Calif. mom crushed to learn plant she watered for 2 years is fake Tale of faux succulent goes viral around the globe

A California woman says she cared for an artificial succulent for two years before realizing that the plant was fake. Her story went viral around the world. (Photo of real succulents for illustration only.) A California woman says she cared for an artificial succulent for two years before realizing that the plant was fake. Her story went viral around the world. (Photo of real succulents for illustration only.) Photo: Earl Nickel /Contributor Photo: Earl Nickel /Contributor Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Calif. mom crushed to learn plant she watered for 2 years is fake 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A California stay-at-home mom was devastated to learn that a succulent she has taken care of for two years is made out of plastic.

Caelie Wilkes said in a Facebook post that she received the plant as a gift and worked hard to nurture and protect it, making sure it received enough water and plenty sunshine. She even washed the spongy leaves.

"If someone else tried to water my succulent, I would get so defensive," she wrote last week.

All along, the ersatz echeveria pretended to be alive, never revealing its true polyethylene nature.

The Onion-like story was picked up by news sites and quickly went viral. Now people in Belgium, Australia, Brazil, the U.K., France, the Netherlands, India, even Romania, have read about how Wilkes was deceived. Stephen Colbert mentioned it Tuesday on "The Late Show."

Admittedly the succulent didn't grow much over the two years — or at all actually — but otherwise Wilkes seemed to have a green thumb. The plant never developed blackened tips or discolored leaves. It was the perfect houseplant, she said.

Finally it came time to transplant the little fellow from its original container, and Wilkes picked out "the cutest vase." Expecting to find a ball of packed roots in the container, she instead discovered no roots at all.

"Tried my hardest to keep it looking it’s best, and it’s completely plastic!" she wrote. "How did I not know this. I pull it from the container it’s sitting on Styrofoam￼ with sand glued to the top! I feel like these last two years have been a lie."

You might think that the inability to absorb water might have been a clue that the plant was imposter, but Wilkes says she watered it lightly, just once a week. Succulents don't need much water.

ALSO: How to Care for Succulent Plants

While some people commenting on Wilkes' post were insulting, a few admitted that they have done the same thing and a couple questioned whether the story was real. Others just got a good laugh out of it.

According to another Facebook post, Wilkes now has an assortment of living succulents to replace the faux plant. She picked them up Tuesday at the Home Depot in Ukiah.

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Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Digital Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate