A native from South Africa belonging to Crassula family I brought the jad eisndie today. Being of trpical orgins it needs protection from the dreary cold of our Ohio Fall while its appearance on top of my shelf under the window lends an attractive element to the crowded space. Going in reverse, it almost seems like the jade plant enjoys its new area or at least fits into the electrically-heated space. What it it that makes plants seem alive? Its a world we cannot see or understand due to our limitations of human perspective. But surely plants are alive, if maybe not in the usual sense or way we consider alive. A tree embalmed in new green growth, lilypads swaying in shallow water, or the bee flitting among your garden blooms. Insects can help us see the way in which plants live their lives. Separate from the bounds of human sensory, but still connected to us all by coming from the soil and depending on it.
Does a seed matter compared to the already actualized plant? Not nearly as much as actualized plant. If you end up killing mature plant it can't produce anymore, and many of the leaf cutting world not survive in the artificial space the mature plant does now. I would not deface the jade by robbing it of all its succulent leaves as this would ruin aesthetic value and pressure its growth by forcing leaves to regrow. the seed holds potential, but this is nothing compared to the life already in existence that can nurture soil back.
For now until Spring, the jade is secured away from the world outside the window. It will not die in coming frost, but in its Winter prison it will long for something besides the artificial light. A sun evaporating dew from the very leaves as zephyr snakes around woody stem calling the bliss of natural elements.