That is one beautiful plant/Bloom, Pagan. Love them pruned tight like that.

You know, people are trying to produce pots with that look. Never know.

I want to ask what Camera you use and is it a digital?

Rick

I'm using my old Nikon D60, Rick. It's a digital SLR. Since I mostly take photos in manual mode, the body is really just a body. All my investments go to lenses.

Marica, the first thing I do when I buy a plant (which is not often) is to prune. Commercial growers tend to want to grow them very fast so the branches are very weak. This one can barely hold the flowers up.

Sandy, that's Talullah. She used to be planted with Burro's Tail but keeping that plant indoors under lights in winter with my three tom cats was a nightmare. So I replanted with something less prone to disintegration.

Pagan

Talullah is beautiful!!

All you need is a head, a saw and a clamp, Sandy! It's a bit gruesome but also kind of funny. The husband once went into my shop and came away with the look of horror on his face. He had found the sawed-off top of Talullah's head on the floor lol

Anyway, more updates:

This A. obesum x crispum was badly damaged by plummeting night temperatures this spring. It's still struggling but if you tug it, you can feel it has finally rooted. That took two and a half months.

This one below is fully recovered from cold damage. That crack on the caudex has healed.Below is one of my three Adenium arabicum-hansoti-dw-strain and it is about to bloom!
Finally, one of my three Rinoa plants. This is the only Rinoa plant that I pruned because I wanted to use it for grafting. So it took a while for it to start blooming. It is called Breaking Dawn. It looks like it is really going to be yellow!

Pagan

Yeah, yellow!!!

Pagen, It's ok if you scare you husband a little bit...

Beautiful yellow rose buds is what it reminds me of. So nice. I can understand the look of dismay when you walk into a room and see that laying on the floor. Would be a good laugh.

Rick

This is it, Breaking Dawn.

And that bud behind it is actually one week older but somehow refuses to open. I expect those pink splashes will become darker as the flower ages.

Meh.

P.

Pagan,

I have been perusing Rinoa's catalogue and I had to post the link. There is a plant there or two that I got quite excited about when I saw them. Had to let you know. So nice.

"Pull Red String" & "Holy Jade"

I need one of these.

https://goo.gl/viSSnU

Rick

I want that Green Elf!

That "Pull Red String" identical to the "Crispum" in Marks Book.

Did you see the bloom.

Rick

Oh hey I didn't notice that. I was totally distracted by the Green Elf. The petal shape does look like crispum. I don't have that book though so I've only seen the red-blooming one he has on Tucson Cactus, Rick.

This is a photo of a A. Crispum from one of his articles.

I love that bloom. I just am not sure it I want to deal with the A. Crispum leggy branches. I really have not seen a bonsai version of A, Crispum. I noticed low caudex's with A. Crispum but not bonsai-ing of the branches.

Pagen, Have you seen the whole plant of the Green Elf? I have only seen Riona's bud pic

Rinoa's plants are not exactly what I would call carefully-shaped, Marica. They are always healthy and vigorous though. So I treat them as stock for future grafting. They need at least a full season of growth before they can be harvested for scions though. At least those I have received so far. Branches and caudices (plural of "caudex") are not difficult to build anyway, it just takes time.

Most of the sellers have what I call quick grow caudex's. So they can get there flower out faster. I mostly will use these for grafting also.

I want to look for an older root stock of Crispum. I have seen some nice flatter mounded ones with lots of branching that might be interesting to graft a lot of scions to all those branches just shorter then natural.

That "Breaking Dawn" is a very exquisite bloom. Odd how sometimes some blooms just do not complete.

Rick

Rick have you ever asked any of the growers if this incomplete flower opening is caused by something.

I call them stress blooms. Adeniums bloom in waves. The first buds of a healthy plant that has just been repotted, pruned, shipped, or just coming out of winter typically abort a lot of the first buds when they bloom.

The succeeding waves are usually sturdier, and are able to mature.

Having said that, sometimes even a healthy wave will discard some buds, I'm guessing to economize energy. I flick those off so they don't clog the clump with detritus.

Rick, it does have delicate petals. I'm just not too enthused by this particular flower, strictly as a matter of personal preference.

I have asked people for their opinion on the incomplete bud opening and no definitive answer, but I believe what Pagan mentions touches on most possibilities.

You know it is so odd, interesting at the same time to me. Go figure! I have this one plant "Triple Twilight" which has produced some remarkable blooms of the years. Not one year have they been the same though. This year it produced a large number of buds, first ones sat there for weeks, never opening. Subsequently all buds died. Now it is on it's second flush of blooms and it looks as though the blooms are going to be quite different again. Not sure what to make of these, as they could be different with temperatures and light levels lower?

These oddities for some reason always peak my interest or drive me crazy.

Rick

Morning shot! It's overcast though and this is a phone camera snapshot. My new phone has fantastic manual controls but I haven't played around with it. This is an auto snap.

#$&@¿? mobile browser. Later then, when I get to my computer.

There we go.

Open and very pretty ☺

More pictures.

I tried hand-pollinating my Rik Ni Ran with Rinoa's Superstar Of Tomorrow and that looks like a fruit! Whether it will survive long enough remains to be seen. It's in the plant house.

This is the Superstar, blooming non-stop since spring. It has lost nearly all its leaves but there are buds all over all the time.

Also this Dimmit yearling below, the red A. obesum x crispum now on its third wave of summer inflorescence.

Also a Dimmit yearling..A. obesum x arabicum. The last and final casualty of spring. It may survive yet.

This is my table of most-favored plants, a prime real estate on the deck. But that warlord, of course, gets the penthouse.

Enjoy!

Pagan

Ooops. I forgot...This is what's left of one A. obesum x crispum killed by spring. It hasn't bloomed so I tried to save a cutting. If it turns out to be a boring flower, I'll be annoyed.

This is from a second casualty, still looking like a casualty lol

There you go--if you're tempted use young seedlings as stock, I warn you the failure rate will be high. On this one, I tried a V graft which I have never done before. It was the only one that worked. So I left the seedlings alone to grow a bit more. Next year they will be better prepared.

Pagan

I am loving on your yellow! How yummy Pagan. The Superstar is really performing well too. I am buried in plants today, somehow I missed this thread but I am bookmarking it now.

Tracy

Stunning flowers Pagan, I can only hope my superstar will bloom a little like yours when it's ready.

Tracy, your winter will be interesting. Are you converting an entire room this time lol

Thanks, Conny. Mine is a grafted plant from Rinoa. I bet she harvested the scion from a very mature plant, considering how prolific it is. My sister is able to make her plants bloom in the first year, with just normal care. On the third year, she said her seed-grown plants do not stop blooming either. In Zone 7 terms, that's more or less equivalent to 5 years or so.

Pagan enjoying your blooms. I am already having dread wash over me with the whole winter storage issue. The Adeniums will take over my guest bedroom where I will only supplement with minimal lighting but will have fans running constantly. What doesn't fit in the guest room with be placed in front of the windows in the Parrots' room. My son and I may end up sleeping in tents. LOLOL

Tracy

Pagan, I want that yellow so bad, it is beautiful bloom.

Marie

You have a parrot room, Tracy??

So, in my morning coffee round, I found this bloom. I was going to throw this one away but I saw flower buds so I decided to keep it until I see the bloom. Its my only generic Adenium arabicum, a seedling that apparently came free with one of my plant orders and I did not discover it until months later when I was sorting through the paper recycling.

It's tiny! Maybe about 2 cm in diameter.

I also found three more plants getting ready to bloom so I guess this thread will be alive throughout winter!

Pagan

Love this Arabicum bloom! Pagan I am thrilled to see your Fall bloom show! Can use the eye candy right now. My parrots did have their own room. Now they share it with the seedlings and a small tent of curly babies.
Tracy

wow … Wow … and … WOW

you start pruning, lemme know … I'd make room for a graft of any of the above … exquisite stuff!

All the grafting I did this year has been to save plants that were slowly dying from ridiculous temperature fluctuations this spring. I was able to save material from three, four were a bust.

But I'm particularly pleased with one yearling--it was dying and recovering at the same time. When it was unpotted, it had already lost its significant caudex under the soil while trying to reroot! Get a load of this:

Yep, it did that on its own! And that was after losing about one-third of its entire mass.

Here it is today:

Pagan

Wonderful, Pagan. Your own Centipede rooted plant. So nice.

Rick

Oh. There's even a name for it! Very cool, I can look it up. Thanks, Rick!

My weird winter bloomer: Adenium obesum "White Flora"

Pagan

Nice Bloom, Pagan. Possibly well suited for the arrival of Winter White :)

Nice treat to get now at the end of the season.

Rick

That's a beautiful white bloom, Pagan. Kind of puts me in the mind of a gardenia.

The previous 2 photos gives me hope for my own 2 amputees.

Tyler

I love gardenias! But not enough to have to put up with it during winter indoors. I once succeeded to keep one alive for two years but it was a hard fight.

P

And this also opened today, one of my 2-year old Dimmits--Adenium obesum x crispum. Not really my type but it's the first ever bloom. The next ones might be different.

Pagan

That white flower is a stunner Pagan. I agree with Tyler, it looks a bit like gardenia.

It will be interesting to see what the Dimmit hybrid will put out next year indeed.

She wont stop blooming, even in the basement.

Then this one started again too. I think this is the third wave of inflorescence this year. By now it barely has any leaves and I'll be feeding it until it stops blooming.

I have to say, this Superstar of Tomorrow is an extreme performer.

Pagan

Pagan, it is beautiful to see any bloom with the cool weather. All mind drop off most leaves already.

Marie

I have a lot of winter-growing succulents, Marie. So I really wish my adeniums would just pipe down and sleep so I won't have to keep checking on them. Having blooms in the basement is a pleasant surprise though!

P

Beautiful plants Pagan! It sure wonderful to see them blooming in December! Oh, and I just want to let you know that those plants that you generously sent me are doing great. (Thank youuu)! They are indoor by the sunny window waiting for spring :)

Pagan, marvelous flowers in this thread. :-) The 'Superstar' is one of my favourites...

Pagan, you still have flowers in Dec? Wow....those are beautiful.

Marie

Yes, Marie--it has a bank of T5HOs underneath it, lighting up the shelf below and warming up the pots above. So it hasn't noticed winter yet. Here it is today--phone cam photo, not really up to par but you get the idea!

Pagan

Gorgeous flowers Pagan. I have seedlings of the SoT in my collection. If their blooms only look half as beautiful as yours I will be very happy.