DESERT ROSE TRIAL

My new project for the garden is to try to sprout some Desert Rose seeds that I collected from this plant back in August.

The Desert Rose -Adenium Obesum- is a native to sub Saharan Africa and does well in zone 10. This bush I have had for four years and it is most always full of blooms. It loves the full sun and heat that my garden gets here.

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Back in June this plant stopped blooming and produced these long seedpods an its branches. I researched on the internet and found information on the seedpods.

As per the instructions given I put small wires around the pods to keep them from popping open and dumping all the seeds. In August I found the pods were buldging open and harvested the seeds inside.

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The seeds have fur type material on both ends which catches in the wind like a sail to spread them.

Closing the pods with wire kept them inside. It was good advise or they would have all blown away when the pod split open.

I put probably over 100 seeds up into an old pill bottle to store them.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So now I am going to try to grow some new Roses from the seeds.

Since this is my first attempt I found some advice on the Internet.

Step 1- cut the pappus off of both ends [ I guess they mean the fluffy things].

Step 2- dust seeds in fungicide.

Step 3- plant shallow in seed starting mix.

It sounds simple enough and the site states the seeds should germinate in 1 week at 85 degree temperature. I have the heat.

It also said that when the plant gets six true leaves it will be ready to transplant which should take about one month from germination.

It will be worth the effort if I can germinate these seeds . The seeds sell for around $4.00 for five seeds of a common variety up to $28.00 for two seeds of a rarer variety. I saw small plants of the Desert Rose for $10 - $15 each in the local garden stores. So for a garden on a budget propagating your own is the smart way to go. ---------------------- sanddune------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------