Catching a succulent addiction
BY EMMA HELLEUR
I remember when the addiction started.
It was a Thursday afternoon in Stratford. My friend pulled it out of her garden and offered it to me, asking if I wanted one. I put it on the front seat of my car and looked at it on the way home. What would this start?
How far into this would I fall? I planted it in a very cute white pot with gold dots and realised I needed more. I needed more adorable succulents. I found a great local supplier. A 13-year-old New Plymouth girl who started her own business and has the cutest succulents. So I purchased a few from her, but then I realised I needed cute pots too! So as a side addiction I now have a bedroom full of adorable pots.
I know I’m not the only person suffering this addiction either. Succulents have become crazy popular in the past few years. Just open your Facebook Marketplace and see how many people are selling them. You’ll find them in tea cups, wine glasses, shot glasses, fish bowls, literally anything that can hold a bit of dirt.
For me, the appeal is that even I can’t screw it up. They require such little care, unlike normal plants. A normal plant must be planted in a pot of pure gold handcrafted by the Aztecs with exactly 9cm of soil from the depths of the Amazon. It must also be placed in sunlight between the hours of 1pm and 3pm, but it must be no warmer than 22 degrees, and it must be watered at exactly 11.25am every second day. An exaggeration, but normal plants can require quite a bit of attention. So for now, I will continue to turn my house into a jungle with all kinds of beautiful and unusual succulents. There’s no rehab insight for me.
■ Emma is the daily announcer for The Hits Taranaki. Catch her on air Monday-Friday between 9am and
3pm.