Category: flowering succulents and cactus

Question: Not a one of my desert roses bloomed.   They had pretty leaves but that’s all so still don’t know what they look like .  The soil I used cause the adenium plants to have a brown ring at dirt level.  Hope you have a very Merry Christmas, Regards, Lewis

Answer/reply:    Adeniums are spring/early summer bloomers. Be careful of the brown ring which indicates too much water sitting on top of the soil. Make sure the adenium plant roots/caudex are not getting rot do to the water.  I would give them a bloom booster for one month before spring in your area.  Do not water the desert rose plant for 1 full week prior to the bloom booster. Then add the booster to your regular watering (like a 10-30-20 water based fertilizer)  for the next 2..3 weeks twice a week.  Do not over water because you want the plants to be a bit thirsty so they soak up the bloom boosting fertilizer.   The higher phosphate (the 2^nd number in the 10-30-20) promotes blooms.  Have a fantastic holiday and New year!  Mike

 

Mike

Q: I am looking for a purple and black desert roses. Do you have any? Are Adenium the same as the desert rose???    – Sylvia

A:  The Black adenium is a myth. There are not true black adeniums no matter what images people show or send you. Just like a true black rose the images are altered to look black. In reality the flower is a dark rich red. In real life they do not look black but dark dark red.

There are flower that are magenta/violet /purple in color. If you are looking for a rich grape purple then you may be disappointed. The purples are closer to violet (medium purple). The closest ones we have seen to purple are purple rain, king violet and Sapchareng. We have a couple Violet monkong ready to bloom  that seems like they will produce a purple/violet color but I will need to wait a couple of weeks.

Whenever you see images look at them. If the image is dark (see the background) or the color fuzzy then be careful because is may be an altered images to look better then the actual adenium flower. Thailand, India and China are famous for selling adenium plants using altered pictures. We we get a shipment of plants from Thailand we put a notice that until we see the actual flower that the flower type is NOT PROVEN. If we receive 50 plants of one flower type of desert rose we wait to see 3..4 of them to bloom before posting the true images.  Or order usually consist of 20 or more different flower types of adenium plants per order. Yes, sometimes the image from Thailand are accurate but we see differences in about 25 to 37% of the images when compared to the real flowers. Even in the lots there will be variations.

Collectors of adenium plants in the US think this is a put-on to state NOT -PROVEN on the website because USA collectors/buyers are spoiled by most nurseries (Ebay is an except – many dis-honest images) in the USA of showing the correct images. We haev purchased adeniums from 5 different major growers in Thailand and they are all the same -inaccurate images and plant sizes.

Many of our followers go to the AdeniumRose website for their adenium plants and supplies. We sent a special to our clients earlier this week which give them a chance to get larger hybird plants at a greatly reduce price.  As of this post we haev two units of the 6 packs left.  This is the lowest price they are every offered and will not be repeated for another year of so.

If we sell out of the remaining two (3) six packs all people who ordered them will get some of the standard size adeniums plants (4.5″ pots) and some of the larger  6″ pots.  either way all shipments will be mail by tomorrow and the special will end.

Here is the location of the adenium flowering succulent plant adenium special area.  You will receive 6 adenium plants. Please read the page concerning the types of flowers on the desert rose plants.

 

 

Prickly pear plants are know for there spines that stick into  anything. Some spines will go through leather gloves even. Last year we started to grow a variety of prickly pear plants also know as optunia, nopales or paddle cactus. Prick pears are cactus that haev fantastic colorful flower blooms int he pate spring time. There are about 200 different varieties of optunia prickly pear species. Prickly pears is know for the ability to provide food for desert animals and even humans. Most prickly pear optunia pads are editable and the fruits from the dying flowers are a constant source of nutrients.

However, we grow prickly pear optunia plants the flowers!  There are many flowering cactus plants but only a few that produce as many and as colorful as the prickly pear plant. from white to purples, from yellow to deep reads. The size of the prickly pear pads range from a couple inches to over 20″ long! There are even spineless (not thorns) fruiting and variegated prickly per pads.

When handling prickly per pads its essential that you wear thick gloves because even the very small thorns cause irritation and once you are stuck they are hard to get out! AdeniunRose Company has a variety of prickly pears some great to grow as a food source and all fantastic flowering cactus.  All the optunia plants are well rooted for at least 8 months. Many of the smaller pad varieties such as baby-rita with it bright rich dark pink flower with purple has several pads per plant.

Questions:  I am trying to gather information on cutting a columnar cactus plants. I have been gifted a cactus from a friend but it is unmanageable. She grew it from a tiny cutting, the cactus plant it is now close to 7 feet tall with no off shoots. I would like to cut it down and pot the other half but I am nervous to move forward. So far on line I have read to sterilize the knife and to let the cutting dry before planting. I am nervous as to what length to cut off, what to do (if anything) to the exposed piece at the top, how specifically to cut it without damaging it, or any other information I may need. I apologize if this email is asking for too much information, I would just like to treat such a special plant with as much care as possible. Thank you, Jessica

Answer:  Yes you can cut the top off of the cactus and plant it. Beyond the standard procedures of cutting you should soak the cut portion (the part you plant to put under the ground) with super thrive once the cut is HEALED! The exposed piece at the top of the cactus (part left in the ground) you need to protect for approximately two weeks to prevent  fungus.  The cactus plant will ooze sap and it will take a long time for the cactus plant part left in the ground to heal than the cut off cactus plant portion. How much of the cactus to cut off?  I have seen anything thing from a few inches to several feet cut off.  if your cactus plant has branching I would say to cut above the branches but your cactus does not have branches. Also, depending upon where you live determines when to crop the cactus plant because you do not want the cactus plant healing in the cold weather or humid weather.

This has been a busy summer with adenium plant growing and importing new hybrid

plants from Thailand.  Several of the desert roses succulent flowering plants are blooming for the 2nd time this year and some for the first time since received the adeniums from Thailand. The image to the left is the patarapa dream which we received earlier this summer and they are starting to bloom. This is a great example of desert rose plant received based on an image form Thailand which was not accurate.  The image on the right is the inaccurate image and the left one a picture we recently took of the flowering succulent desert rose plant at our nursery. If you have been reading our blog you will know not to trust images from Thailand or other foreign countries when buying adenium plants.

Images from Thailand and other countries are greatly enhanced and changed by the sellers to get you to buy their desert rose plants. Be careful! if you go to Epic Grower Company you will see a photo gallery of flowering adenium plants and other flowering cactus succulents.  It explains what NOT PROVEN means when viewing the adenium plant flowers.  We import plants from Thailand and until we see the actual flower bloom  with our own eyes the image we show will say NOT PROVEN.

However, just because the adenium succulent flower does not look like the ones sent to use when we purchased the plants does not mean the their is anything wrong with them.   Look at the two desert rose flower images again. The true flower type is even better because of the flower petals shape and arrangement looks better on this adenium.