Aaahhhhhdenium!!!

I dropped by the UWO greenhouses yesterday and was shocked to discover that one of the Desert Rose (Adenium arabicum) plants I donated had a rotten caudex.  These plants are relatively sensitive to over-watering.  Clearly.  Broken-heartedly sensitive.  Fortunately the rest of the plants are alright.  This includes my plants that I brought there for the winter.  This plant probably dropped it's leaves for no reason (which happens frequently with my plants at least), then a combination of several cloudy days and over-watering resulted in disaster!  I literally gasped out loud.  MY BABY!

I moved the plant to a different section of the greenhouse where things are watered about once per week.  These plants are really resilient and I've seen photos of some that recovered from similar damage.  It's a matter of cleaning them up, letting them dry out, and then being VERY careful with watering.  Hopefully this one survives but I'll just have to wait and see.

I have yet to actually see flowers from these plants.  I see buds every time I go, but I constantly miss the flowers!  These plants were grown from seed which results in a large caudex.  You can take cuttings, but generally they won't develop an enlarged stem.  I thought about taking one from the living stem on the left, but I really have enough plants.  If I want this one to survive, butchering it more won't help.

Greenhouse Plants Update

Woahoooo two blog posts in one day?  That's right, but I cheated and my first when was written earlier and just scheduled for today.  If you follow my blog, you already know that I left some plants in the local university greenhouses for the winter.  I visited them today and noticed that they haven't grown much since the last visit.  I ended up potting them all up but took a few photos first.

Banyan (Ficus benghalensis) - Now I thought I had F. religiosa but the seedlings look identical so I didn't take a photo and think they're just also Banyan.  There is however, something strange in these seedlings.  Notice how the back left pot has red in the stems and 'frilly' leaves with a different shape?  The pot on the right has a seedling with the same shape of leaves but minus the red and 'frill'.  Any idea what's going on here?  The round leaves seem correct for Ficus benghalensis, see here.  The others ones must be different, so can anyone ID them?

Desert Rose (Adenium arabicum) - I see flower buds coming! Hopefully they don't fall off this time. :)

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) - They are towards the back of the photo. The one on the left is single stemmed but on the right there are 5 stems with a few more coming up! I wonder if this is because the fruit was irradiated? The young passion flowers are up front (Passiflora edulis).

Empress Tree (Paulownia tomentosa) - these haven't grown at all.  They must desperately need to be repotted.  I'll mention again these can be invasive in warm clients but are generally fine in zones 7/8. They should also be hardy in USDA zone 6 (my zone), but I'll keep these ones in the greenhouse for their first year.

That's all. I hope you enjoyed my seedlings! :)

Adenium arabicum Update

After moving back across the country, the Adenium arabicum experienced a little bare root shock. They ended up dropping all of their leaves and going dormant for a few months. New growth started just in time for me to move them outside for the summer. Of course after moving them once again they stopped growing for about 3 weeks but fortunately there was no leaf drop.

After about a month I moved them into full sun against a nice warm rock. Guess what happened. They stopped growing again for about 2 weeks. So if my experience with this species of Adenium has taught me anything, it's that they like to be put in one spot and stay there! About 3/4 of the leaf growth is actually from within the last month. They really do grow quickly when not being moved around.

There are a bunch of little branches forming all along the trunks and most of the caudices are swelling up quite nicely. I ended up with a good mix overall: Some dwarf, some not, some with fuzzy leaves, some with smooth, some with a pronounced caudex, others with next to none, some with lightly coloured bark, and others dark. All are unique in one way or another.

I have yet to get any flowers. One bud formed last summer but after an aphid attack fell off. I have had absolutely no problem with insects so far this summer. Hopefully I'll finally see my first flower! The plants are now about 2 years old, grown from seeds provided by a supplier in Thailand.

Wordless Wednesday: Plant Zone

Adenium & Lithops Update

I was recently emailed by someone who was starting some Adenium and hoping to sprout some Lithops. He was interested in seeing how they were doing and it's about time I update so here they are! The Lithops are still growing slowly. I haven't lost any recently and I think the few that look a little odd will be alright.

The Adenium have been slowly coming back to life after their last dormancy (actually a leaf hopper attack but dormancy makes me feel better about not catching it in time). It's cooling down so I've brought them inside until next year. I have one under artificial light to see how it does. I'll probably have to move them all there eventually because winters here don't see very much sun.

Adenium Update X (12 months)

I think my Adenium are my favourite plants. They are just so interesting and all around fun. It's been about a year since I sowed the seeds and they're still going strong. I've noticed they seem to put up with a lot of abuse. They are relatively resistant to insects but I have had some aphid problems. I ended up spraying with a garlic/onion solution and the pests have for the most part disappeared.


It's much cooler in Vancouver in the summer than in London, Ontario. Even though there has been a tonne of sunshine (over a month straight) the growth rate seems to be a bit slower probably due to the lower temperatures.


One plant has also produced a plethora (what a great word) of blooms at the tip of the stem. I've been waiting weeks but none of them have opened yet. As soon as the one below pops I'll be sure to grab a picture.


I also LOVE all the different forms that this batch of seeds have grown into. Some are short and stout, some have a highly developed caudex and others are relatively tall and narrow. All are beginning to develop a large number of side branches. After growing these plants for a year, I would highly recommend them to anyone that enjoys succulents with somewhat unusual forms.

Adenium arabicum Flower Buds?

Could it be?  Is it possible?  I think one of my Adenium arabicum may have a bunch of flower buds!  I haven't noticed them on any others but unless the leaves have mutated I'm pretty sure these are flower buds.  It's on one of the more sickly plants but YEAH!!!  Click on the picture for a better view.  I took it with my phone and it doesn't have a macro.

I'll update as soon as one opens.  My Trachycarpus fortunei palm sprouts are also doing really well.  I'm up to 19 sprouts and the first leaves are starting to emerge!

This Dahlia is from Cottonwood Community Gardens.  It's nice, so here it is.

Quasi-Mega Plant Update

It's been a while since I've done a full on plant update so I figured it was about time!

I'll start with what I did today.  There is a large mulberry tree in Cottonwood Community Garden.  It's currently covered with mulberries.  James and I LOVE mulberries.  I noticed a branch that was hanging really low (into a hydrangea) and decided why not try some cuttings.

Apparently they are quite easy to start.  It's recommended to try in spring or summer but I figured why not try now.  You can see they are different sizes so hopefully the variety will end with something that roots.  Each twig has at least two buds in the soil.

I also ripped out my spinach and pak choi because they were covered with flowers.  Then I went to Plant Works expecting to come back with enough plants to fill the rest of my plot.  Nope.  Sometimes I forget how expensive things are.  Like when I think $9 for a shirt is ridiculously expensive.  I think I may be a bit cheap.  I ended up spending about $15 on some petunias and reasonably drought tolerant, discounted, slightly sickly looking plants.  I dropped them in the plot but forgot to take a picture.  Next time.

Now for the Trachycarpus fortunei sprouts.  I've counted a total of 14!  There aren't any actual leaves yet but I'm still excited.  They won't even have leaves resembling a fan for at least two years.  Some of the seeds were picked off a tree and the others were grabbed from the ground (probably one and two years old, so not very fresh).  I don't think I'll split them up until after the second leaves are out.

These are the Yucca rostrata that I started from seed.  I had three but left one at The University of Western Ontario Greenhouses.  The one of the right has started growing again and has produced several healthy new leaves.

My Musa basjoo has recovered.  This is the one that I chopped in half, destroyed the roots and wrapped in a bag.  Apparently they can put up with quite a bit.  All four pups even made it!  I probably won't split any of them off until next year.  I got this one as a 20cm plant at Home Depot.

BTW My landlords are gone so may plants are strewn across their yard.  You can see their children's toys randomly scattered in some of the pictures.

Here are my Stevia seedlings.  Only a few sprouted and they were growing really slowly.  In the last few days they've really started to pick up and have almost doubled in size.  I'm can't wait to try them as a sweetener!

I have my Adenium arabicum located in three different spots (two outside and one inside).  These are the saddest.  They were hit with a basketball and then attacked by aphids.  I was extremely angry at the time but now I'm just a little annoyed.  I figure the aphids attacked because they were stressed, as plants in the other location seem fine.  They'll be almost a year old at the end of August.  The other plants look much better (not pictured here).

I split my Moringa stenopetala between my community plot and these three pots in the backyard.  These ones were hit with a rather bad attack of aphids.  I think they were stressed because as far as I know aphids aren't very common for Moringa.  I sprayed them with a water/onion/garlic mix and I think it's been working.

I'll end off with my Brugmansia.  I started this one from seed in early spring.  It's the only one that I ended up taking across the country.  You can see from the trunk that it got a little bent during the trip.  There is a lot of new growth towards the top and offshoots along the entire stem.  I'm hoping for some flowers this year but don't expect to see any.

Hope you enjoyed this long and arduous post!  I've been a little MIA the last two months. ;)  I also got recognized today!  "Hey, aren't you the guy with the blog?"  Yeah!  I'm famous!  I've officially arrived!!!  If anyone would like an autographed seed packet, send money to...  :P

Adenium arabicum Update IX (228 Days) Mega Transplant!

I figured it was about time to finally transplant my Adenium arabicum into individual pots.  They've shared pots for about 228 days and it's been long enough.  The largest actually grew into the lights and is a little burnt.  Now I'm sorry about the billions of pictures but I couldn't help it.  These are probably my favourite plants right now.  They're basically my babies.  I was originally planning to keep about 4 or 5.  NOPE.  I let the two saddest go and that was the best I could do.  I'll donate two or so to the UWO Greenhouses too.

For the soil mix I used about 2 parts cacti mix, 1 part aquarium gravel and 1 part orchid mix.  My last mix had 50% of the cacti mix substituted for a peat based mix.  I needed my peat based soil for my Brugmansia.  I tried not to interfere with the roots but the soil fell away very easily.  After everything was planted I gave them a good soaking in the tub.  I love the diversity of these plants.  I think I also have one plant that's a dwarf variety.  It has really tiny leaves compared to the others.

Hopefully they won't lose their leaves and go dormant.  I transplanted the four largest a few weeks earlier and they stopped growing for about two weeks but didn't drop their leaves.  They have since resumed and are doing well.  Hopefully I'll get some flowers this summer.  Now just two more pictures.  I moved them around a few times to make sure everything would fit.  They look great!  I love that I grew these all from seed and they've done so well!

Adenium arabicum Update VIII (216 Days)

I think I need to transplant.  But so tired.  So very tired.  At school for 12 hours yesterday and 12 more today.  Then more work at home...  There Sunday afternoon and evening...  Last projects due tomorrow.  Done, finally done.  Then a few more weeks of assignments... Then exams... *Shutter* Exams...  I think there's still enough room.  How about you?  Tomorrow a Lithops update!

Adenium arabicum Update VII: Transplant (185 Days)

Some of the Adenium have grown much larger than others and it's finally come to the point where I need to pot up the largest.  They still have relatively small root systems compared to what I was expecting.  The biggest problem is that the large ones are blocking light from reaching the smaller plants.  As such I'm moving up the four with the biggest leaves.

I ended up using a mixture of 1 part cactus mix, 1 part peat-based mix, 1 part aquarium gravel, and 1 part orchid mix.  This is just what I had on hand, nothing special.  As long as the soil is about 50% well drained you're generally good to go.

Last time I transplanted them they went into shock, went dormant for almost two weeks, and were attacked by mites.  This time I didn't do it outside in full sun and gave them a good misting and soaking after.  Hopefully they'll just keep on growing but if they do go dormant they're almost too tall to fit under the lights so it may be for the best (there's a lot of other short seedlings so I don't want to raise the bulbs).  They should be good in these pots until they start flowering (and probably a month or two after).

So apparently my camera just decided to die so I'll upload some pictures after I charge the batteries.

Update:  Charged!  They look super lush from the top.  You can really see how the larger ones were blocking the light.

Adenium arabicum Update VI (175 Days)

Here's the latest from the Adenium.  There is still a huge variation in size.  Some are short and stout, others are taller.  I've even noticed some have very small leaves so there must be a few different varieties in this seed batch.

I haven't lost any plants since the initial culling and even the smallest one has finally started putting out some new leaves.  The tallest ones in the back are about 20cm tall (8").  I love this plant.  The biggest ones will outgrow the light very soon.  It's generally not good to get the leaves wet but I think it's warm and dry enough that they'll be fine.  It's also my best defense against those pesky mites!  Grrrhhhhh..... mites........