For many years I had just a few succulents. A friend gave me an Aloe Vera 35 years ago because, he said, it was impossible to kill. About the same time my sister gave me a plant which she called Greek Oregano, but didn't look like any Greek Oregano I ever saw in the stores. I later figured out it is actually a semi-succulent commonly called Cuban Oregano. It is neither Cuban (nor Greek) nor Oregano. It is Plectranthus amboinicus or something closely related, a member of the mint family from East Africa/South Asia. It also is (almost) impossible to kill. I used to live in Massachusetts in a house with oil heat and often went out of town on business for weeks at a time. One particularly-cold winter, I was gone and the oil tank ran dry before the scheduled delivery. The aloe and Plectranthus froze to mush. Fortunately I had taken copies of each to my office and was able to rebuild from them. And now I live in Montana where the house has clean, efficient natural gas delivered through a reliable pipe.
A few years ago my brother gave me a toothed aloe. And along with some chive plants, that was really about it for year-round plants until recently. In January 2026 I decided I wanted a Jade. Just one plant, which I got at Walmart Jan. 17. That's when it began.
I soon discovered Echeverias, Sempervivums, and the rest of them. I admit I went a little bit nuts over the next three months and now have about 100 succulents. Most of them are spending the summer in my greenhouse, but come colder weather I will have to pack 80% of them into my house and heated garage and hope the other 20% are as hardy as claimed. Heating the greenhouse is an expensive proposition, but I might try to keep it at 5-10 Fahrenheit for the first winter as the various plants get established in a planter bed. I lost half of my Sempervivums last winter at a temperature of +1, which should not have been cold enough to kill them if they had been planted in one of the planting beds. However, they were in 4- to 6-inch pots, and those don't hold much heat.
After I got that first Jade, one of my next purchases was Echeveria 'Elfstone.' To be honest, it really hasn't done much except develop a little bit of color on the leaf tips since I brought it home from Walmart Jan. 24. I have learned that succulents teach you patience. Sometimes the best thing to do is neglect them for a few weeks, and when you notice them again they will provide you with a surprise. 'Elfstone' hasn't surprised me yet, but I have seen examples of this variety since then that are much bigger and have flower stalks.
My posts will detail the plants in my collection, where I got them, and how the dry, cold weather of the Montana Beartooth foothills affects how I care for them.