I am in US and I've been researching desert roses and searching online for a few weeks. Essentially, I just want to know how people ended up getting their initial 'premium' plant. Are people really investing $200+ per plant? I have more time than money but I feel like I could invest $100 in seed and get 100 standard red blooming plants. Importing a few seeds looks like a 3 month process, but if that is the best way I think I found a 'real' vendor.
I have found no cuttings for sale anywhere so buying a standard base and adding a stem doesn't seem to be how people are getting their prized specimen.
I've read that most seeds online will revert to solid white, red, or pink flowers. I've read that most plants are not self fertile so I'm a little confused how accurate this is. I can't find any listings for 'hybridized' seeds in US. I was hoping people on here might have their 'user names' they sell by listed but that doesn't seem to be a thing.
Most of the sellers on Etsy feel like they are buying cheap seed overseas & reselling in smaller lots without any idea what the lineage really is. Most don't respond to my questions about if/how they pollinated the seed - I just generally get a 10% off coupon. I do see one listing that I tend to believe may be more reliable than the rest but the price per seed reflects that too and I'm little anxious about the purchase. Thanks in advance for any info.

Welcome!

For background, I'm not from the US and don't have access to any local sellers. I ordered my first seeds in 2021 from a seller that was at least in the same country and some from abroad via Etsy. My oldest seedlings will be 3 years in a couple of weeks, so I am still new to this.

I have spent about $160 on a total of 97 seeds, but it should be noted that much of that cost is for Socotranum and Arabicum seeds that cost $5 each and turned out to have very low germination rate (0-25%). The ones I got from Etsy were around $1 each and had a 100% germination rate.

As a result, I have 48 seed grown Adeniums and 4 cuttings.

Of the 4 that have so far bloomed from seed varieties the sellers claimed would have double or triple petals, two have had triple petal blooms and two single.

Adenium seedlings are not true to their parent, meaning that even if the seed comes from a hand pollinated mother plant in a very controlled environment, it might turn out very differently. So unless you buy a plant in bloom, you can't be sure of what you're getting until it's grown up a bit.

Not all of my seedlings have bloomed yet, but of the ones that have, no two have looked exactly the same (the ones that are the most similar in shape and colour - single petal pale pink flowers with darker pink edges - are the ones I bought as Adenium Somalense, and they are also the strongest growing ones).

I hope this answers at least some of your questions.

Adeniums are extraordinary plants and I hope you will come go love them as much as I do!

@tgsplano to the Adenium forum. I have 100+ grafted and seed grown Adeniums but I only paid between $10 to $25 for each plant. I did splurge on one seed grown good sized multi petal Adeniums and I nicknamed her Princessa.



Not sure where you are in US but I live in Tampa, so we are a little bit spoiled here as both Lowe's and Home Depot carry grafted Adeniums. Our Home Depot occasionally carry seed grown adeniums.

Most of the reputable sellers of seeds are in Taiwan but I don't have any experience in buying from them. My hubby gifted me seeds from supposedly multi petals and they are now 2 years old and are starting to bloom but so far I only for single petals pink blooms.

I hand pollinated my grafted adeniums but since I cannot grow them all, I donate them to the members here through victory seeds
https://victoryseeds.com/produ...

From what I learned there are a lot of interests on desert roses seeds. It is just my hobby so I don't ask anything in return as I just enjoy sharing them but I do not have the time to send them to individual members who want them. Victory Seeds has the resources and the system to track orders and ship them. I will have more ripen soon, double, multi and single and I will donate them when they ripen. Feel free to sign up but since they are seeds that I sometimes mix and match for fun and some are open pollinated, there is no guarantee what you are going to get when they germinate.

I have no experience buying cuttings. I haven't seen any cuttings for sale. Per my experience cuttings rot easy, I have very poor success in growing cuttings.

Here's a few from our garden center




I have started growing some from my own seeds but I have yet to see them bloom. Some of my 1 year old have buds.