Succulent tending is trending on campus

Dragonfly Shops and Gardens, less than half a mile from campus, sells various succulents and plants. Photo by Bonnie Cash

Walk into a dorm room at any college and there’s a good chance you will spot a succulent on the windowsill. Scroll through Instagram or Pinterest and you’re almost guaranteed to find one featured in someone’s newest post. Nurseries carry them, florists use them on corsages and there’s even a variety for sale in Old Towne Orange. Succulents are no longer just small desert plants – they’re an accessory, a statement and even for some college students, a lifestyle.

Succulents in particular have grown in popularity in recent years. Searches for the plants on Pinterest have risen over 97 percent in the last year alone, according to popular digital media company Refinery29. In comparison, searches for pets has remained stagnant.“

Succulents are a huge comfort to have when you’re making a home away from home,” said Ricky King, sophomore broadcast journalism and documentary major, who has been caring for the plants for several yearsKing also profits from succulents’ rise in popularity by running the Instagram account @plantlife_cu, advertising “dorm-friendly, affordable greenery” to all Chapman students.

This year, King plans to keep the account growing after moving off campus with more space to care for and propagate the plants. King also sells cacti and is beginning to sell air plants.

“If anyone just moving in to a new place wants to make it feel more like home, I’d definitely recommend getting plants,” King said.

Succulents are popular among college kids because they don’t require a lot of attention or care, said Anne Huber, an employee of Dragonfly Shops and Gardens, a business in the Orange Plaza.

“They don’t require the care of perennials or annuals, so that’s why people are attracted to them now. They’re drought tolerant,” she said. “Succulents don’t need intensive care, but they do need some. I water mine once a week (during the summer) with drainage, but come winter, every third week or so.”

Dragonfly Shops and Gardens, which is located less than a half a mile from campus, gets a lot of Chapman student traffic, Huber said. The shop saw an increase in student customers after they began putting succulents on the sidewalk outside the store last year, she said.

Kamaile Patton, sophomore peace studies major, said she is attracted to the low maintenance plants’ care, and said she only waters her succulents once a week, mentioning that all they truly need is access to a lot of sunlight.

“It’s nice because I can go home for the holidays and not have to worry about my plants dying while I’m gone,” Patton said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story used the incorrect preferred pronouns for a source. This information has been corrected.