A touch of jade

After yet another lovely Sunday lunch spent enjoying yum cha at our favourite Chinese restaurant in the city, Pammy and I went shopping in Chinatown. We came across a little shop, a traditional old-style one, and I bought two cups of polished jade chips, for $8. 'Cups' is what they called them in the shops, but their cups were just a bit bigger than a sewing thimble. It was only a little bit of jade, but it was enough to use as a mulch for the potted Louisiana iris in our water garden.

I've always liked pebble mulches in pots. I use pebbles quite a bit with my potted succulents, and the colour of the jade just goes so well here with both the foliage, the pot itself and the watery world nearby. At $4 a 'cup' it's an expensive mulch, so I won't go crazy and use it everywhere. But it has added a touch of class to proceedings, hasn't it?