Jack has recently found the interest of buying on-line. Scrolling through countless products available to order, the anticipation of waiting for the delivery, then the excitement of seeing the mail man stop off to drop a parcel in the mailbox, or better still a courier person deliver right to the door.
What has this to do with the plant above? Well that is a desert rose (Adenium) and Jack’s favourite flower in our garden so he decided to buy another one. When he saw the price at $15 – $20 for a very small specimen in the local nursery, he decided to see if he could find some seeds. Hence a successful search through EBay found a packet of 25 seeds (actually 30 arrived) at $13, free mailing…
According to the advice found on Google they need soaking for 24 hours in warm water.
So in they go. If they sink then they are healthy seeds and ready to plant. Next morning, 12 hours later, about half had sunk. Then that evening, 24 hours later, they were all on the bottom of the glass. So onto the next step. Prepare the soil 50/50 special cactus mix + vermiculite. Then plant in individual pots.
Jack was like an expectant father. He wrapped them in a plastic bag, then stood them on a heating pad. Each morning it was a ritual peek into their nursery bag. Then this morning, 6 days after planting, I heard the excited cry of “I can see them, quick, come and look”. We both stood gazing at that tiny green shoot. I think Jack’s heart swelled with pride (I think that is maybe an exaggeration) But the start of a new life is amazing.
Can you see them? Nothing much to look at yet, but Jack has plans for them…
This plant is about 15 years old. They are amazingly easy care plants as long as they are in the full sun. After seeing the price of those tiny plants in the nursery, I wonder how much this one is worth…
Living in Paradise... 
He’s discovered online buying? He sounds dangerous now. What other hobbies does he have?
He sounds very excited by this new start. I think your garden may be undergoing some more changes.
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Jack dabbles in lots of things, art is one of his main hobbies. The garden is going through a minor revamp. While we were travelling it was left to its own devices, (well more or less) and during the 10 year drought period it didn’t grow much, but the past few years have been very good growing years and it has gone rather rampant
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My daughter is a whizz at finding Ebay bargains- everything from Victorian buttons to kimono material, and plants too, I believe. 🙂 🙂
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Yes Jack has found you can find all sorts of interesting (and junky!!!) things. Bought quite a few things for his art work.
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He could sell them and make loads of money 🙂
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think those are the plans. But he is going to have to wait a long time, they are very slow growing.
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I keep seeing those seed when looking for yucca seed. Adenium seems to be all the rage. I have not grown any yet. That big specimen looks really impressive, more like plumeria than adenium.
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It doesn’t have any scent though. I have so many yucca plants they just keep popping out pups all the time. Mine never seem to flower though, so no seeds from them.
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Well, if they keep making pups, you do not need seed. (Hespero)Yucca whipplei that lives farther south makes huge flower spikes more than eight feet tall, but the larvae of the moth that pollinates them eat almost all of the seed. So, for all the work they put into blooming, seed are extremely rare. They grow almost exclusively from stolons. Even though the blooms are spectacular, we used to collect a few juvenile shoots to eat like humongous asparagus.
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Is that the one that takes years to flower then dies? Did they taste like asparagus?
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Yuccas are not monocarpic (dying after bloom). The related agaves are . . . almost. They do not really die. Only the rosette that blooms dies; then a whole herd of nasty pups comes up all around the dead parent rosette. They can be really nasty and difficult to kill. Yuccsa simply put out a new shoot next to the bloom. Their shoots do taste like asparagus. We slice them into big asparagus patties. The outside is very tough so needs to be peeled off. Yucca glauca has smaller shoots that are more like asparagus, but they need to be peeled too, at least down low. I do not like to take the shoots though because the flowers are so pretty, and they are edible too.
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Oops I think I was thinking of agaves. They are the ones I have in the garden with lots of pups…
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That is a common mistake. They may as well be the same thing. I have small agave. I used to grow a few of the big ones, but was pleased to give them all away! If you remember the old commercials for Chrysler Cordoba with Ricardo Montalban, that motorcourt was one of Bren’ts jobs. Those agaves where wicked to thin out and relocate, but they look great!
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If he manages to raise them then he should definitely sell some of them. I am amazed at the price of plants these days which is why I haven’t bought too many and also take cuttings when I can. The plant next to this beauty looks like a Jade plant or money tree (Crassula ovata). I have one of these (in a pot) and remember one flowering in South Africa. Does yours flower? I don’t think my current one ever has, but perhaps it isn’t big enough yet.
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Yes I think Jack has plans to sell some of them, also is going to have a go at bonsai. Good spotting Jude, yes it is a jade, it is in a pot too and it is about the same age as the desert rose and yes it does have very small pretty flowers every year. I also have another small leaf jade plant that is in the garden and was here when we moved in and is over 6 foot high. I take cuttings too and when I was a garden club member they had a sales bench and a large number of plants are from there plus cuttings from garden friends.
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I have seen some as a bonsai plant, they look amazing. I was tempted to buy one for myself (has to be indoors of course in the winter), but managed to resist.
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They are very slow growing. Jack now has 18 of the seeds germinated and looking good, he checks them constantly
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Good for Jack – I’ve never been successful with seeds but I have the feeling he will be.
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He’s constantly checking them and moving them around to follow the sun. He’s a bit obsessive with them
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Pauline SELL my babies, I will find them good homes when they are adults.
Actually I plan to train them and shape like the ones I saw in a Korean nursery.
It is a whole new learning experience for them and me.
Thanks to you and all our blog friends. Hope you keep posting.
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Those babies are doing very well with your loving care.
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[…] you read my post about Jack’s excitement when received, then planted, the desert rose seeds? Well it is now 4 […]
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Found your post! Gorgeous plant! Wonder if they would survive the winter months here in my home…probably not. Toooooo dark. I will enjoy yours instead!
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They are a real sun worshiper so think they would not survive your winter Leya
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No, not even with special lamp light.
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[…] babies are doing very well. Remember the post about the Desert Rose seeds he bought on Ebay? (check it here) Well they are still in the cradle he made for them but look how their trunks are swelling […]
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[…] Back in November 2017 Jack had a craze for growing unusual plants from seeds. Do you remember his love affair with the desert rose? (see here) […]
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[…] bought Desert Rose seeds on Ebay and he lovingly nurtured them along. I recorded their progress here and as they popped up here.. Well look at them now, one year later… (He is so enamoured with […]
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