A stay-at-home mom from California said she spent two years loving and caring for her potted succulent, which sat in a spot on her window sill.
But last week, when Caelie Wilkes went to repot the succulent in a new container, she got an unwelcome surprise: The plant was fake.
Caelie shared the funny story on Facebook on February 28, humorously ranting that ‘these last two years have been a lie’ — and her story has since racked up thousands of likes from amused social media users.
Whoops! A stay-at-home mom from California said she spent two years loving and caring for her potted succulent — and then learned it was fake
Didn’t see that coming! Caelie Wilkes went to repot the succulent in a new container, she got the unwelcome surprise
‘I’ve had this beautiful succulent for about 2 years now,’ Caelie wrote in the post. ‘I was so proud of this plant. It was full, beautiful coloring, just an over all perfect plant.
‘I had it up in my kitchen window. I had a watering plan for it, [and] if someone else tried to water my succulent I would get so defensive because I just wanted to keep good care of it.’
Succulents only need to be watered about once a week — or less — and overwatering them can kill them.
‘I absolutely loved my succulent,’ she went on.
‘Today I decided it was time to transplant. I found the cutest vase that suited it perfectly,’ she said.
‘I put so much love into this plant!’ she wrote. ‘I feel like these last two years have been a lie’
Funny stuff: Caelie’s Facebook post about her succulent has gone viral
‘I go to pull it from the original plastic container it was purchased with to learn this plant was FAKE.’
‘I put so much love into this plant! I washed it’s leaves. Tried my hardest to keep it looking it’s best, and it’s completely plastic! 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.’
She included two photos of the faux-succulent: one from the top showing pristine leaves, and another from the side, showing the container cut away to reveal the tiniest bit of sand atop a Styrofoam base.
Thousands of commenters have chimed in to laugh at the story, with some sharing similar ones of their own.
‘I’ve done this!!’ wrote one. ‘My mom bought me a succulent right after I got my wisdom teeth out, so I was still super drugged up when she gave it to me, and that happened to be the only time I looked closely at it for about a year…
‘I finally became concerned that it wasn’t growing and so I put my finger in the soil to see if it was too dry or too wet and…freaking cement.’
‘My Paw did this with one of Nan’s plants for ages when she was away,’ said another.
Joke’s on him: A Canadian man’s whole office led him to believe that this potted pickle he received as a gift was really a cactus plant
Last year, a Canadian man’s whole office led him to believe that a potted pickle he received as a gift was really a cactus plant.
The man, who is known only as Dave, received the secret gag gift from a co-worker in May 2019 — and kept it next to his window for two whole weeks before learning the truth.
During that time, the pickle was secretly replaced every couple of days, with the prank victim none the wiser the whole time.
The story was shared by a Redditor who’s wife works in the same office with the duped Dill displayer. The Redditor shared a picture of the pickle — or at least one iteration of it — sticking halfway out of a pot.
‘A guy at my wife’s job still think that his new plant is a cactus,’ he wrote. ‘It’s actually a pickle that is replaced by a new one each 2 days… It’s been like that for 2 weeks now.’
Speaking to BoredPanda, the Redditor — named Patrick — explained that the prank started with one woman in the office, who thought it would be funny to give her co-worker Dave the ‘gift’.
‘He really liked it and was very happy to get it as a present. He put it right next to his window close to his desk and was really in love with it!’ he said.
But a pickle laying out — especially in the sun — won’t look like a cactus for long. After one warm weekend, everyone arrive at work on Monday to see the pickle all dried out.
‘Dave was pretty bummed!’ Patrick said. ‘So a girl came “to water” the cactus and he exclaimed: “See, I told you this Cactus needed water, it’s perfect now!”‘
The rest of the office eventually came in on the joke, and the woman who gave Dave the pickle had plans to take it further, eventually replacing the pickle with a cucumber to make it look like the cactus grew.
But the whole thing was almost too ridiculous — and the woman became convinced that Dave knew it was a prank and was pranking them back,
‘Thinking that the game was up, she couldn’t help but open her mouth and tell him the story,’ said Patrick.
As it turns out, Dave ‘had no clue’ and was actually convinced it was a cactus.