Desert Rose Fans?

[palmsOrl]

I just picked up this stunning grafted desert rose.  Any experts know what named variety the top flowering portion is?

It is really a perfect candidate for bonsai.  No reverse taper, a beautifully done graft and nice subtle, natural looking curves.

[Silas_Sancona]

5 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

I just picked up this stunning grafted desert rose.  Any experts know what named variety the top flowering portion is?

It is really a perfect candidate for bonsai.  No reverse taper, a beautifully done graft and nice subtle, natural looking curves.

Not 100% certain, but looks a lot like one i have ( Grafted also, Picked up at a plant sale there in FL. ) labeled as " Purple Jade " by the vendor selling. 

[palmsOrl]

That might have been it!  The vendor (Green's Nursery) said it in passing but I forgot.

[palmsOrl]

Dark Jade is close but not exact and Purple Jade isn't quite it either.

[Silas_Sancona]

11 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

Dark Jade is close but not exact and Purple Jade isn't quite it either.

Yea.. they all look similar, to my eyes at least.. On top of that, mine can be quite variable when it flowers year to year/ time of year..  In FL., colors were darker, had much more purple in it when flowering, esp. in summer /fall.. Here, some flowers open nearly w/out any purple and lots of white. Red streaking is quite bright and bold, especially when flowering during the summer.. Later flowers are more balanced color-wise but i have yet to see it flower with the kind of color depth it would back in Florida.. Weirdo plant, lol..

After looking it  up again, Green Mind Growers was the vendor.. maybe they shortened their name?.. Have had the plant since 2015.  Wish they offered plants online.. Had several other colors i want to add to my collection when i rebuild it..

Will add, came across some place in Taiwan awhile back that sells some pretty mind blowing - colored plants.

[palmsOrl]

That is very interesting regarding the difference in color presentation in the different locations.  I would kind of think it would be opposite for some reason.  But, I am glad it will be growing in Florida!

I guess I need to add caudiciforms to my list of other plant interests now.  

I did take a small cutting for myself  (the plant was a gift).  I understand that they do not form a caudex from cuttings but this way I will have a plant of that flower color to later use to graft onto a nice fat caudex.  I doubt I can do as well as this one was done.  It could be a fun project though.

Pictured below is the cutting being allowed to "cure" before planting.

I am glad I looked up how to root Adenium cuttings, because apparently one needs to leave the cutting to sit out for a day or two to let the cut end callous over, then insert it into the medium.  Initial root growth should take 2-6 weeks.

Any other thoughts, experiences or opinions are welcome.  Even better yet, post your Adeniums.

[palmsOrl]

I came across this one and had to share it.  Simply amazing!

https://www.americangardener.com/caudex-bonsai-desert-rose-small-size-adenium-obesum-one-year-bare-1538373191/

[Silas_Sancona]

42 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

I came across this one and had to share it.  Simply amazing!

https://www.americangardener.com/caudex-bonsai-desert-rose-small-size-adenium-obesum-one-year-bare-1538373191/

Found a thread started last year by Doug ( @greysrigging ) in Australia titled " Darwin Adeniums " you might enjoy looking over. In the last post, posted pictures of my " Purple Jade " showing how different the flowers on it have looked when flowering.

As far as other Caudiciform-type stuff you could try, All my Bursera species i'd brought w/ me there did well in FL. ( potted, planted in pumice/grit/turface, kept somewhere they had a little overhead shelter from excess summer rain.. likely wouldn't bother most of  them anyway though ) and would recommend adding some to your collection..  If you can find it, ( one vendor down in Tucson sells them.. Not sure if he is currently shipping atm though.  Another vendor in FL. ( Bradenton area ) that might offer them also ).. Cyrtocarpa edulis is another odd fat trunked tree to look for. Fruit is supposedly edible, though my pair haven't tried to flower yet.. Need to get back down to Tucson to get a couple pics. of the mature specimen in the vendor's collection.. And grab a couple more plants, lol.   Delonix pumila, decaryi, and D. leucantha ( hard to find ) will form fat trunks also..

As far as the Adenium cutting.. definitely let it scab over, lol.. and root in grit, No organics  ..and watch it.. Have noticed they can rot real easily before rooting. 

[palmsOrl]

Nathan, I will check out the Darwin Adeniums thread, thank you.

The caudiciforms I have or have had that I know of/remember include: Welwitschia mirabilis, ponytail palm, jade plant, baby jade, crown of thorns, desert rose and there is one other I have in a pot I don't know the name of that is used as a houseplant often.

I see some really interesting ones for sale on eBay and will look into the ones you listed.  I definitely want to get a few more desert rose color varieties, particularly the dark multicolored ones.

I will be sure to plant the cutting in grit.  Will vermiculite work?

Lastly, I noticed that the outer layer of the stem has turned brown in a stripe upstream from the exit side of the cut.  Hopefully this doesn't spread around the entire circumference of the cutting.

 

[Xerarch]

Here is one of mine, had it in the office window, back when I was working in the office. 
 

[Silas_Sancona]

14 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

Nathan, I will check out the Darwin Adeniums thread, thank you.

The caudiciforms I have or have had that I know of/remember include: Welwitschia mirabilis, ponytail palm, jade plant, baby jade, crown of thorns, desert rose and there is one other I have in a pot I don't know the name of that is used as a houseplant often.

I see some really interesting ones for sale on eBay and will look into the ones you listed.  I definitely want to get a few more desert rose color varieties, particularly the dark multicolored ones.

I will be sure to plant the cutting in grit.  Will vermiculite work?

Lastly, I noticed that the outer layer of the stem has turned brown in a stripe upstream from the exit side of the cut.  Hopefully this doesn't spread around the entire circumference of the cutting.

 

Would keep a close eye on it.. Have had stems on my plant do the same thing coming out of winter, even though it was kept bone dry from late October- March, and inside December-Feb.  Lost one stem. Another shriveled quite a bit, then stopped.. leaving just enough good tissue on one side to keep the rest of that stem going. Might attempt cutting it later.. 

Vermiculite could work, i myself use Turface and/or pumice for rooting pretty much all cuttings i take.

Yep, same goal when i start adding new varieties..  There are two Purple/ Black Adenium varieties at the top of my wish/ to add later list: " Indigo Glaze " and " Pinot Noir " ..and a bunch of single -petaled hybrids.

 

[palmsOrl]

I followed the directions for desert rose cuttinga to the letter, so I should have a cutting with beautiful flowers.  Now I just need to find a fat caudex for grafting in the future.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

I really like some of the mega bonsai work of the Thais.

[palmsOrl]

I saw that one Jerry.  Truly amazing nebari(the root spread in bonsai lingo).

[palmsOrl]

So my cutting rotted at the tip despite being in pure vermiculite and my discovering that the substrate had completely dried in the heat.  I cut it and am trying it sitting dry and covered in rooting hormone in a zip lock bag with a wet paper towel.  Seriously doubt this is going to work so I had the awkward experience of asking the recipient of the gifted plant for another cutting.  This cutting will be longer, and there will be fungicide used this time.

[Silas_Sancona]

We all know how the story goes..

Thinks to them self.. " Hey, its that time of year X Big Box store should be getting shipments of Plumeria from  x specific grower in Vista ( CA. ), might have to see if i can find X cultivar that sometimes shows up -in the blue can-, since i passed on it last time i saw one. "  Crosses fingers and heads over there.. Plenty of others, but no premier " Blue Can " Plumeria  from said specific grower. 

Looks across the bench and notices ..a yellow, single- flowered Desert Rose, among a bunch of  " Eh " Dark Pink, double flowered ones .. Grabs immediately, lol..  Also notices a bunch of Majesty palms in the Palm Section of said big box nursery area.  Discusses culture w/ nursery associate for a second,   ...at a safe distance

Also finds an interesting cactus while looking over the 2" potted succulent section.. 

But,  i only stopped by for the Plumeia..   < Shrugs shoulders >  Help me, lol

Said Desert Rose.. Now to research which cultivar it is.. Will be re potted into much better soil ( the gritty stuff i use for all desert stuff ) than the  it is in currently as soon as it is finished flowering. Is Grafted.





And the cacti?.. Appears to be Mammillaria camptotricha ( ** Also known as Mammillaria decipiens var. camptotricha ** )   Pics. take in some shade and sun.

[palmsOrl]

Wow that one is gorgeous.  Now I am going to make a run to Home Depot!  Haha.

[palmsOrl]

1 hour ago, palmsOrl said:

Wow that one is gorgeous.  Now I am going to make a run to Home Depot!  Haha.

No luck!  Lots of beautiful plants though.  They had this much fatter bottle palm than the one I bought recently for $10 cheaper.

[palmsOrl]

See above post...

[Silas_Sancona]

4 hours ago, palmsOrl said:

No luck!  Lots of beautiful plants though.  They had this much fatter bottle palm than the one I bought recently for $10 cheaper.

Yea, i've never come across any interesting  Adeniums our neighborhood HD gets in. You might check the " other " BB ..though i don't know if the same nurseries that stock ours also distribute to other areas / regions. From talking w/ the nursery associate, she was saying that most of the material stocked here comes from San Diego.  A fair % of it shouldn't be brought " over the hill " so to say.. esp. some of the trees they stock, but anyway..  Did notice some 3 gal Rhapis in the houseplant section.. First time i have seen any at this store.

An interesting couple of things i noticed on the one i picked up, Flowers blush pinkish red as they age, and have a scent, ..like Lemon and Coconut mixed when you smell them up close.. Don't recall ever noticing a scent on any others i have come across or any i have grown the past. Apparently there are a few cultivars whose flowers produce a fragrance..

Edited May 26, 2020 by Silas_Sancona
edit

[Cedric]

Love them, a colour for evey taste too, from hot bling to gentle shell pinks. They are much loved around SEA. What I've always worried about is rain. I'm thinking the Thais cover them up in the wet season because I just don't think they would take those wet season rains. So never really got into them. Back home they thrive in the dry, with ordinary summer rains but nothing like what they get in South East Asia. Always very tempted by the range in colour, though. 

[greysrigging]

31 minutes ago, Cedric said:

Love them, a colour for evey taste too, from hot bling to gentle shell pinks. They are much loved around SEA. What I've always worried about is rain. I'm thinking the Thais cover them up in the wet season because I just don't think they would take those wet season rains. So never really got into them. Back home they thrive in the dry, with ordinary summer rains but nothing like what they get in South East Asia. Always very tempted by the range in colour, though. 
They thrive in Darwin.... pretty well foolproof. The extreme wet and dry doesn't bother them....biggest issue is mealy bugs.

 

[Cedric]

1 hour ago, greysrigging said:

 

Wow! So they just get wet for weeks and weeks on end no probs!? Love those pale yellows and white. Might have to bring back a few from Chatuchak in Bangkok. Seriously happy with lots of rain in the wet season? Really lots of rain lol. Dry season is not a problem.

[greysrigging]

36 minutes ago, Cedric said:

Wow! So they just get wet for weeks and weeks on end no probs!? Love those pale yellows and white. Might have to bring back a few from Chatuchak in Bangkok. Seriously happy with lots of rain in the wet season? Really lots of rain lol. Dry season is not a problem.

70"' to 80" ( about 1800mm per annum ) at my place falling in 7 months.  The other 5 months rainless. As noted, perfect drainage is the key for successful growth. 

 

[Silas_Sancona]

8 hours ago, Cedric said:

Wow! So they just get wet for weeks and weeks on end no probs!? Love those pale yellows and white. Might have to bring back a few from Chatuchak in Bangkok. Seriously happy with lots of rain in the wet season? Really lots of rain lol. Dry season is not a problem.

Not totally sold on the idea they can tolerate weeks and weeks of torrential downpours but yes, they'll tolerate regular irrigation when growing ( during the warm season ) as long as they can dry out between soakings.. I usually soak my older plant that is planted in Turface/ Pumice/ Granite grit once every 6 or 7 days.. Here, intense and dry heat ( daily temps above 105F ) causes growth takes a break from about now, until our Monsoon season humidity/showers return.. Best yearly growth occurs then. Force it into dormancy, and stop all watering around the second or third week in October.

In areas w/ no winter cool/cold, you could probably keep watering ( lightly ) say once a month, as long as the plants are showing active growth.. Younger plants especially, like how one treats seedling Plumeria and Pachypodium ( Don't allow them to dry out completely for the first year or two. Don't over water either. )..

Agree, Thailand is doing some incredible things w/ these plants. Will find a way to acquire a list of desired cultivars from a couple nurseries there in the future.. They're also ahead of the game w/ crossing new Plumeria cultivars / colors. Luckily, a well known Plumeria guru there sends cuttings of several of his crosses to a select few nurseries here in the states each Spring.

On a side note, Adenium swazicum, a large flowered Adenium species, is thought to possess the Genus' best cold tolerance.. Brief exposure, down to 28-29F ...but not if wet and/or kept shaded. ..Believe crosses involving it inherit some degree of the cold tolerance also.. Something to think about when building a collection in slightly less perfect places where the plants might spend time outdoors in the cooler months.

[palmsOrl]

I stopped at Palmer's Nursery in Winter Park today and as expected they did have some desert rose plants in their succulent section.  On one table were about 10 white flowered plants with small "caudeces"(?) already forming.  On another table were six grafted plants of a few different color varieties.  My favorite had a tag but didn't identify the flower color(s) so I went with the one in the second and third pictures.  This guy has character and will have double red flowers.  I put a bit more soil and some sphagnum around the exposed roots at the base so they don't dry up and so the roots can establish.  Perhaps I will get serious about turning it into a bonsai and wire the roots at the base so they radiate from the trunk in a pleasing fashion.

The original vendor is Excelsa Gardens, according to the tags.

[Cedric]

15 hours ago, greysrigging said:

70"' to 80" ( about 1800mm per annum ) at my place falling in 7 months.  The other 5 months rainless. As noted, perfect drainage is the key for successful growth. 

 

Yah we can get +- 3000mm per annum. Sometimes as much as 20" in a single month. May to Sep. If there is a typhoon ( I dunno around six or so a year worst case, best about three or four) all bets are off we can get more than a metre in a single month, in extremes more than twenty rainy days in a month. We can also get some extreme dry heat in these months with anti-cyclones that just suddenly suck all the rain away up to Japan for a weeks or two. Bone dry and scorching like Arizona. 

The dry season is pretty dry, though.  Just the occasional pleasant shower, or mist, it's also cooler thanks gawd. 

It's a bit like parts of Southern India, monsoonal climate. 

Gardening can be a nightmare, but it's amazing how well some plants do. Cuttings you can hang on the clothes line and they will root. Orchids,ferns all love it as do many palms. Think parts of Queensland like Cairns are much the same in the wet months from what I've heard. In the dry months It's one of the best places for plant shopping for me at any rate.  Just as well I've got family in Australia so plenty of excuses. 

I can grow Euphorbia milii in pots with some bit of effort. I grow them for the first year or so under cover, for this I use clear plastic umbrellas in the style of Queen Elizabeth II. When they're established I remove the umbrella's. Unfortunately I do have to still use fungicides before and after any big rain event or all the leaves will drop off.  Reckon might be the same with Adeniums.

The Thais have some heavy rain patterns......they grow E. milii and Adeniums by the tons, I suspect with loads of fungicide and or cover,  though their rain comes and goes in a single afternoon not like here. Still the soil would need to dry rapidly.

I love the Adeniums with the smooth shiny silvery "trunks" just tremendous. 

 

 

[palmsOrl]

Okay I am going to try again, this time with propiconazole fungicide in all the water that touches the cutting from start to finish.  I even soaked it before putting it out to dry so that no fungus will get sealed within the end of the stem as it dries.

Should pure sand work okay as a substrate?

[palmsOrl]

I am hoping to get an answer to this as soon as possible.  Thank you in advance.

When I dipped the wet cutting in rooting hormone yesterday, the end of the cutting ended up with a coating rather than a dusting.  Kind of like a utensil dipped in batter.  Could this be problematic or will it cause the cutting to fail?  I still have time to take it out, wash it off and re-sow it.

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, palmsOrl said:

I am hoping to get an answer to this as soon as possible.  Thank you in advance.

When I dipped the wet cutting in rooting hormone yesterday, the end of the cutting ended up with a coating rather than a dusting.  Kind of like a utensil dipped in batter.  Could this be problematic or will it cause the cutting to fail?  I still have time to take it out, wash it off and re-sow it.

After reading through various references, it seems cuttings can be a 50/50 proposition. Most of the examples i saw referenced cuttings being no shorter than 5" in length, and no smaller then roughly the diameter of your pinky finger.. Taking cuts of more mature, grayish wood, rather than anything younger and green.. and starting in the grittier mix i'd passed along earlier, rather than "soil".  Seemed like many allowed the cutting (s) they tried to sit out and callus over for about 10 days before dusting in rooting hormone, and setting.  Watering was done every 3-5 days ..and just misting ..at least until any buds that form on it start to expand. Worked well for most. Seemed some lost all cuttings they'd tried though.

While not applicable in this case, Air layering might be easier and may be the route i pursue when taking a clone off my Purple Jade.

As far as rooting hormone itself? something tells me using a gel like Clonex might be better rather than using a powder on these.

[palmsOrl]

Thank you for the recommendations Silas.

I did go ahead and rinse the rooting hormone off and just dusted it on the bottom 1.5" of the cutting, then sowed it much deeper this time.  I will keep the substrate (vermiculite) moist with fungicide laced water and keep it outside but away from where the rain could wet it.

There was just no branch any bigger that I could take as a cutting without comprimising the shape of the crown, otherwise I definitely would have taken a much longer cutting.

As for letting it dry and callous over, I let it dry for about 30 hours as the last time when I let it dry for 3 days the cutting got withered and dehydrated.  I can't imagine drying one for 10 days but maybe this isn't an issue with much larger cuttings.

[palmsOrl]

So far so good with the newer cutting.  It hasn't rotted yet thanks to lots of fungicide and sterilizing the substrate initially.  I am hoping if I can just keep it from rotting or drying out for long enough it will eventually root.

As you can see, Lukas Nursery just got in a bunch of red, pink and white desert rose plants.  The ones around the bottom of the table are smaller mostly white flowered plants.

[palmsOrl]

After 45 minutes of deliberation, I went home with this guy....errr plant.

This particular specimen had the fattest base and good "bones" for future bonsai material.

When is it best to hard prune Adeniums in your experiences?

[kinzyjr]

If you're a desert rose fan, you'll probably like the channel Maria's Garden on YouTube.  Here is a link to Desert Rose care: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stu5z7fBx78

[mnorell]

My experience with rainfall/watering and Adenium is that it is completely dependent on soil medium/drainage and temperature. In the Florida Keys, I grow them all over the place since they are one of the few beautiful ornamentals of which the deer are terrified (they are that poisonous!), in full sun or up to three-quarters shade. I just throw them into a combination of chunky/sandy limestone fill and limestone pearock that I grab from our driveway area, mixed with maybe 50% black soil/compost/coir and worm castings. I can usually pick these plants up cheaply in the Keys or Homestead, and now I grow many from seed, so I have been able to observe them in many situations in that tropical environment, and they can take pretty much all the rain and irrigation you can throw at them, nothing fazes them. Even after Hurricane Irma inundated the place with many feet of ocean water for the better part of a day, weeks later I found several thrown around the landscape, I reset them and they just continued growing. I doubt they would stand being planted in a sump even in an equatorial zone, but as long as it's warm, they seem to love the H₂O as long as it doesn't become a nuisance and they have reasonable drainage.

In Mississippi (as potted or seasonally plunged plants) I used to lose them constantly to rot once cool temperatures arrived, until I figured out that commercial growers supplying big-box stores (I think purposely) plant in a mucky, peat-based mix guaranteed to make you a customer again the following year! I learned to flush the root-zone of all purchased plants and replace with a gravelly mix.

In Rancho Mirage (next to Palm Springs), I plant them on a very slightly raised mound (or with some sort of miniature swale adjacent to move away any excess water), in a mix of decomposed granite/paver base/coarse sand, pumice and black lava rock, with a little bit of soil for good measure. I plant them higher than they were in the pot, leaving the lowest part of the caudex and usually also the very upper root area exposed as well. I water them liberally in the hot season and turn off irrigation in the winter. They thrive and have seen 30 degrees F under open sky for several hours without even dropping a leaf (dewpoints were about 10F at the time...so no frost could be found anywhere).

[Silas_Sancona]

2 minutes ago, mnorell said:

My experience with rainfall/watering and Adenium is that it is completely dependent on soil medium/drainage and temperature. In the Florida Keys, I grow them all over the place since they are one of the few beautiful ornamentals of which the deer are terrified (they are that poisonous!), in full sun or up to three-quarters shade. I just throw them into a combination of chunky/sandy limestone fill and limestone pearock that I grab from our driveway area, mixed with maybe 50% black soil/compost/coir and worm castings. I can usually pick these plants up cheaply in the Keys or Homestead, and now I grow many from seed, so I have been able to observe them in many situations in that tropical environment, and they can take pretty much all the rain and irrigation you can throw at them, nothing fazes them. Even after Hurricane Irma inundated the place with many feet of ocean water for the better part of a day, weeks later I found several thrown around the landscape, I reset them and they just continued growing. I doubt they would stand being planted in a sump even in an equatorial zone, but as long as it's warm, they seem to love the H₂O as long as it doesn't become a nuisance and they have reasonable drainage.

In Mississippi (as potted or seasonally plunged plants) I used to lose them constantly to rot once cool temperatures arrived, until I figured out that commercial growers supplying big-box stores (I think purposely) plant in a mucky, peat-based mix guaranteed to make you a customer again the following year! I learned to flush the root-zone of all purchased plants and replace with a gravelly mix.

In Rancho Mirage (next to Palm Springs), I plant them on a very slightly raised mound (or with some sort of miniature swale adjacent to move away any excess water), in a mix of decomposed granite/paver base/coarse sand, pumice and black lava rock, with a little bit of soil for good measure. I plant them higher than they were in the pot, leaving the lowest part of the caudex and usually also the very upper root area exposed as well. I water them liberally in the hot season and turn off irrigation in the winter. They thrive and have seen 30 degrees F under open sky for several hours without even dropping a leaf (dewpoints were about 10F at the time...so no frost could be found anywhere).

First sentence makes perfect sense.. Never saw any issues w/ Desert Rose planted outside around Sarasota/Bradenton, esp. specimens planted in landscapes using lots of rock/ gravel instead of wood mulch.

Completely agree about taking purchased plants out of any mix that contains peat / putting into grittier soil w/ no more than 10% anything organic mixed in ( just did this yesterday with my new one ) Was amazed at how little Pumice was actually in the mix after i started sifting through it ( Yes, lol  i'll often reclaim/ recycle what pumice/ turface/ etc i can when repotting ).

Soil these plants are often potted in, from many nurseries/ BB stores is the perfect recipe for trouble during winter, especially in cool, cool/wet winter areas, and especially if someone isn't already well versed in growing these plants / Plumeria/ Pachypodiums. Same issues can occur w/ them plants in similar areas if planted in such a soil mix.

Another thing about Peat ( besides all the other issues w/ it ) When mixed with anything "limestone-ey" some sort of chemical reaction can occur that essentially turns the mix to muck fairly quick.. Been curious about if a similar issue might happen w/ using  Coconut Coir "peat" as the organic component in some mixes and may play around w/ it more later, anyway..

 Only other thing i'd watch is the fertilizer.. Would not use any fertilizer that contains more than 10% Nitrogen, and is low on the K, especially if you want flowers, and a strong sturdy plant..  Too much N will only promote succulent green growth, not flowers. "Green" growth will be more susceptible to sunburn, dehydrating faster, Insect attacks ( mainly Aphids, ..same kinds that also like Milkweed. At least has been my experience here. ), & potential cold damage...  5-10 (N) - 5 ( P, applied once a year..) - 10-15 (K) ..w/ Epsom Salt, applied 2-3 X a year, warm season only,  should work well.. Does for Plumeria and Pachy P's.  

Slow release, or Organic ( much better, over the long term ) only..

[palmsOrl]

Also of interest, one of their desert rose plants had set seed pods.  I was tempted, but other selection factors won out in the end.

[Silas_Sancona]

13 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

Also of interest, one of their desert rose plants had set seed pods.  I was tempted, but other selection factors won out in the end.

That would've been in my cart, the moment i saw it, lol.. Like Plumeria, Adenium started from seed can produce very different offspring compared to the parent plant.. I'm more curious what pollinated it.. Can be a bit of a challenge try and hand pollinate / cross.

[palmsOrl]

Well I might just go get it if it is still there Silas!  Thank you.

[mnorell]

2 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

First sentence makes perfect sense.. Never saw any issues w/ Desert Rose planted outside around Sarasota/Bradenton, esp. specimens planted in landscapes using lots of rock/ gravel instead of wood mulch.

Completely agree about taking purchased plants out of any mix that contains peat / putting into grittier soil w/ no more than 10% anything organic mixed in ( just did this yesterday with my new one ) Was amazed at how little Pumice was actually in the mix after i started sifting through it ( Yes, lol  i'll often reclaim/ recycle what pumice/ turface/ etc i can when repotting ).

Soil these plants are often potted in, from many nurseries/ BB stores is the perfect recipe for trouble during winter, especially in cool, cool/wet winter areas, and especially if someone isn't already well versed in growing these plants / Plumeria/ Pachypodiums. Same issues can occur w/ them plants in similar areas if planted in such a soil mix.

Another thing about Peat ( besides all the other issues w/ it ) When mixed with anything "limestone-ey" some sort of chemical reaction can occur that essentially turns the mix to muck fairly quick.. Been curious about if a similar issue might happen w/ using  Coconut Coir "peat" as the organic component in some mixes and may play around w/ it more later, anyway..

 Only other thing i'd watch is the fertilizer.. Would not use any fertilizer that contains more than 10% Nitrogen, and is low on the K, especially if you want flowers, and a strong sturdy plant..  Too much N will only promote succulent green growth, not flowers. "Green" growth will be more susceptible to sunburn, dehydrating faster, Insect attacks ( mainly Aphids, ..same kinds that also like Milkweed. At least has been my experience here. ), & potential cold damage...  5-10 (N) - 5 ( P, applied once a year..) - 10-15 (K) ..w/ Epsom Salt, applied 2-3 X a year, warm season only,  should work well.. Does for Plumeria and Pachy P's.  

Slow release, or Organic ( much better, over the long term ) only..

I will have to pay attention to those fertilizer instructions. I am always very bad about fertilizing and just tend to add something at planting and then, I'm embarrassed to say, maybe every couple of years I'll get a bug to fertilize things a little. I'm trying to be more organized about it nowadays as I'm not getting any younger and I want to see these things grow and flourish. Out west in the desert, I've learned to use "vegan" organic fertilizers only. I started with Espoma organics (which I use in Florida with great results) but in the desert the blood/bone components drew loads of flies and gnats (horror of horrors!) and changing that out for a mix of kelp meal, cottonsead meal and alfalfa meal has made them go elsewhere. Anyone who thinks mosquitos and no-see-ums in the southeast and Florida are bad...just try coming out to the desert in "fly season." They will drive you batty!

I think that mixture of peat/compost organics mixed with limestone is the basis of "marl." A lot of plants in southeast Florida grow in it and seem to thrive. I never worry about it in the Keys and things seem to do well. Big issue there is the hyper-basic irrigation water, with a pH of something like 9.0. Filled with insane amounts of Fluoride and chloramines as well. But when you don't have the daily rains (60+ inches annually) of the southeastern Florida peninsula, and you are on a dry, dry island, you have no choice unless you can install a catchment system for those huge and infrequent downpours.

I'm hoping someday to see a seedpod on an Adenium. I love growing these things from seed, they are very satisfying and somehow very comical to watch, to me in some weird way they look like chubby little opera singers with their cotyledons outstretched as they sprout, and they grow pretty quickly and of course they bloom a lot more quickly than do Plumeria. I have read that you have to place rubber bands around those pods as they will open and release those little seeds to the wind and you will never see even one unless you trap them somehow. Anyone have any idea what might pollinate them in the southern tier of the USA?