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The jade plant can be nice, but it can also be an overgrown mess. I see them for sale and the main attribute that’s usually considered for merit is the size. But size is meaningless when the plant becomes a massive jungle of branches, many thin with weak growth, with uncontrolled suckers hiding the trunk. This is the result of the plant never being pruned, of course.
Example of what could have been a great jade but instead is a horrible mess.
Here’s a nice example, which was being sold under the banner “Huge Jade Plant”
‘leggy’ example
Here’s another example, note how very leggy the branches are
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For me the Jade has been a good instructor for pruning. Focus on cutting out the undergrowth and weak branches, so that you have a nicely shaped top canopy of dense, healthy foliage growing off of thick solid branches. Branches should be visible and attractive. You should not see a mass of branches and relatively few leaves, however.
You can also bonsai the bonsai and I’ll post an example of that soon (done, see bottom image). Essentially this just means cutting away branches so that the remaining ones create distinct levels of growth on main branches circling 360-degrees as they move up the trunk. The example to the left has just a single umbrella canopy so it is not a good example of the bonsai style.
Some of this is just preferences or aesthetics, but the goal of a good potted plant cannot just be it’s size. Pruning matters. Fortunately, the Jade responds well to radical pruning, so if your Jades have run amok, or you want to try your hand at plant rehabilitation, give it a go and see whether you like the results.
different angle
a larger Jade from the garden; about a meter tall from the top of the pot to the top of the plant
Jade bonsai example from the garden added – at bottom (last image)
Bonsai-ed Jade
plant•workshop 
Thanks for the useful post. I have a small jade that I keep indoors here in Northern Ireland but it hasn’t really flourished over the last few years. I’ve been pruning it but I was wondering about the soil composition, I would imagine they like pretty free draining mix?
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Indoors the issue is likely to be light – soil should not matter as you can adjust watering accordingly. The first jade shown in this posting is in a pot of solid clay (outdoors). Does just fine – it doesn’t drain well but it doesn’t absorb well either, and I think those two cancel each other out. Clay is too alkeline but that doesn’t seem to matter either, although I do fertilise it. I’ve never bothered to change the soil because it’s doing well.
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