A Jerry Blavat superfan and ‘plant nerd’ is bringing his giant succulent back to full health in Feasterville

While Hazel Hoelper and her family rocked out to Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top in concert in Camden on Sept. 17, a post on Instagram caught their attention. An East Kensington thrift store was selling a seven-foot euphorbia succulent that once belonged to Jerry Blavat, and Hoelper immediately sent a DM to claim the plant.

Blavat, the beloved Philadelphia DJ, died in January at age 82. Hoelper, 22, had been a fan of the Geator since she first heard him on the radio when she was a child. “[My family] always likes to joke, ‘We’re the whole Ben Vaughn family, and you’re the single Jerry Blavat fan,’ ” Hoelper said. “My family and I are huge plant people, and I was like, ‘I have to have it — it’s a massive cactus; it’s beautiful and it was owned by Jerry Blavat.’ ”

George Mathes of Thunderbird Salvage saved the prickly African milk tree plant during a recent furniture removal job at Blavat’s Society Hill Towers residence. The store listed the plant for $500 on Instagram, hoping to find “anyone who loves Cacti and appreciates the wonderful human being that Jerry Blavat was.” (Commenters on the post quickly pointed out that technically, the plant was a succulent, and not a cactus.)

A few days after her offer of $350 was accepted, Hoelper drove to Thunderbird, carefully wrapped the plant in bubble wrap and a cheetah-print blanket, placed it in the bed of a pickup truck, and brought it home to Feasterville.

But the plant, which Hoelper named Jerry, needed a bit of work before could it settle into the family’s home.

.

Repotting was the first task — Jerry sat in an overwatered pot not best suited for drainage.

Euphorbia succulents are drought-tolerant, explained Hoelper, who recently graduated with a bachelor’s in environmental science from Delaware Valley University. They are low-maintenance plants that require minimal water, indirect or direct light, an environment with temperatures between 60 and 90 degrees, and well-drained soil in a pot with good drainage

Hoelper repotted the plant in a blue-green, terra-cotta pot using succulent mix soil with sandpaper and some volcanic glass for easy draining. She plans to be judicious with hydration. “They really don’t need any water — probably every four to six months depending on the temperature.”

She also noticed scale insects — plant parasites — on Jerry. The family got to work on treating the infestation, using rubbing alcohol to wipe away the scales. There was a bit of corking too — a natural process that occurs as cactus plants age or when these plants are overwatered and not drained properly creating mushy bits that dry out. While Hoelper will keep an eye on the corking, she’s not too worried..

“[My mom and I] are the plant nerds, so everyday we’ll take a quick glance at it and then probably once or twice a week I’ll pull it out and turn around to see if there are any other major issues that you just don’t see unless you’re really looking for it,” Hoelper said.

The succulent sits in the back of the house in a room made of wood and glass with 16-foot ceilings. In the back left corner, Jerry gets all the sunlight.

“From the picture of it in the [Blavat] apartment, it seems massive but then once it’s in this room with 16-foot ceilings it doesn’t seem too big,” she said. “Unless you’re next to it — you still have to look up at it.”

While the Jerry the plant gets comfortable in its new surroundings, a piece of the plant also lives with an employee of Thunderbird Salvage, Matt Melnick, at his South Philly home

When the plant was being moved from Blavat’s apartment, a piece broke off, which the thrift store folks stuck back in the pot. Melnick later asked Hoelper if he could keep it. “I was like, ‘Go ahead, take a big piece,’ ” Hoelper recalled. “I gave him a 10-minute rundown [on how to care for it], and he was like, ‘Oh, wow, you actually know what you’re doing.’ ”

While it’s hard to guarantee that the piece will grow into another Blavat plant, Hoelper “hopes for him that it does.”