ADENIUMS AT TROPICA NURSERY - Insights from 2004

The explosion in interest in Adeniums is primarily due to the selection of superior cultivars and the breeding work undertaken to give us hundreds of hybrids.

EUPHORBIA MILII CULTIVATION

The Euphorbia milii hybrids in cultivation are a domesticated lot and though technically succulent, they require growing conditions more like tropical foliage plants than typical Cacti & Succulents.

ADENIUM CULTIVARS & HYBRIDS: CLASSIFICATION

The following classification system is a practical one and will work with all the cultivars that I am aware of at present. It envisages breaking up all Adenium selections into four broad GROUPS; these are based on species expression in the selection

ADENIUM CULTIVATION

Adeniums are basically long lived, succulent perennials from tropical regions. They are not, generally, desert plants. More over, the cultivars and even species in cultivation today represent a "domesticated" selection- only clones that could take the wetter conditions under cultivation survived with the result that remaining plants are even less happy with arid conditions than wild populations.

ADENIUM SPECIES: NOTES & OBSERVATIONS

Many books, articles and websites already give a detailed account of the various species and subspecies so I will restrict myself to a few comments based on my own experiences:

ADENIUM PROPAGATION

Adeniums are relatively easy to propagate. Getting adequate amounts of vegetative material is one of the major limiting factors to rapid increase of a selected variety, the other being the need to maintain the form and character that is the raison de etre of Adeniums.

ADENIUM SEEDS

Adeniums are easily grown from seed. It was the most common means of propagation in the 80's and is still used to raise millions of plants.

ADENIUM PROBLEMS

Adeniums, if grown well, are remarkably free of problems (unlike a plants like, say, Hybrid Hibiscus). Many of the commonest problems can be prevented by proper culture in the first place.