Succulent enthusiast moves four times, lives in a villa and runs a farm with a wealth of experience

Protagonist in the article / Eve

Editor / Succulent Plant Hub

The journey of growing succulents is so full of ups and downs that the editor-in-chief was deeply moved after reading it. People who live freely are truly enviable!

The weather has been very hot lately, and my mind is restless. The succulents seem to be dying off batch after batch, and the heartache is truly beyond words. How could I still expect them to look their best now? As long as the succulents don't die, this young woman would kneel down and thank the heavens!

Anyway, growing succulents is just endless fussing. I thought I was already quite impressive, and even wanted to write a flowing autobiography someday and become famous in the succulent circle in one go! But after seeing the story of the great Eve from beginning to end, I feel I really have no face to write about myself, too embarrassing!

Some stories happen inexplicably yet plant the seeds of something beautiful. Eve was originally a traveling lecturer. After wandering through more than half of China, he decided to stay in Sanya and open a pet shop, with the theme of plants, animals and art.

It should have been a very successful startup, but because Eve fell ill and was in the hospital for days and nights of emergency treatment, then got entangled in family disputes, in the end he had no choice but to return to Shenzhen with just a few hundred yuan, homeless.

The details of what happened won't be explained here. The main point is that it was precisely because of this accident that Eve formed an indissoluble bond with succulents.

A kind foreign friend took in the down-and-out Eve. The two happened to both love plants and flowers, and then started tinkering with succulents. After Eve happened to visit a succulent-themed hotel, the seed of a succulent garden was deeply planted in his heart.

For half a year, Eve had been accumulating strength. A small bay window could hardly satisfy him, so he moved out of his friend's home and found a house with a balcony. The succulents were placed on shelves on the balcony, and the room was converted into a pottery studio, using it as a side job to save a little money.

Because all the work was renovated by Eve alone, it took a long time, and since it was summer, after 1 month, a large batch of succulents had died.

So Eve applied to the school for a lounge, and the reason, well, was for that open-air balcony.

Later the principal also felt that the balcony on the terrace looked quite nice, so he gave Eve the entire campus plaza as well. This kind of lucky break made Eve happy for a long time. In the end, living up to expectations, he turned the whole school into a succulent garden.

Reading this, you might think he is lucky, always having helpful people around, but a wonderful life can never consist of good luck alone.

At the end of the year the school was burglarized. To be precise, Eve's succulents were stolen. The succulent he had grown the longest seemed to have reached the end of its fate with Eve.

In a fit of anger, Eve gave up the studio, took all his savings, and rented a villa. Such bold extravagance, this young woman truly admires it.

Then Eve began living in the best house while living the hardest life, because all the money went to renting the house. This was perhaps Eve's last stubbornness: it didn't matter if he suffered a little, but the succulents had to be taken care of.

At this time Eve no longer had the income from the studio, nor the source of funds from the part-time school job, and began researching flower pots and succulents.

What kind of person is Eve exactly? I can't say clearly. He has been a lecturer, opened a studio, dabbled in ceramics and sculpture, been exposed to graphic design and photography. If there is anything that has never changed, it is his love for succulents.

How rich a person's experiences can be, I think I could never imagine.

The villa Eve spent all his savings to rent ended up with a landlord who ran away owing debts. There was no room for turning things around, and the house was mortgaged to the bank.

So Eve took his four truckloads of succulents and returned to the school, built 3 succulent gardens at the school, and even installed 7 surveillance cameras to protect the succulents' safety.

Life finally passed steadily for more than half a year. This melodramatic plot had already made Eve very tired, so, being naturally easygoing, he quit his job and went to Yunnan, that cheat-mode region for growing succulents.

This migration was too large in scale. With no other choice, Eve sold off the succulents from two gardens, took the remaining succulents, and began the most difficult migration. In April of 2016, Eve finally settled into a stable life in Yunnan.

Eve is selfless, and so are the succulents. They all give to each other and keep each other company.

The tree may prefer calm, but the wind will not subside. Eve, who originally wanted to settle here, was forced to resign and lost his job because of work reasons. At this time Eve had stayed in Yunnan for half a year. It was already golden autumn October, and the next year would bring another great migration. This is probably the most fitting "mobile garden."

Spring comes after eastward days, and in the blink of an eye it was 2017. Eve decided that growing succulents would no longer just be a hobby; it had to become a profession!

After a heart-to-heart talk with the family elders, the elders expressed support and even came to Yunnan as a group to help Eve choose a site, plan, and prepare. Eve's small farm was in the making~

Fortunately, an old friend of Eve happened to have a small greenhouse to transfer, and Eve naturally took it without hesitation.

With more than half a month left before moving, Eve went to various greenhouse bases in Kunming to stock up. For someone who usually has to fight with himself just to buy one succulent, it felt really great!

Buying succulents by the whole field, dismantling them by the truckload, busy for half a month, the moving day arrived. More than 600 pots of succulents, with pots and soil, even the moving company complained, saying they had never moved such an insane home!

This is not moving a home; it is hope, it is Eve's promise to himself and to the succulents.

One thought heaven, one thought hell. That is how Eve describes his life. Two months ago he was still holding a pile of succulents and sighing over life's decay; two months later he had a succulent farm, so busy that he had no time to think about this inexplicable life.

Then Eve also began writing books related to succulents, and the garden was gradually becoming richer. The current panorama looks so beautiful that it makes people feel it will go on like this forever.

The truth is, Eve's moving began again. Sometimes he also feels very tired. In the process of running this garden, people kept joining and people kept leaving, and in the end, it was always just him and a pile of succulents, beginning an endless migration.

Now Eve's garden is also being demolished. I don't know where the next stop is, but it must be a place where the heart feels at ease.

Eve's story is too wonderful. Perhaps I can tell less than one tenth of it, but the warmth and perseverance I felt, I want to pass all of it on to you.

A momentary whim cannot really be called love. Only not giving up is the final destination.

*All images in the article are from Eve

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