Plum Beauty

Day 122: It does not matter to me that they spend most of their lives looking like leftover plant stakes, their stalks rising a foot or more from a grey, lumpy caudex before putting out a scant display of foliage. When the Adeniums flower, they do it with a show which will knock your socks off, as this almost fluorescent bloom atop "Plum Beauty" will attest. The occasional blossom makes tending those "dead sticks" well worth the effort. These plants prefer their soil quite dry, thriving in conditions which would kill most other houseplants. If over-watered, the caudex (swollen base) will rot, but if the leaves yellow and drop from UNDER-watering as mine usually do, there is no reason to panic. As long as the caudex remains firm, the plant will undoubtedly survive. I water only when the pots become light to lift, and then flush water through them and allow them to drain before returning them to the saucers. I've kept three alive for several years now, and they bloom two or three times a year.