Kalanchoe is from the diverse Crassulaceae Family, which includes popular succulents like the Jade Plant ( a Crassula ) , which is considered by the Chinese to be a good luck charm if you have a plant outside your front door entrance. While the Jade plant is a very tough and attractive plant, it is not as spectacular as the Kalanchoes, which boasts many colourful flowering varieties, sometimes called by their common name 'Widows Thrill".
Succulents are drought tolerant because they hold water within their fleshy leaves, and many plants continue to thrive even though they are neglected. In fact, don't water them too much or you will kill them because the roots will rot off. They are happiest in desert-like conditions- hot and dry. This Kalanchoe plant was in a local garden in Sydney, where it was surrounded by weeds, and next to a dusty building site, but it is still happily flowering away.
