Chicken Little and More Uplifting News...

AACH!  Adenium shock!  Plants Are The Strangest People (blog see link below) opined in a 2008 Wizard of Oz plant analogy thread that the plant best representing the Cowardly Lion is the Adenium obesum.  The reason for this dubious designation is the annoying habit adeniums have of dropping leaves for apparently any reason: a mighty wind...a change in position......a dirty look.  In my case, repotting as well.  I hope this is just shock and not something more sinister like caudex or root rot.  Gross.  Did you know that some of the fungi that rot out your plants can actually kill you?  It's true, although you won't get infected unless your immune system gives out.  So treat yourself right or your roots could rot.

"The sky is falling!  The sky is falling!  No, wait!  That's just my yellow leaves falling to the ground." --Adenium "Chicken little" arabicum seedling

It would look like a sweet 80's-retro, Cyndi Lauper-inspired variegated Mohawk, if this was what was supposed to happen.    Here's hoping for a speedy recovery, Chicken little, and strong new growth over the upcoming growing season. 

In other news...

The Duvaliandra dioscoridis bud is blowing-up faster than last season's "Biggest Loser" contestants.  How big will it get before blooming?  Stay tuned.  It's easily double in size from the last post.  The tips of the petals are becoming slightly salmon colored. 

All is not lost in northern exposure! The unbearable anticipation continues!!

Lil' Fatty!

Hello, Adenium!!!

Aren't you the cutest little bonsai'd succulent? 

Aren't you???



 

If you are asking if this was an impulse purchase from Gethsemane Garden Center last week, the answer is yes.  This little guy was labeled Adenium arabicum seedling and I think was another one of the Arid Lands bounty they have had for a while (its almost gone, so move fast if you still want any).  I'm just going off of the label, I'm not sure how you would be able to distinguish an adenium obesum seedling from an adenium arabicum, but apparently as i read more about it, there is something of a discrepancy going on regarding the nomenclature.  The plant that the lay person such as myself thinks of as adenium arabicum has a very fat caudex with multiple upward reaching branches, with the squat, wide caudex being the main difference separating it from adenium obesum.  So, of course, this is not correct by any means.  Some people think that the arabicum should be correctly labeled as obesum, and that obesum should be labeled something new.  Others feel they are just variants of the same species.  How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?  The world may never know...

So here's the deal with my seedling.  I immediately repotted it from the soggy soil mix it was planted in, gave it a very rocky, sandy, fast draining soil, and stuck it in a pretty little bonsai planter.  I realize if everything goes according to plan, it should outgrow this pot pretty quickly, but there in no guarantee I won't kill it this summer.  Since the adenium are notoriously rot prone, I will probably be taking this little guy straight to work, where it will get direct afternoon sun.  Less chance for rot, and I doubt it would do that well in my north-facing apartment.  Permanent dormancy.  That would be my prediction, anyway.  Suffering the slowest death in the state of Illinois.

What are THESE???
I think they may be new branches, but maybe they are just new leaves...they look like little pink tulips growing out of the seedling's trunk.  Only time will tell...hopefully they just won't involute like the buds on the new Huernia confusa I got in the mail last week...

Let's hope for the best!