke off. One went to Houston, another to Boston, and one went to my mother's house in Los Angeles.

The end of this story is near, but it's not the end of the story of this well traveled jade plant. The branch that went to Los Angeles graduated from pot to pot, living outside under the silver maple tree, not blooming because of the shade. About ten years ago my mother became ill and ceased tending her yard. The jade plant burst out of its pot. It didn't fall over, it just leaned, and where the branches touched the ground they took root.

I was out in LA last summer, and burned off some of my frustrations by doing yard work. I came upon the jade plant, leaning on the white picket fence (or was the fence leaning on the jade plant?), its lowered branches firmly rooted to the ground now by the new plants. But one branch had touched down in a pot, and a new plant had sprouted. I carefully lifted the pot, cut the tethering branch, and took the plant next door.
"Hi, Laura", I said. "Do you want a jade plant?"