Dessert Rose - Adenium Obesum

In 2017 we ventured out to the plant sale at the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Ft Myers, FL. We heard that the sale was a "Not to be Missed" event. There were more than 60 vendors of plants, as well as those plants being sold by the Ford/Edison greenhouse. 

One vendor was selling Dessert Roses. I liked the way she personified her plants. We were told "She" would like a shallow bowl, and liked having tight shoes. However, "She" wants to occasionally be wrestled out of her pot to have her toenails trimmed before being returned to her bowl with fresh soil. 

We took her home.

We didn't always give her any extra care.

I think we have taken her out, trimmed her toenails and repotted her one time. 

The Dessert Rose characteristically has a thick swollen trunk, and thick succulent stems with leaves growing at the tips. The five-petaled flowers are trumpet-shaped in vibrant pink to red. The Dessert Rose is Bonsai-like with its bare branches reaching out and twisting from the main trunk. 

She drops most of her leaves in the winter, and we think that this time we've done it. 

We've killed our Dessert Rose.

Every spring she bounces back.

We give her a little fertilizer.

We sometimes pat some new soil around her base.

And she thrives!

Well, at least I should say she survives! 

And, oh my, look! She is expecting! 

Our little lady has a seed pod growing at the tip of one of her branches. 

It turns out that Dessert Roses are hermaphroditic, 

having both male and female flowers that are pollinated by insects. 

We have never seen this before, however, that stands to reason.

She lived on our screened lanai most of her life,

so didn't have the opportunity to be visited by any pollinators. 

From what I have read, the pod bursts open and seeds with fluff are blown about by the wind, similar to milk weed. Maybe we'll harvest a few seeds to create Dessert Rose baby plants!