It’s close to the end of the semester, and students are desperately searching for something to soothe their frazzled minds as they finish final projects and study for exams. What better way to do that than by potting and taking home their very own succulent?
That’s exactly what our campus Green Club thought when they hosted their succulent planting event April 24 on Stoughton Lawn. The succulent event is the second succulent event the Green Club hosted this year. Last semester the organization only bought 30 plants for the event, and as could be expected they disappeared in about five minutes.
But this semester, Green Club came better prepared.
“We bought 256 plants, and 92 pots,” said Ana Spiridigliozzi, ’21, Green Club’s president.
There was a wide variety of plants to choose from, and this time the event lasted a little longer, with the pots running out about 30 minutes after the event’s start. While students were originally instructed to take just one or two plants, once the pots ran out, some began sneakily taking several succulents home unpotted.
Those who came to obtain a succulent were instructed to first make a mixture of top soil, sand and charcoal. The charcoal was lovingly and carefully hand-smashed on the ground with a hammer by other members of Green Club. After the prospective plant owner made their soil mixture in a pot, they could plant their little succulent and take it home.
Spiridigliozzi advised students to water the plant once a month in the winter, and as the days got warmer to water them more frequently, once every week.
“The more sun it gets, the more you want to water it,” she said. “But it’s better to under-water it than over-water.”
Nothing can brighten a day crammed with homework like a plant on a window sill, basking in the spring sun, and the campus hopes that Green Club will organize more succulent giveaways in the future.