Adenium Obesum is known as Flower of Prosperity to the Chinese (Fu Kwai Fa in Cantonese) and widely known as Desert Rose. It can be propogated using stem cuttings or seeds.



The Adenium Obesum I have in my garden has flowers which are pink at the sides and white in the centre. It blooms whole year round. However, when it rains heavily, the flowers will drop to the ground due to the big rain drops.

I got this plant as a gift at a marriage enrichment seminar that Kelvin and I attended in 2004. At that time, it was just a baby plant. I brought it home and place it in my dry kitchen. One day, the plant seemed to look unhealthy with not many leaves left. A friend suggested that I should relocate it to an outdoor spot. After a week, it immediately sprung back to live. This is really an outdoor plant!

Since the plant has been moved outside, I repotted it. I used a flat pot to hold the plant so that the thick roots can be exposed more. This is how most gardeners prefer. They say that the plant’s value is in the roots. The bigger the root the nicer it is. Periodically, I will cut off the stems as they can grow tall which doesn't make the plant look so nice.


The plant is very easy to take care as it can tolerate lots of sun and water as we have here in tropical climate. But nowadays, due to the inconsistency in the weather (suddenly very hot and suddenly raining heavily!) the plant is shedding leaves while flowers are dropping off. When the weather is more moderate, the plant will grow better. The more sunshine it takes, the better it will be!