As mentioned in my earlier posts I initially find the adenium hard to care for, but now I have grown to love them and realize they are not so fussy after all and a joy in the garden with their beautiful blooms . As they say, somehow plants do grow on one!
My adeniums tends to grow tall and slender instead of bushy and short. I kind of like those I see in other people's gardens or in nurseries where the adeniums are short and bushy with so many blooms ! These days the popular ones are those with multi-petals blooms as well as different colors in one plant. People tell me I have to cut the stems, so I did whenever the plants seems too tall and fragile to hold their own even with some kind of support.. However each time I cut these healthy stems after the blooms are done, I felt it is such a waste. So I stick these cuttings into some soil on the ground or in pots. Sometimes these cuttings grow, sometimes they just rot away, I stopped checking. However I do notice that thosE plants grown from cuttings do bloom pretty fast, within a couple of months or so once established. I was pretty delighted of course, since I enjoy the blooms as they last a few days!
Friends tell me that adeniums grown from cuttings will not form the caudex (thicken stem or 'potato' in hokkien) unlike those grown from seeds. These caudex are unique for each plant, some growers make them into interesting shapes ( don't know how they do it ) ! Well their techniques are beyond me, I would be just happy with a healthy blooming plant !
As the soil depleted in one of the pots where I had this adenium grown from cutting, I did notice that the stem had thicken somewhat where once they were covered in soil. It was high time for me to change the soil in one particular pot, so I decided to take some pictures for this posting to share with readers. This plant is roughly about 4 to 5 years old. This is the first time I decided to change the entire soil for the pot. On and off I just topped up the soil material.
Rather nice looking I think. Next step would be to cut off the upper stems once the roots are established again in the new soil. Notice how they tend to grow long and tall ? Ahh hopefully this plant will soon resemble a little of those interesting bonsai plants !
