My first time ... in the Sukkulenten Sammlung

Houseplants are trending. Not only since the lockdowns #Plantparents share their sprouts on social media. Those who own special exotic greenery are doubly proud. But collecting plants is not a trend. Jakob Gasser (1870 - 1932) from Zurich already owned a handsome collection of cacti. In 1929 he sold it for health reasons to Julius Brann. The department store owner bequeathed the collection to the city of Zurich.

In 1931, the city built a simple greenhouse on Mythenquai. The Succulent Collection is still located at this address today. In the meantime it counts six public show houses and one open-air plant. There are about 6500 species of cacti to discover. And still I have never been there. I have also missed the annual market, where usually the whole of Zurich buys plants.

My first visit falls on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. First I stroll through the outside area - here Switzerland lies between the Caucasus and South America. The plants growing on these stony square meters all look the same to me. Pretty, but unspectacular.

It's different in the show houses: the most exotic succulents thrive here. Some have spines like toothpicks, others are fluffy like a kitten. There are those that look like the cacti in cartoons. Others are quite thin and branchy, hanging from the ceiling or sprawling on the ground.

Fascinating as I find it, at first I kept an eye out among the plants for tiny inhabitants. It all reminds me too firmly of the zoo. As there, I encounter the most diverse generations in the succulent collection: Tennie girls taking selfies in front of the prettiest cacti. Elderly couples wandering around with their grandchildren. Tourists studying the information boards.

I read them, too - and now I finally know how the vanilla I use a lot grows. Embarrassingly, I did not know that before. A visit to the succulent collection not only fills knowledge gaps like this. It has a decelerating effect, almost like a short vacation. «That was surprisingly cool,» I write to a friend afterwards, «You should go sometime.» 

And who else? Everyone, actually. If only to pick up a new cactus. For the more advanced, seeds and soil are also available in the Succulent Collection Shop. All at fair prices. I'm going for it. I don't care about the hint that you are not allowed to take the plants abroad without valid identification. It stays with me, after all. I am now a #plantmom.