Jadenappers! They had the nerve to sneak into my back yard one summer and steal my lovely jade plant (Crassula ovata) as it was innocently sunning itself outdoors on vacation. Broken-hearted ever since, I hadn’t replaced it. Mine had never bloomed, more’s the pity. So my heart skipped as I photographed this lacy veil of jade plant blooms at Allan Gardens last December.

Jade plants bloom in the cooler months – and December 2013 and January 2014 have been very cool. Today, reading Gayla Trail’s You Grow Girl post about her experiments with jade plants reminded me of my lost love. Gayla talks about jades needing cool temps to bring on the blooms, which can be hard in our over-heated Canadian homes. This prompted me to bring the plant I’m babysitting for my #1 Dot up from under the grow lights and into a cool window.

Nestled at its roots is a baby I started from a knocked-off leaf. (Mr. Brown Thumb gives you propagating instructions here.) If I’m still blogging in about 25 years, I’ll let you know if it blooms. Meanwhile, enjoy the pix. You might also enjoy this fairly detailed info sheet on growing jade plant as bonsai. I must say, it sounds tempting.

Jade plants should also be added to my unkillable (unfortunately, not un-stealable) houseplants list.

Jade plant flowers looked to me like the individual florets of Sedum spectabile (now called Hylotelephium spectabile). And, indeed, I find that both genera are members of the large Crassulaceae family, along with trendy succulents like Aeonium and Echeveria, common supermarket plants like Kalanchoe, and old-fashioned hens and chicks (Sempervivum).

Googling “jade plant flower in bud” took me to a blog I haven’t visited in a while, Poor Richard’s Almanac. Seems they’d been delighted by jade plant buds thanks to a sudden drop in temperature. There are many good garden blogs out there!