Adenium (Dessert Rose)

Just to take a break from "Herbs", and back to flowering plants again.  My first encounter (and subsequent) with the Dessert Rose was not good,  now I think I have  make up for it (cross fingers that I have not spoken too soon) .  Until about six months back, I have shy away from this particular plant because of the earlier bad experiences.  Experiences are lessons in life, and hopefully this time I have learnt!   Interested in  a bit of  story telling?  Well.........my mother gave me my first Adenium. It was a beautiful mature plant that I kept admiring so much, until my mother said, "take it home". Those days we lived in Penang, a first floor flat that had a nice balcony facing the morning sun.  I was reluctant to do so,  those days  I was rather busy at work.  My mother could tell that I like the plant very much and kept encouraging me.  So I did, and two months or so  later I had a dead plant on my hands!  Imagine how devastated I was!! I know now it was from over watering.....fortunately  my mother never even scolded me,  but I was eaten up by guilt and remorse.  In fact she even offered me another of her beautiful plants ! Adenium plants were the rage  then (and still is)  and my mother  had a collection of them.   

When I moved to this house,  my sister presented me with a baby adenium. from the nursery...it never lasted a month. I had to go away for a month,  and when I came back  it  had died from neglect.  Currently I have two  adeniums  that survived out of the five that my brother brought over.  A  friend gave them to him, and they were grown from seedlings. I  returned two to my brother after I saw that they were growing well after about 3 months. But one died when I transplant them into a bigger pot, the rots rotted away.

Well the lessons I learn from cultivating adenium...

 

Lesson  1 :  Be careful where water is concerned.  Soil must be well drained,  or the roots rot easily in stagnant water.  Preferable to water in the morning, so that throughout the day, it drains. It is okay to skip watering for a  couple of days.  Just checked that the soil does not get too dry.   If it rains, forget about watering it.   It is vital  never to allow the potted plant to stand in collected water on the saucer -  the roots will rot!

Lesson  2 : Sunshine is good.....lots of sunshine for the plant will induce flowering. This plant loves the sun. 

Lesson  3 : Fertilizer....go  easy  on it.....remember this is a succulent plant. 

Lesson  4 : Trim it to make it branch, otherwise it keeps growing taller and taller......!

Lesson 5 : Check for caterpillar.......! I just picked two of my plants.  They can be rather destructive! 

I am still a bit tender footed where my adeniums are concerned....if they can last a year, then I would say I am successful.  Now they are just 6 months old, and  were given to me when they were hardly 4 inches tall! Well okay  take  a peep at my adenium.... lovely first bloom!  I sure hope they continue to progress well under my "neglect" loving care......!