My succulent care experience in Ethiopia, Africa

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Thanks to the author [Siyuan] for theoriginal submissionsharing

Submission date: 2018.04.26

Edited and compiled by: Encyclopedia Jun

Location: Ethiopia, Africa

Because of work needs, in June 2017 I traveled thousands of miles from China to this ancient African land, a distant and unfamiliar country, Ethiopia. When I first arrived, everything was novel, but after the novelty wore off, far from my hometown and old friends, I felt a little lonely. By chance, I found a large clump of succulents by the roadside, and suddenly had the feeling of a long-awaited reunion.

This is the succulent I met by the roadside. Ethiopia has a low latitude and high altitude, abundant sunshine, and a year-round temperature between 8 and 30 degrees, spring all year round with no winter or summer, and the year is divided only into rainy and dry seasons. In the eyes of us succulent lovers, this is simply a paradise for growing succulents. Unfortunately, Ethiopia is still at a backward stage, and most people are still busy struggling to make a living, so succulents, this kind of petty-bourgeois product, are not something they have much concept of.

What I saw was also kept simply as ordinary green plants. Fortunately, the environment is uniquely favorable, and they can grow very well no matter how casually they are kept.

Since it was like a long-awaited reunion, of course I could not just pass by. Being able to do what I love in a foreign land is also a kind of fate.

If there were no succulents, I searched everywhere and took cuttings everywhere; if there were no pots, I used plastic bottles and all kinds of boxes; if there was no soil, I found stones myself and mixed it. And so I started growing succulents from zero.

This one was brought back very late from the entrance of the North Korean embassy.

This one was from a distant residential community garden on a rainy day, riskily taken back before the heavy rain came.

This one was asked for from someone's doorstep when I went to another company to handle business.

This one was broken off at someone else's doorstep, and the owner was very friendly.

This one was from going out to have fun, in a courtyard by the lake similar to a farmhouse, where I bribed the security guard with 10 birr to bring it back.

This one was taken from the roadside during an evening walk.

This one was from buying flowers at a flower shop. I originally wanted to buy a large pot, but the price was too high, about 300 yuan converted into RMB. I do not know why it was so expensive. Could it be that the Ethiopian brothers really think Chinese people are foolish and rich? Haha, we do not have much money, and most importantly we are not foolish either, so I asked for two leaves to grow.

This one was broken off at the entrance of a small flower shop. Because I had just arrived and could not find the way, I asked someone to lead the way and even treated them to coffee before I found it.

This one was brought back from the Addis museum only by coordinating inside and outside with a colleague.

I am very grateful for the understanding and support of the company leaders. Knowing that I have this hobby, on Sunday they had a colleague specially accompany me to a flower market dozens of kilometers away to look for succulents. Although I only found a few succulents among a large area of green plants, the process of looking for succulents was still very pleasant. A pot of Echeveria runyonii hidden under the green leaves was spotted by me at a glance.

This large pot of Aeonium was bought from a farmer's home on the mountain. This was also a very memorable experience. In days of extreme material scarcity and not enough food to eat, they still planted flowers and succulents all around their house. This shows their simple love for life, which surprised and moved me somewhat. Later I spent 50 birr to buy this Aeonium, which is about 10 yuan in RMB, but they were somewhat unexpectedly excited; perhaps this 50 birr was their family's living expenses for several days.

In October, someone from the company returned to China, and I specially asked a colleague to bring 20 small flower pots. He said that in China and abroad he had helped people bring many things, but had never helped anyone bring flower pots, and was simply speechless. But under my carrot and stick approach, he still brought them for me. Here I am still very grateful! Together with some pots bought from the market, my succulents could finally hold their heads high and move from crude plastic bottles into a mansion.

In Ethiopia, growing succulents is a thread connecting me to life back in China. Looking at the familiar succulents, no matter how far apart we are, it feels as if we have never been apart.

Finally, let me put up two photos under the blue sky and white clouds of the East African Rift Valley, with aloes and Cuban oregano covering the mountains and plains. I hope that no matter when or where, wherever this beautiful sprite the succulent exists, there is no distance between us.

Encyclopedia Jun's rambling thoughts:

It is truly not easy, this is my biggest feeling after reading it. So as succulent lovers in China, wanting to buy succulents now is not to say a matter of minutes, but at least it is a very easy thing. Yet the author, in a foreign land, feels especially close when seeing succulents, and does everything possible to collect succulents and create conditions to grow them. Although this is driven by interest, as the author says, perhaps "growing succulents is a thread connecting me to life back in China. Looking at the familiar succulents, no matter how far apart we are, it feels as if we have never been apart." I am also very grateful that thousands of miles away you did not forget to submit and share with the Encyclopedia! I wish you days abroad accompanied by succulents and a more colorful life!

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This article has beenexclusively authorizedby the author to the WeChat public account: Succulent Plant Encyclopedia (ID: duoroubaike). The content of the article does not represent the views or position of the public account.

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