Jades

Meanings of the word "jade" include:

A hard, typically green stone used for ornaments and implements and consisting of the minerals jadeite or nephrite.

An ornament made of this.

A light bluish-green color.

A bad-tempered or disreputable woman. (I like that.)

An inferior or worn-out horse. (sad)

Jaded: tired, bored, or lacking enthusiasm, typically after having had too much of something. 

And of course, the Jade plant.

Mine are still beautiful and have only lost a few leaves, considering they've been inside the dark house all winter.  Succulents love bright light, but can survive for a while if you don't water them-- these got one small drink in January.

In April they can go in the basement stairway outside, if they still fit and if I can carry them.  Unfortunately they get top-heavy and need transplanting into heftier pots that won't tip over. Big Jades are extremely heavy but fragile and hard to handle.  They like to be left alone, basically, and not hauled in and out of houses. 

The Jade is known as the "money plant," "dollar plant" and "friendship plant" in Asian cultures.  The Jade plant is a popular good luck charm and a symbolic of wealth and prosperity. It's a traditional gift for businesses, and many business owners place a Jade plant near the entrance of their shops. During the Chinese New Year celebrations, Jade plants are set on top of stock and investment certificates so they will increase in value during the coming year.

I stop at the Metropolitan Market occasionally because it's convenient, and one of the few supermarkets left in West Seattle that doesn't involve a parking garage and elevator. So I'll run in for a carton of milk or a loaf of bread-- but it's expensive and I'm too frugal to do my real food shopping there.

By now I'm pretty "jaded" by the high prices at Metropolitan Market, so not much surprises me, like $4 organic cucumbers, $8 jars of salsa-- that sort of thing.  But I was floored by the price of these Jade plants in their floral section: $199.

And they're ugly compared to my natural beauties!  Someone had chopped them them into bonsai forms, planted in cheap, tippy plastic bowls.  Money plant, indeed. Mine must be worth at least $500.  I noticed they've been there a couple of weeks already, so maybe a $200 plant is over-the-top, even for the Met Market clientele?