Jade Plant Ball Topiary

I spotted this topiary in the summer at a garden center here in Chicago that I visited for the first time. It is a simple sphere shape stuffed with moss and planted with jade plant cuttings. Crassula ovata is an evergreen succulent plant that is a very popular houseplant grown around the world. When given plenty of light the jade green leaves develop a red tint around the edge and with good care they flower small white or pink flowers. Most of the time it is grown as a tree or several stems are grown in a pot resulting in a shrub-like plant. Seeing this plant being grown in a ball topiary form was a bit of a surprise because I've only seen it grown as a tree or shrub and thought this was pretty ingenious.