Succulents an easy plant to beautify the home

By Wang Yu

A cozy apartment is made all the better by clean air.

But not everyone has time or the skills required to take care of plants, especially flowers, which often come with strict temperature, water and humidity requirements. That’s why young people who are out of the house most of the day prefer to buy succulents.

These plants are easy to find in online stores and are often grown by professional dealers. A new plant in a small flowerpot can beautify the room and serve as a silent flatmate.

Zhu Zhaofeng, a local bank employee, relocated to a new apartment in January. The one-bedroom flat has a larger living room with a big window that faces north. Zhu has been thinking about adding some green to the room to go with the simple furniture.

But as a novice horticulturist who spends most of his day at work, flowers are not an option.

“My grandma plants flowers on her balcony. They are beautiful, but they take a lot of time to care for. I just want to see some green in the living room but don’t want IKEA plants – they are too ordinary,” Zhu says.

Last month he found photos of leafless succulent plants online. He was immediately attracted to their bizarre shapes. Unlike flowers, new succulent plants can be grown in small pots that are well-suited to apartments without balconies.

Zhu bought a fenestraria, also called babies’ toes or window plant. Each leaf has a semi-crystalline transparent window-like area at the top.

In the wild, the South African plant grows mostly buried in sand. It is well adapted to surviving low temperatures and little sunshine. Because of this summer’s extreme heat, Zhu has to keep the plant in the corner and use an air conditioner to maintain the right temperature and humidity.