What is it like to plant a courtyard full of succulents?

Images and information by: Su Jun

Source: Weibo Su Jun-7777777

Authorized by the author, please contact the original author for reprints

In the past, whenever Huahua posted pictures of succulent gardens,

many of you would say, these are all gardens from abroad,

and simply cannot be achieved in China!

But! Today Huahua wants to introduce a succulent expert from China,

who, with pure passion,

spent 4 years turning his own front yard and backyard

into a succulent garden the likes of which had never been seen before and will never be seen again.

Just how stunning is it? Come and enjoy the beautiful pictures!

Front yard

Backyard

After seeing these pictures, many flower lovers will surely

say again that this is simply a wealthy person with a mine at home, with money and leisure!

Huahua will tell you again: it! is! not!

Su Jun, like most people, is an ordinary office worker!

He does not smoke, does not drink, does not go to nightclubs, and his greatest hobby is growing succulents.

He also, like us, saves several months of salary, grits his teeth,

and only then

buys a succulent he has been longing for for a long time.

And he often travels on business, staying in other provinces for one or two months at a time,

so all the time he spends tending his succulents is squeezed out second by second!

It is precisely by relying on this love and earnestness

that every succulent that ends up in Su Jun's hands lives especially long!

Look at this bear's paw succulent that has been grown for 21 years,

bought in 1997, when Su Jun got married.

At that time Su Jun was still a young man,

and at that time succulents were still little known...

Of course, a succulent master is not made overnight either.

In 2015, Su Jun, like most succulent lovers, grew them on balconies and windowsills,

and because of limited conditions, they also flattened out, grew leggy, and turned all green.

When he bought succulents back, sometimes he also could not tell the varieties apart,

so he often hung around all kinds of forums asking about varieties

and learning all kinds of care knowledge.

Later, Su Jun happened to see a European and American succulent garden shared by someone,

was completely stunned, and so the dream of building a succulent garden was born.

He made up his mind to thoroughly renovate the garden.

First, he checked whether the climate was suitable.

Qujing, Yunnan, where Su Jun lives, has long sunshine hours and large temperature differences,

and is the region in China most suitable for succulent growth. 

At the same time, the lowest winter temperature is only minus 2-3 degrees,

so growing some relatively tough succulents outdoors is no problem.

Second, he built all kinds of little homes for the succulents.

In order to place as many succulents as possible in a limited space,

Su Jun had someone specially build a 3-layer wooden rack by the fish pond to hold succulents.

Because the water pool in between made watering inconvenient,

Su Jun also installed a water pipe at the lower part.

When watering is needed, water sprays in mist form from the roof garden and waters them automatically.

With the hardware installation complete,

next, the stars come on stage.

Su Jun began slowly

moving the tough succulents into the yard to grow,

gradually acclimating them so they could adapt to the open-air environment.

In order to multiply and expand his succulent family!

Su Jun,

when he had nothing to do, often pulled leaves, propagated leaves, beheaded, and took cuttings...

But leaf-propagation seedlings grow too slowly, so he also frequently went on shopping sprees and bought many succulents,

constantly filling up his succulent garden.

After staying busy for half a year, Su Jun's succulent garden looked better and better.

The renovated succulent courtyard took succulents as its theme

and kept the fish pond and the greenery in front of the gate,

making the layout more harmonious and the colors more beautiful.

Although these outdoor-grown succulents color up easily and are in good condition, they also face many problems,

such as continuous rainy days, snowy days, frost, hail, and so on,

all of which are huge tests for the succulents

and also tests for Su Jun's psychological endurance.

So every time Su Jun traveled on business, as soon as he checked the weather,

if it was not sunny, he would worry and fret in all kinds of ways!

He wished he could fly back to his succulent garden immediately

to shelter them from wind and rain.

Slowly, through succulents freezing to death en masse, black rot, falling into water, and so on,

and through all kinds of failed experiences,

Su Jun also summed up his own set of succulent care strategies:

The bottom 1/3 of a pot for an old-stem plant is all ceramic pellets.

After a rainstorm, immediately check whether there is water accumulating at the bottom of the pot.

Mealybugs must be eliminated promptly, otherwise once they multiply they get out of control...

Seeing Su Jun's colorful and varied succulent garden, the neighbors were also envious,

and invited Su Jun to also build a succulent garden in the backyard.

So his backyard also began to be slowly taken over by succulents!

The backyard in 2015

The backyard in 2018

Not only did he plant succulents in pots and in the ground, Su Jun also liked to grow succulents in water.

In the gaps between business trips, he not only bought back all kinds of succulents,

but also collected all kinds of flower pots,

especially Buddha flower pots.

Bringing them home and pouring in clear water,

he would cut a few old succulent stems, induce roots above the water,

and then put them into the Buddha pots. Although they grow slowly, they color up especially easily.

As the succulent garden slowly became more beautiful,

Su Jun became more and more unwilling to go out.

Just like that, watching the fish, enjoying the succulents, and drinking clear tea, he would sit for a whole day...

Time passed in a flash, and in 2018, Su Jun's succulent garden welcomed its 3rd year!

There were more and more succulent varieties and the scale grew larger and larger.

His favorite Aeonium varieties already numbered forty or fifty,

which counted as a rare collector even across all of China!

The Copper Pot Aeonium was the Aeonium Su Jun was most proud of. It was once extremely popular among succulent lovers, but later fell into the fish pond, its branches scattered in disarray, and was re-propagated by Su Jun by cuttings, and since then became a legend.

Emerald Ice Aeonium

Jun Meili, the only kind of succulent with a metallic luster.

Purple Velvet Aeonium

Sunny Umbrella Aeonium

Christmas Aeonium

Incense Burner Ash Aeonium

Halloween Cristata

Original Green Aeonium

Not only Aeoniums, but for every single succulent,

Su Jun carefully took photos and recorded their growth!

Queen Aloe

Daruma Cotyledon

Club-leaf Dudleya

Ever since Su Jun fell in love with growing succulents,

whenever he feels low, seeing them makes him forget his worries,

and then, with an optimistic and positive mindset,

he faces the world and faces all difficulties.

And because of succulents, Su Jun gradually gained everyone's attention and recognition,

with more and more friends and kindred spirits, close neighborly relations,

and a heart full of happiness!

In order to pass on this happiness,

Su Jun shares his succulent care knowledge without reservation.

He believes that every succulent is a little life.

Usually, as long as we carefully observe its condition and earnestly learn care knowledge,

it doesn't need much attention, and the succulent will still show you its beauty!

Although growing them outdoors is the best way to bring out their best condition,

when it comes to actually doing it, it involves all kinds of issues like rain, low temperatures, high temperatures, and ventilation,

so you need to take your own actual circumstances into account and consider every aspect!

This whole complex and laborious process,

only true succulent enthusiasts who are willing to spend a great deal of energy, 

can keep at it day after day,

and only a heart that truly loves succulents can keep at it!

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