Homely CapersHow to Care for and Grow a Desert Rose
After purchasing a small tube stock Desert Rose yesterday, I put in a bit of research to find out the best conditions for them to grow and how to care from them.
A search found that there is a lot of snippets of information about growing Desert Roses, but nothing complete. Here goes to put it all together for you.
The Desert Rose is a native of East Africa and is a member of the Apocynacae family. Even though it is native to Africa it grows well in tropical an d sub tropical areas without too much special care, although if you have frosts you will need to bring the plant indoors over winter.
Leaves are fleshy and succulent and the flowers are 5 to 7cm trumpet shaped and will flower from late winter to early summer.
Plant your desert rose in a 50/50 mix of sharp sand and cactus potting soil, they love to have free draining soil as to prevent root rot. Mix in some slow release fertiliser to stimulate growth, in the first three years a soluble fertiliser can be added to increase the growth rate of the plants, after three years the soluble food does not have a huge effect.
Water your plant regularly as it is not a cactus, the best way to tell if it needs water is to check the top of the soil, if it’s dry you need to water.
Desert Rose needs plenty of light, full sun is great to ensure that you get the best blooms. Keep your plant above 12 degrees celsius.
WARNING: The flowers and sap of this plant are poisonous! Do not ingest anything from this plant, wash your hands thoroughly after handling the plant.
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Tags: DesertRose, Flower, Succulent, desert, rose
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79 Responses to “How to Care for and Grow a Desert Rose”
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About Me
My name is Ben, and I'm a self confessed gardenoholic. My other interests include growing plants, looking at plants, drinking coffee and taking the odd photo. My wife thinks I'm mad, but is getting into the whole garden thing, possibly going mad as well. In my spare time I'm a geologist (must be something about dirt and rocks...)- Get me on Twitter
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Thanks for this post — this desert rose looks so beautiful I’m on my way to getting and growing one.
hi i am the proud owner of the desert rose but i want to know what their seeds look like mine has flowers on and a funny looking horn thing coming from the stem. can you tell me what they are
I live in victoria australia and I have a dsert rose , this is my second one as i did not know how to care for the first, this one I am keeping inside, as yet it has no flowers. but I have found a lot of imformation on them through your site. I have it inside in full sun. How long do they take to grow and flower ?
hey to all … i live in melbourne and plan to try growing quit a few of these desert roses as they are an excellent looking plant requiring minimal water and astounding flowers in a vast array of colour and also some difference in shape!… there was a site that i will repost here that show’s quite a few of the different forms of this tropical like flower and remember seeing the thorned version you were talking of philomene bell ! (actually there were two i clearly remember seeing).. these plants are related to the frangapanni which needless to say has a beautifull and arromatic flower!
my leaves are falling off my desert rose i bought 2 wks ago. it was in the cool living room and i have moved it to my den where it is warmer and more light. doesn’t seem dry but i was told not to over water it. what do i do? it is the prettiest plant i have ever seen in my life. help me! debi
Thanks for the tips Ben! I wish you luck and may your dream of creating the best nursery ever will come true.
I have three Desert Roses. All three have become “leggy” and ordinarily, I would be pruning quite a bit. I am hesitant to prune these Desert Roses. What should I do? Thank you.
No answer on your “leggy” rose, however I have the same issue with a rather healthy desert rose with a large root base. Its just gangly and leggy and I’d like to trim back to enable it to bush out. Will I ruin it? It has bloomed with the last year so I guess its happy. Thanks for any help.
Hi there I just purchased two these beautiful plants the Desert Rose. And I came across your site because I was searching how to take care of these beauties. And after reading thru your site I found it most interesting.
I’ve owbned a desert rose for almost 7 years, and it has never bloomed!!! What do I do?
I have two desert rose plants about 10 inches tall. There are roots growing out of the sides of the above ground bulb. Should I trim them off ??
I am getting buds on the desert rose plants but they are turning black and dying rather than flowering. What is the solution? Thanks.
I have the desert rose seed. I am interested in learning how to grow plant from the seed and how to propergate. Thank you.
Hi all, I have had my Desert rose for several years. I live outside of Houston Texas, and my plant has been thru alot. It even frooze this past winter. I thought all was lost, yesterday I noticed some new leaves. It made it through another one of my blunders. It it an amazing plant. I am now attempting to learn as much as I can about the plant. Anything that can stay with me this long deserves to be well cared for.
I have grown desert roses that do well and some that have a great trunk but are not doing that good these plants were put out by my wife who passed away and I’m trying to keep them going I live in south Fl.
I need to know if you are suppose to cut it back, or will it hurt it to cut it back, mine lost most of it’s leaves in the winter they are coming back and it looks a little leggy so I was wandering if I was suppose to cut it back
[...] How to Care for and Grow a Desert Rose Posted by root few seconds ago (http://www.homelycapers.com) Area rugs posted april 8 2008 at 8 37 am permalink the different forms of this tropical like flower and remember seeing the thorned version you were talking of philomene bell post a comment click here to cancel reply powered by wordpress built on the them Discuss | Bury | News | How to Care for and Grow a Desert Rose [...]
my desert rose that I recently purchased the truck is drying up,can it be saved?
My desert rose bloomed for a couple of years and now it doesn’t bloom at all. Any ideas why it may have stopped blooming?
I have about 15 desert rose plants in my back yard, sometimes I get these little orange catapilla’s that eat the green leaves, I get soapy water and spray it on my plants and that seems to help they fall off and don’t come back for a few months but I have to always check. Now I have noticed that all of the plants are getting spotted brown spots on them and the leaves are all turning brown I cannot see what is causeing this . I also have planted about 30 seed’s of desert roses and they are about 1/2 in now I don’t want anything to happen to them , they are in a covered area. Can you please help me with my problem . I love this plant thank you very much.
can you please send your answer to [email protected] personally again thank you.
I have had my desert rose for almost 2 yrs and is doesn’t bloom. What brand of fertilizer do I use/ Do I have to prune it?? I would appreciate any info on the dessert rose.
Thank you
Our desert rose plant produced the straw-like seeds. There are a bunch . Should we keep and plant in the spring–or plant now.Plant each “seed” separetly or all together? Please tell me how long it will take to sprout
I have a beautiful Adenium (desert Rose) as I live in Boynton Beach ,FL. I am having some good luck with my plant. However I want to know how to care for it so that it continues to flower. It doses flower year round and I would like to keep it doing so. Our area is sandy and I have heard to use 2 parts bonsai soil and 2 part peat and 1 part sand…but I have it outside my patio and it is in the raining season. I do not want it to rot …what can i do to keep it from rotting? Also how do I care for this lovely plant?
This is great information! My desert Rose does not look very happy and the leaves keep turning yellow and falling off! I think it’s probably the soil it’s in.
What is a good solution to spray on my Desert Rose I love it and I just got another one which makes three, and they are getting a white scale on them and turning yellow.
Help me please Thanks you.
Millie
We have had a pink Dessert Rose (our first one) for about six months, we have planted it in the garden where it gets full sun, its about a foot tall, we have had several blossoms coming and going, but we feel it might be stressing as there are very few leaves, could you tell us if at this time of the year and in Brisbane Australia is this normal? also where will we be able to buy some seeds?
I bring my desert rose indoors before frost. Every year it loses it’s leaves and then regrows them in the spring. Is it normal for them to loose their leaves?
do you prune desert roses,, and if so how much??
Seems like everyone has questions and no one has answers. We are raising the Desert Rose from seeds and also have about a dozen plants from one year to three years. We are using the seed planting kit with pellets from Wal Mart. Buying seeds from Thailand through ebay. We trim the older plants and plant the cuttings with root tone. Two grew last year with no special care. We are planting 15-20 cuttings this year. One thing it seems certain. They are desert plants and they like plenty of sun and don’t like to be overwatered. We are still learning.
Where are the answers to all these questions
Hey Kaytee. The seeds will come out as a pod. From what I read, takes a two year or older plant. I have one two years old. No seeds yet. We plan to raise from seeds. Bought from ebay. Coming from Thailand but only received seeds from Canada so far. I purchased a growing system from Wal Mart. Has a heating pad. Soak pellets and place seeds lengthwise ( the seeds look like a piece of straw. I planted a month ago and have 18 out of 20. Most have up to four leaves. I read you can transplant when they get about six leaves. I have another 14 that I planted a week ago. Twelve are up about an inch in one week. We got pots from the Dollar Store. KEEP well drained. We live in Florida with a south facing sun room. We plan to keep the small plants in the sun room and now that winter is over with we will put the larger, over one year, plants outside. Have fun!!!
I have the same question as kaytee on 3/2/10 – where are the answers to all the questions? I would like the the answers to the pruning questions
I read your info on desert roses and it was interesting but incomplee. I would like to know the answers to all those questions that have been asked. I am in Houston Texas and cant even find a place to buy one. I am going to though and would like to know more about it. Should they be kept inside or put out in the sun? I would really appreciate any help. Thanks
I have just purchased 2 desert roses and am looking forward to watching them. But i am wondering they have what looks like some branches coming out of the sides. Do you just leave them or what?I don’t want to harm them in any way. I live in Ohio so I think that I sould keep them in the house. wrong e-mail at top [email protected] thanks
the long thing growing out of the stem is indeed the seed pud. desert rose grows best from seeds than from cuttings. you can wet plant every other day.
yes you can prune your desert rose, infact its a good thing as it promote new leaves
I have 2 desert roses, one has big leaves and the other has small ones. what is the difference? I noticed this morning that the larger leaf one, most of the leaves turned yellow and at a touch they fall off. What did I do wrong?
i have a lot of different desert roses. from red to red and black , to yellow flowers. i use miracle grow, straight and nothing else. i use the jiffy plugs to start them off and later i found i just have to put them in soil. also u can grow the seeds in soil , in a row of about an inch apart.
i use fox farm liquid bloom and growth at firat and then when i start to see blooming starting, i add tiger bloom
i hope thise will help y’all,, as to cut ting them back , i don’t know ,never done it. i wondering myself about that cause my plants r getting tall and top heavey.
a desert rose grower
I also have my desert rose with the seed pods, but I was reading many comments, but cannot find the answer. When these seed pods are ready to be transplanted? I just cut them out of the plant once they come out and open the pod and plant the seeds? I need more information for this process, please. I will also like to know how to reproduce them for cuts and how to do it. [email protected]
thanks,
I have just bought my first desert rose, so I don’t have much experience with them yet. But in my quest to learn the proper care for it I read that they can become leggy when they are not getting enough light, they’ll actually “walk” toward the light. Hope this is helpful! May we all grow beautiful desert roses…
I have a desert rose I read they like to be pot bound to flower more profusely and do better in terracotta pots than plastic. Mine had one big ‘devils horn’ seed pod which when opening i pulled out all the seeds and put into a paper bag to dry out. I have planted half in seed raising pods like cardboard that can be planted again into another pot without disturbing the roots. About half the seed propagated and i now have 9 successful plants in a larger tub and they have about 6 leaves and they are about 3 months old having been planted late Autumn. My mother plant is straggly now, but it is winter and the leaved are parse and spotty, I am hoping that it is just a bit cold now and it will come good in the warmer months
how long after the blooms fall off does it take to get the seed pods everyone that has seen mine wants seeds
my desert rose keeps getting these little catapalla’s my leafes are all getting browen spots and lacy looking what can i do to stop these critters
I recently bought a desert rose and i am having thesame problem as someone else who have asked a question here. On my plant some of the leaves turnes yellow and at a touch they fall off. What is actually happening, was it something i might’ve done wrong?
Is there an answer to that, please?
Thank you!
i have 40 small plants which i have grown from seed have kept them moist untill now they have six leaves now and looking good at stage should i back off with the watering.thank you
I have the same problems with my desert roses as the people who summited these comments or concerns about their dessert roses but were are the answers we seek? These are real problems with these plants and there is not one answer!
Thank you for the info.. I bought one and was confused on how to take care of it.. now I know..
I just bought two pots of desert rose and i aim to take good care of them so i can have them for as long as they live but i need feedback on how to take good care of my desert rose, cause last year i lost mine due to my irresponsibleness, i left them outside and frost got them.
I really appreciate the info just bought one today lookig to try more blooming plants in my collection. Thanks a lot. Kevin incincinnati
hi guys, all your questions here were answered by the owner of this site. desert rose loves to be placed in full sunlight but make sure to water them if you noticed that the soil is too dry or dry. i have a lot of desert rose from Thailand at home (60 desert roses and now they are 142) and whenever i woke up everyday,i can’t help smiling when i see them the first thing in the morning because of their flowers. i have the white and the pink one. it grows well and gives bunches of flowers mostly in tropical areas (SUNNY OR HOT PLACES). mostly, if you are in cold or freezing places or countries it’s quite difficult to see them bloom or see them grow well. but if you experienced to see them bloom once and see that the leaves turns out to be yellowish and starting to fall off, don’t be afraid.because it only means that it will start to have new leaves. but if you’ve been waiting for so long to see it bloom or have leaves in it, start wondering if your place is suitable for the plant to grow.because if it doesn’t acquire much sunlight it needs, i guess it’s like waiting for nothing. take note that even if i live in a tropical country, there are times that my desert roses don’t produce flowers even if i fertilize them.or they have no leaves at all especially when it’s rainy season here in our country.i called them my bald desert roses. what i always do is, i cut the TIP of the trunk when i see that it is dry or rot. and after a few days ,the leaves are coming out again to the place where i cut it. again, no need to worry about everything when taking good care of these lovely plant. all you have to bear in mind that, it’s not about how long the leaves of each plant(its normal), where you planted it (if you planted it in a small pot,it will become dwarf and it will not grow too tall.it’s cute. or even you planted it in a big pot, it will grow tall of course and very thick trunk. ) , what is the process you used to reproduce them (i never tried seed planting, because i do the cutting process.never cut on the mother plant. a big no no. when it has A LOT of small thin trunks coming out on the mother trunk or mother plant, then that is the time i cut it even if it has leaves on it.but make sure that its not too small when you cut it. then after that, if you want to put it in a pot or directly to your garden IN FULL SUNLIGHT , dig about half of the height of the plant and plant it there.of course, make sure that you water first the soil you dig before planting the trunk on it.then water it again. on the next day or after 3 0r 5 days you planted it, sometimes some of the trunks you have planted looks like it will not survive because the leaves are falling and the trunk is turning down and its leaves facing down the soil. i experienced that a lot of times but after how many days with full sunlight and water, they survived and it keeps on producing new lovely beautiful flower UNTIL NOW..c”,)
but take note that it’s like aiming for something you want and do something to have it, and risking the other things or accepting the things that were meant and wasn’t meant for you.
it was like accepting the plants with their new lives if they survived and don’t be regretful while taking risk to try.
i hope this helps. it’s 99.9 % to me.because it’s a nice feeling that all of us who loves to take extra care for this plant will all have smiles on our faces everytime we see them.