Crassula ovata – “Gollum” is a succulent type jade plant or tree. They can make really great Bonsai trees if you find the right one. They also come in all sizes from small to very large trees. They should be treated as tropical trees if you live in a cold area of the world. They have some unusual leaves that are basically shaped like a round green tube and often have what look like suction cups on the end of the leaves. Not all leaves have the suction cups on the end of the leaves. I think the bigger the tree the more impressive looking they are. The Denver Botanic Gardens has one in their Bonsai collection and it is a good sized tree. Its a very tall tree and the pot is not that big for it. I am worried that it will blow over some day. Here is a photo of the tree.
Updated 06-27-2021:
I like this tree so much I decided I wanted one for myself. Now the problem was finding a nice large one somewhere? I was leaving the Home Depot parking lot and drove by the outdoor garden area and sitting right next to the street were 3 of these trees. Very large trees in very large tall plastic pots. Well I had to stop and park the car and go look at them. They looked pretty darn good for a Home Depot tree, but the pot they were in was huge. How many roots were in the these huge pots and how much trouble would it be to get the tree repotted. Keeping them in the plastic pots was out of the question. What to do, I could take a chance repotting if the price was not to high. I just about fell over when I saw the price tag, a whopping $40 a tree. This tree now has a canopy 30″ wide and is 32″ tall with a 5″ inch trunk on it. I paid for it and brought it home. I decided to put it in a large black crackle pot because it was very deep and the tree would need a deep pot to keep the tree from falling over. My next surprise came when I pulled the tree out of the plastic pot. It seems the nursery where it came from stuck the tree in the tall plastic pot and filled the pot with peat moss. The root ball was not that large after all. Wow, I lucked out again. I had no problem getting the tree in the pot except trying to hold it upright by myself. That was kind of difficult and getting the tree centered in the pot was critical to keep it from falling over. Mission accomplished. The tree spent the rest of the summer outside and moved in doors in a plant room for he winter. The tree was attacked by mealy bugs which should be no big surprise. War was declared on the bugs and they finally were subdued with 50% rubbing alcohol and 50% water in a spray bottle applied multiple times. In 2020 the tree was taken outside and put in full sun and was not doing well. To much direct sun to start with. The tree was moved under 30% shade cloth were it stayed for the rest of the growing season. The tree flourished grew and was fertilized with organic Plant Tone. The tree was brought in again for the winter and doing really well. It has greatly filled in and is very dark green. You can wire these trees if your really careful to.
I am not sure I want to keep it in the black pot. I am very concerned it still might blow over. As I said earlier it is 32 inches tall and 30″ wide. It would be a disaster if it fell over and broke off one of the large branches! I may look into putting it in or on a piece of lace rock. Of course bringing it into the house on a piece of lace rock would be very difficult and my poor plastic table might be able to handle the weight for a whole winter. Sounds like I need a greenhouse.
Here are some photos taken shortly after acquiring the tree in the summer of 2019.
