Adeniums or Desert roses come in a multitude of colors and are a staple of the Gulf Gardens. This article is written by our resident expert and Queen of Adeniums Hinal Kale. Photos and content are hers. Enjoy!
Adeniums: By Hinal Kale
Plant lovers are always looking for easy to grow, unique plants. Adeniums/desert rose plants are perfect specimens for novice gardeners. We are on the threshold of summer and the Adeniums here, in our region are in full bloom!
Adeniums are arid plants native to the Sub Saharan-Africa desert region. They are also popularly known as Desert Roses and thrive in dry, desert regions. They are grown for their ornamental beauty. Because they can tolerate dry, hot conditions, adeniums are well suited for the home environment being able to tolerate quite a bit of neglect.
In their native habitat, adeniums grow in full sun so they need good light to thrive. Direct sunlight is preferable, especially when they are in their active growth phase during the summer months.
They love dry feet so make sure the soil dries out between watering. In winters, water sparingly but in summer water regularly. Also in spring and summer, adeniums need fertilization as that’ll give plentiful blooms.
Besides the common pink single flowering variety, there are many double to multi petal colorful grafted varieties available in our region. Adeniums can also be grown from seeds but the seedling flower could be different than the mother plant. The other way of propagating would be through cuttings or grafting.
The showiest part of the desert rose besides its flowers is the caudex. The thicker the caudex, the more beautiful the plant looks. A thick caudex in a shallow pot gives it a bonsai look too!
Also while potting an adenium plant make sure that the most part of the caudex along with a few roots are above the soil. Besides this, Adeniums must be potted in shallow pots and not deep pots.
Adeniums love full sun but our peak summer sun can be too harsh even for the sturdy adeniums so green net shade would help.
As far as fertilization goes, Adeniums love phosphorus-rich fertilizers. Initially, during repotting some organic manure like vermicompost, cow manure or home compost must be mixed with soil. So the soil mix must be 60% potting soil, 20% sand and 20% manure.
Pruning is yet another important aspect of maintaining your plants. To ensure that they don’t get lanky and leggy, prune your adeniums at least once a year; either in October/November or then by early February. Trim it, giving it a good shape and it’ll reward you with beautiful flowers.
Thereafter, in the blooming season regularly fertilize the Adeniums. They love coffee fertilizer and an occasional feed of Epsom water.
Tip:- This is a quick way to get abundant flowering on your Adeniums:-
Foliar spray:-
Take 250ml of water in a spray bottle & add 1 Tsp NPK powder(20-20-20). Shake it well & spray on the Adenium plants. This must be done preferably in the evenings.
Article and photos – courtesy Hinal Kale
I must add here that I lost a whole lot of adeniums by putting them in the shade in summer last year. Please keep them in full sun so that they do not rot.
Recent Comments