Category: flowering succulents and cactus

Question: When will the not proven desert rose plants bloom so we can see the right images?

Answer: Adenium bloom in the spring/very early summer here in South Florida. Many of the desert rose plants listed on the website were received in April bare root/bare leaves so they may not bloom until next spring. Many Thailand sellers show pictures on eBay but what they show and what you actually get is two different things. The ones we listed on EBay are ones that are proven except for the flower types on the variegated leaves plants. Right now in our area the adenium are beyond blooming and are going through enlargement cycle. In spring the adenium use their strength to produce bloom and then form June through October is when the adenium plants enlarge.

When I was out at the nursery yesterday only a couple of the adenium plants are blooming. We started our fertilizing cycle since it’s our rainy season (rains every day) to get nutrients to the plant so we may see some bloom in a couple of months but no guarantees.

Also, you ask about pricing and discounts. On EBay we do not discount the adenium plants or offer coupons. On the website you will see of the same plants for less and you can use coupons form AdeniumRose Company Facebook page and ones people receive who signed up for our newsletter. In addition they are specials every month and you can order 4,7,10 packs for adenium plants and save when compared to EBay. We do not list all the plants on EBay either so the AdeniumRose Company website has more varieties of adenium pants, flowering succulents and cactus.

 

Question: GOOD MORNING
I am contemplating purchasing two desert rose plants. I have a pot that is 20 inches around by 18 inches deep. I plant on planting adenium plants, both of them,  in the one pot?   I’m looking for the color contrast as well as the unusual form of the desert rose plant itself together. Please advise.
Thank you

Answer:      Yes you can but the pot is way too deep. If you use the deep pot you will need to fill the bottom up with rocks so you only have 6″ of soil in the pot. On top of the rock place a weed blocking cloth to prevent losing the soil into the rock areas.

Also, put rocks on top of the soil to keep the perlite down. Maybe use the rocks (blue)to create a pond as shown on AdeniumRose Company site under Bonsai and miniature gardens area.

Odd number of plants are always best when making a succulent or cactus miniature garden.  Arrange in levels and keep the taller plants towards the back or to the side. Adeniums plants, desert roses, make great subject trees  due to their unusual shapes and you can  bonsai to create very interesting mini gardens.

 

Q: We received bare root plants last week (May 3rd) for my mom and she plans to take them back home with her to the west indies is not leaving until July.  How do I care for them until then?

Answer:  Adeniums plants (Desert roses) will last a few weeks out of soil without
problems if proper care is taken. July is about 2 months away which is too long to keep the adeniums bare root without nutrients. If you do not plant them I would use Dyna-Gro K-L-N or Dyna-Gro Grow treatment once a week (soak the adenium plants in a bucket for 30 minutes). This is the adenium desert rose plants heavy growing season (April through August) so they need nutrients. The soaking will give them time to hydrate a bit and recover faster when your plant the desert rose plants.

Q: Sorry I have optunia prickly pears not adeniums.

Answer:  I would treat the prickly pear a bit different.  When we propagate prickly per plants from pads we let the pads sit for 7 days once cut and then soak them in Dyna-Grow K-L-M for 30 minutes. Then we do not water the prickly pears optunia plants for 2..3 weeks after the soaking for force them to send out roots to try to find water. However, we do not let them go for over 3 weeks without any watering adding diluted Dyna-Gro to the liquid for the first 4 watering. Therefore, If you do not plant the optunia prickly pear plants until late July I would recommend dipping the prickly pear cactus in a Dyna-Gro grow once every week for 30 minutes to let them hydrate a bit.

Succulents, cactus and other plants need nutrients. However, due to soil conditions, amount of light they receive and other issues they may not have the ability to adsorb the right nutrients. If you move your plants from inside to outside more than twice a year, received too light light or has irregular watering cycles then they will get stressed.  Or if your plant does not bloom even when you give it the proper blooming fertilizer then the lack of silicon may be the problem.  All these factors stress the plant

Silicon is an element that is often overlooked in plant nutrition. Pro-TeKt® provides supplemental potassium and silicon in an easy to use liquid concentrate. Benefits of silicon include greater tolerance of environmental stresses and mineral toxicity or deficiency. Silicon deposited in cell walls forms a Pro-TeKtive barrier, defending your plants from water loss due to high temperatures. The increased strength of cell walls also results in drastic improvement of stem and branch strength. Since, silicon is rapidly bound in leaf tissue and deposited in a non-translocatable form within 24 hours of uptake, a continuous source of soluble silicon throughout the plant’s life is very important.

If your plant tends to get less sunlight than it should or it fails to respond to blooming fertilizers then use Dyna-Gro TekT which helps the plant to intake vital nutrients along with either Dyna-Gro Grow or Dyna-Gro bloom.

Most store bought fertilizers are lacking many micro-nutrients.  We highly recommend the following with micro-nutrients:  Use Dyna-Gro K-L-N when potting or re-potting. Also, spray the caudex (exposed roots) with Dyna-Gro K-L-N twice a year. Then use either Dyna-Gro Grow 7-9-5 every other month when you water or time released 6-6-10 (see the website) twice a year. The first number is important – low nitrogen of the right type but is only part of the story! Peters®, Miracle-Gro®, Schultz® and others use wrong type of nitrogen type that can burn roots! Plus they are missing many vital micro-nutrients!  Then use TekT in combination with the other Dyna-Gro products if your plant stresses or gets too little sunlight!

Echeveria succulent plants are tough and look great whether they bloom or not – they do bloom on long stocks with colorful small flowers. The large rosette of thick leaves is intricate beauty and the variety is amazing. The hybrid plants provide mutations that are both interesting and colorful. They make great center pieces, party and wedding center pieces. The echeveria’s from AdeniumRose Company are hand selected to provide the best looking, unusual and rare echeveria’s available you will not find in home or your local nurseries .

Echeveria succulent plants, on the hold, are hearty down to 20 degrees but we recommend protecting them from freezing if possible. In climates where you have a good winter (freezing just about every night) we recommend that you keep your echeveria plants under shelter, so they don’t succumb to a hard freeze but they’re worth it. They love to be grown in containers in cactus soil and do not need much care. As in any succulent or cactus the more sun you give them the better they grow.

As echeveria succulents grow, if the stem gets too large you can crop off the top and plant it. Leave the stem along and new rosettes will grow which you can plant. Look for new jumbo echeveria’s hybrids this coming week when a new shipment arrives at AdeniumRose Company LLC.

Special note:  There are a very limited number of certain echeverias due to their rarity and long growing time so go to AdeniumRose Company LLC site 3rd week of March for new arrivals.

Echeverias, not to be confused with chick and hen succulents grow great in rock gardens, containers and in some parts of the USA in the ground. They do tolerate cold better than some varieties of succulents. Echeverias grow into magnificent plants with a very wide variety of leaf types – some very colorful.  Vary Echeverias such as truffles or giant blue will get large and create a fantastic center pieces that are used florists for weddings and other occasions.

Echeverias succulents are easy to grow as long as you treat them properly. Just like any flowering succulent, the soil must be porous and we do advise using sand because most sand retains water. It highly advised that you put a layer of rock between the soil mixture and the leaves to prevent left damage and left rot. Older leaves will dry up and fall off from the bottom up.  The soil mixture you use for adeniums and other succulents will work great when growing Echeverias. Do not use potting soil or soil that contains peat; if at all possible coir is better. Make sure the soil is drying out before each watering just as you would with any succulent.  Look for echeveria hybrids from AdeniumRose Company in march including rare,extra large blue giant, neon breaker and others succulents.

The pots should have drainage holes (put a rock over the holes so it does not get full of dirt).  Most people growing succulents like to use ingredients like perlite, pumice, scoria, gravel, coir and other material.

When you water always try to prevent watering leaves if at all possible or insure that the water either evaporates or rolls of the leaves to prevent leaf discoloration.  Just like succulents Echeverias does not like standing water on them.

 

Spring here in Southeast Florida is here even while the northern states are still getting  the snow. The adenium plants, desert roses, received in November and some received in late December are already starting to bloom. Many new adenium hybrids haev arrived for spring and now it the time to get yo plants ready.

You need to start watering a bit more and maybe give some blooming fertilizer like Dyna-Gro Bloom which is low in nitrates great for all flowering cactus and succulents to get them to bloom in spring (perfect for other flowering plants too).  Remember do not give any fertilizer while the desert rose plants have flowers or flower buds otherwise you will loose the flowers!

If you are in the southern states such as Texas, New Mexico, Florida, Southern California and similar states where the air temperature is staying above 50-55 degrees at night then water the adeniums plants 2 times a week making sure the soil dries between watering. if you are seeing new leaves do not wait to fertilize because the bubs will be right behind – do it now.

Use Dyna-Gro Bloom for 2..3 weeks checking to make sure you do not see buds and then switch to just regular water with no fertilizers. AdeniumRose Company did this in early January and now many of adenium plants are blooming now!

After your plants are finished blooming add some time released fertilizer and then right before winter, depending upon the amount of rain you received over the summer give the desert rose plants, cactus and other succulents plants another tablespoon of time released fertilizer.

Short note on when to change pots if your plants are getting big. Wait until after they bloom then re-pot them. when you re-pot them dip them in a rooting hormone such as Dyna-Gro K-L-N to give them a boost to help prevent plant transplanting shock. (yes, we do this and the leaves really take off!)

Great addition to any garden are accents to potting arrangements. Long time favorite for bonsai and cactus gardens are China handmade from special clay mudman.

Look at the fantastic detail all hand produced and painted from famous refined Chinese mud, glazed and then kiln fired.

These figures adds creativity realism to your bonsai plants and succulent decorative pots. Whether you add a fisherman, China wise man or even a village hut these creatives a story and gives your plant arrangements a realistic quality.

In Chinese society the fisherman represents one of the four basic pursuits, along with farmer, scholar, and woodcutter. In Chinese the word for fish is a homonym for wealth or abundance, so the fisherman can have a greater symbolism of self-reliance and seeking fortune.

When you create your minute garden scene create balance between the size of the plants and the accessories. Whether you add miniature garden figures, huts, walls or other cactus garden accents it gives your arrangement life!