Matt,

If could let people know area in which you live, they may be able to direct you to a nursery close by.

Rick

Aren't there reputable nurseries selling them in the US? I'd guess so.

Have you tried searching for "Nurseries selling mature Adeniums".

One in Fl, Az and Tx. There are a few small bosai shops but not much es

Oh... I see. I just did a cursory search on eBay, and it appears that there are almost unlimited varieties of crazy flower hybrids. I'm looking for the variety in the photo, or something similar to it with a clean, simple 5 petal pink and red flower. All of the "double flower" and ornate ones don't really appeal to me.

So you like Obessium single flower. Thats what it like also. Roger should have similar. Look here. I got those singles from him. Not the double link did not work go to "Trade or sell Obesum." Posted below your post

Please change your ID. So those in your area can give suggestions.

Matt, where are you located. Maybe someone around here could point you in the right direction, but we need a starting location.

Matt, pls. do a cursory search OFF EBAY, some of whose vendors aren't necessarily honest or reliable. Nurseries can be a better bet.

Dumb pink plant anyway:×)

Matt:

Good luck with your quest to find single-petal blossoms from any commercial growers. The rage-du-jour is for plants having double, triple petals. I'm with you...singles are far neater, and more tailored. Pink blossoms will predominate, and you'll have precious few "singles" to choose from. Try: lithops.net

Florida vendors are your best bet for USA plants. Try: Adenium/Desert Rose for sale in Florida, and you'll get some vendors.

It may take a few years of correct culture to get a blooming plant that looks like the photo in your posting, but it can be done. Have fun.

Frank

NYC/7b

They seem to grow relatively fast (an adenium new comer here)...I ordered a bare root grafted plant in May, rec'd at the end of May and flower buds are in progress now, trunk has visibly thickened, etc.

I am in Tampa Florida. It does seem to be the big thing with all these crazy hybrids with the emphasis on making the flowers look more like actual roses. We dont need them to look like roses, because we have roses for that. And what is the deal with grafted plants? Should they be avoided?

Marica, my user id is my google id, because i chose to log in through google. I thnk in order to change it i'd have to create an entire new profile. I'll have a look at the post.

Matt. Your being in fl is great for the hobby. They have several seller, weekend markplaces. So look local. I am having a plant shipped from fl for $6 to Ca

Go to upper right corner to "your Hours" then to "Edit profile". Type in city and state. If wanted you can check to have private messages sent also.

Well if you want a cloned plant, grafted is the most common way to give you a certain variety. It's faster than cuttings apparently. Just like grafted anything, it's fine as long as you control growth from below the graft point.

So the grafting is just a way to shortcut growing a mature plant from a cutting. Heres what i want to see: someone needs to create a grafted plant featuring 5 branches, each sporting a popular flower variety. Kind of like a "best hits of citrus mix" tree that grows oranges, pomelos, grapefruit, lemon, lime and tangerine on different branches.

I've seen 3 ways...maybe I did see a 5 way on ebay...certainly easy to do if you use a big enough base.

I prefer the single look (both flowers and types) versus a cornicopia.

Few multi flower types are so in usa yang does 3 or 4 graft. I have one he made up for me of singles has not bloomed yet. I have seen a few sold in usa.

Grafting is also how to get a true flower color. Seed grown need to see the flower bloom to know what color will be. Seeds grown are not always true to the parent like grafted

Oh, interesting. So if you grow from seeds that were taken from a hybrid, the resultant plant could be a different hybrid, whereas a cutting taken from a parent plant will always produce the same variety?

Even seeds taken from a mother plant may not come true. I have one I just cut below the graft because I love the caudex and not the double flower will wait till next year for mystery flower to bloom, Standard is usually simple pink. Or graft on it

I think i like the white center with pink edges like my original pic. Is that the original coloration or is flat pink the original?

Most a few shades of pale plain pink. Then variations of pink/white were created (example below) that is what I see out there a lot. The fad right now is double and triple so they are saturating the market. Size matters, 4-6cm like the one below and the one you like. There are 8-10cm like mine

Here is one web site that carries multi

Check Walmart! I got mine from there but it was last year.

While the multi is interesting, it looks a bit chaotic. I like both of the example pis there, but the second with the white with pink borders is most appealing. Both of those examples are better to my eye than the double and triple that are out there. So now the question is what do i call the white with pink borders variety, and where do i get a good example that is maybe in its first or second flowering year? The walmarts, lowes and home depots here are mostly into tropical houseplants, landscape foliage, palm trees, orchids and miniature succulents. I have never come across a desert rose in any of them.

My only other suggestion is to try Etsy. They usually have a few singles on there.

I just got a plant from Esty ( fl ) Beware both Esty and Ebay need a lot more specifics know. I asked a lot of questions. I knew this single flower was going like most online. The caudex is 5" roots and narrow. roots are great and staying buried should look good exposed in a few years. Year old

Roger has a two year for less then I paid

Matt have a look here https://orient-adenium.com

Matt, with you being in Florida. Check out Lucky Sumo Adeniums/Living Sculptures. Robert McKee the owner/grower has beautiful plants and I would imagine that he would have something close to what you have shown in your post at the top.

Rick

Online: (all three are located in Florida)

DurhamBotanicals.com

TopTropicals.com

AdeniumRose.com

Matt, I have known a couple folks who have obtained a "normal" adenium at the BBSs in Florida like those mentioned. It is hit or miss, yes, so it comes down in part to how "hungry" are you? Unfortunately, the BBSs up here almost never carry adeniums. I've also known folks in Florida or other southern states to sometimes find them at farmers' markets and the like.

Matt...

Definitely try the three vendors, + Living Sculptures (Davie, FL.) that were mentioned in the last post by "printmaster". "Top Tropicals" is probably near you, or not too far. Visit, and see plants while flowering. But keep this in mind: you might have to buy the plants that are available for sale, at any given, specific time. You might just have to settle, or wait for the latest offerings, and most likely, those plants will be sporting double and triple flowers. That type of flower seems to be the trend. You'll be lucky to find any single-petal blossoms with your exact colorations, but not impossible.

Personally, I would buy as large a plant as possible, no matter what kind of flower that it has, and train it into shape that you desire. The more branches, the better. In the meantime, I'd keep my eye peeled, and look at Home Depot, and the vendors mentioned above, for the exact flower that I ultimately want. When you have the flower and plant, graft the plant you are training with the flowers that you really want, and mate the two into one, great-looking, plant. It may take a few years, but growing Adenium in South-Florida should be easy with the year-long growing season, bright sun, and climate, that you have. I wish I had your "problems".

BTW, I just recently found a beautifully flowered Adenium at the local Home Depot, and....the plant is growing on its own roots and was not a grafted plant. The flower is a single-blossom, w/a dark red band around a creamy throat. A beautiful color combo, not messy, nor, too busy to the eye, and for me, it's as good as any grafted plant....and I paid less than $10.00. Now, I'll just grow it out, train it, and use any overly long branches for some grafting scions, which I'll put onto some other ugly-flowered plant. In the very near future, I will be braiding five, very tall Adeniums into a single trunk "tower", and all the top branches will be grafted with scions from my Home Depot plant. That's my plan, anyway.

Be bold. If you can't find a plant that you want, "make" that plant that you want, by grafting, if you must. It's done all the time. You-tube has plenty of videos on how to graft Adeniums.

Happy hunting, and good luck.

Frank

NYC/7b

I picked up one from Durham Botanicals. I like this one because of the roots, and I was toying with the idea of growing one bonsai style and another unrestricted. The one I picked up is already root pruned and trained for a bonsai lifestyle, so the other unrestricted plant will take a while longer to find and will have the ornamental flowers that I am looking for. This one seems to have an interesting root structure and is pretty symmetrical on top and I'm excited to see what it will become. The flowers are the "normal" pink ones, thankfully single petal, and I'm sure it will be beautiful in bloom.

Very nice acquisition. I am the type that prunes for more branching, many here are not. Have fun and be patient with it. Hopefully they provided you with soil, light and heat requirements. Also fertilizers for your area. If you are like us soon you will learn grafting to obessums.

Hey Matt....nice plant!

Happy growing. Take progress pictures as plant matures and morphs into a thing of beauty.

Frank

NYC/7b

The only problem is the time it will take to recover from the repotting and shipping stress. It appears to be potted currently in something like Al's gritty mix, which would make sense for a succulent, unless it was given a soil dressing to pretty it up for the photo shoot... Durham's site indicates a bark-based soil at 3:1 part Perlite. Should I use 3 parts bark fines, 1 part Turface, 1 part Perlite? Or should I use Al's gritty mix?

I read that the plant should be allowed to rest a day in indirect light before repotting, and afterwards should be located in indirect light and not watered for a couple weeks before gradually introducing more sun. Does anyone have any other pointers on reducing the recovery time?

I also read that the Adeniums prefer a balanced 11:11:11 fertilizer instead of the 9:3:6 Foliage Pro I use for all of my other plants. Any particular reason, or should I just use the Foliage Pro?

Durham's site also indicates that a wider, shallower container will encourage the thickening of the caudex, and I have read elsewhere that planting it a bit shallower each time it is repotted will also encourage spread. The pot it was photographed in is an 8 inch pot, so I figure the caudex to be about 4 inches wide. If I were to plant it in a bonsai pot, what size rectangular would be appropriate? 10x8x4?

A lot of us use Foliage Pro weekly to water our adeniums. I don't think it will be a problem.

I personally wouldn't plant an Arabicum in a rectangular pot, and certainly not one that shallow right off the bat. It's up to you, but I'd hate to see the plant grow in a certain way and regret your decision later.

As far as planting medium, I think you may need a component that doesn't absorb any water. A lot of us use granite, cherrystone etc. I think a 1:1:1 ratio of fir bark, turface, and granite is good for arabicums. Mine seems to like it.

Matt, There are many different fertilizers you could use. I use Dyna Gro 9-3-6 and have for many years now. More important are the micro nutrients added to the fertilizer being used.

Soaking the bare root plants roots in Kangaroots by Foxfarm has proven very good for many.

I would wait until you receive the plant to buy a pot. You will have a better idea as to what root space you will need.

Your plant will not be in transit for the length of time than one from abroad, so it should bounce back fairly quickly.

I plant all mine up into a barely moist mix and water in after 4 days. Kept in shade to filtered sunlight.

Rick

Why not a rectangular pot? And if it was going to end up in a bonsai pot, would it make sense to wait until it was larger to do? Would a round pot be more suitable? My goal is something like this:

The only thing that I would improve there is I would like the caudex to be reaching like this:

1:1:1 bark, turface and granite is Al's gritty mix. Its a good, fast-draining mix that won't hold enough water to cause root issues, and can be flushed to avoid accumulated salts. The only thing I wish were different is that it is heavy, and tends to be shifted and washed away over the lip of the pot if the water hits it a certain way.

Chances are, the plant has been grown in a deeper container, and you can't (well you can) just chop off the entire root system at once to and cram it into a much shallower pot that it wouldn't fit into. Best way is to do this by gradual stages and at certain times of year.

I received my plant from Durham, and got it potted. I decided on a rectangular pot (against recommendations), and went up a pot size to 12X9.5 inch, which turned out to be unnecessary. Durham had sold the plant as having been grown, selected and root pruned for bonsai and it was not off the mark. The root system was healthy and shallow, and i had to pad the bottom of the 12 inch pot quite a bit to get the height I was looking for, which is about a quarter inch shallower than the original soil line. The roots were well over an an inch from the walls of the container on the narrow side. The plant has quite a bit of leg room in its new home.

I used Al's gritty mix for soil and gave it a small spray bottle shower to make it a bit moister.

I plan to let it rest a couple weeks in a section of my patio that gets only indirect light.

Of COURSE the photos got squished...

Looks like it was potted in 100% turface at the nursery.

Matt I have two Obessum that did not sell on Ebay. I want them to go to a good home for shipping. Both have bloomed. If interested pm me. Color close to what you like

Matt Barnett, Please check Facebook for Buying Time Specialty Plants or Ryan Calohan. Very good seller from Melbourne, FL. He has adeniums originally imported from Thailand, as well as self-propagated seedlings and self-grafted adeniums. Pinks, purples, yellows, oranges, etc. His prices range from $25 up to hundreds of dollars for huge specimen desert rose and he is certified to ship to California.

Home Depot on Coors in Abq had big plants a few wks ago. wish I’d bought 2

$ 25 each.

I was just at HD today and saw adeniums there. I almost never saw them in this area. Of course this is after I already bought mine... lol