Easy to grow and beautiful, the desert rose bloomed all summer long

Last winter, I got two desert roses. They arrived home with flower buds, but unfortunately I didn't care for them well, and they dropped all their leaves. They looked so wilted that I almost threw them away.

I tossed them into a corner of the balcony and barely paid them any attention, just giving them a little water now and then. Later, they actually slowly came back to life, growing very long branches, but they really did look ugly. When spring came, I moved them outdoors and, steeling myself, cut off all the long branches. To my surprise, under the blazing sun, they grew sturdier and sturdier. First they grew leaves, then flower buds, blooming batch after batch, and even now, buds keep emerging.

It was only after looking up information that I learned that botanically, the desert rose is also known as Adenium obesum. It belongs to the genus Adenium in the dogbane family (Apocynaceae), is a succulent plant, and is native to Kenya in Africa. It loves high temperatures, dry conditions, and plenty of sunlight, tolerates extreme heat, and cannot stand the cold. It gets the name "desert rose" because its place of origin is close to the desert and its flowers are red like roses.

Because our terrace at home is very large, we grow lots of plants and flowers. There are often ones that fear the sun or fear drought, but the desert rose alone fears no sunlight. The more sun it gets, the sturdier it grows, and the more sun it gets, the more beautifully it blooms. The key thing is it doesn't need much water either, an absolute energy-saving champion, haha.

The branches I cut off weren't wasted either. I stuck them into sandy soil, and surprisingly they slowly grew new leaves too. Two colors of desert rose, one purple, one bicolor, and both are double-petaled. Look, in front of my lens, they could even be called "elegant-type" beautiful flowers!!

Do remember that the desert rose is fairly drought-tolerant. Never water it too much each time, otherwise it easily causes root rot and leggy branches. In summer when temperatures are high, you can water according to the soil condition. When the soil is dry, give it a little water, and you can water it thoroughly, but there must be no standing water in the pot.

In winter when temperatures drop, the desert rose also enters a semi-dormant period. At this time, you should properly control watering, keep the soil dry, and appropriate drought is very beneficial to the growth of the desert rose.

In winter when the desert rose enters its dormant period, the leaves will gradually fall off. This is normal leaf drop, so there's no need to worry about it.

The desert rose needs attention when it comes to pruning. If you let it grow leggy freely, it easily loses its good looks. After the flowering period is the best time to prune, and you can make choices according to your personal preference. Note: more branches mean more flowers. If you want more flowers, you need to find ways to keep more branches.

Such a beautiful, easy-to-grow desert rose. Are you tempted?