Someone told me that I'd forgotten my camera at the computer store, and, lo! I have it back now, wheee.

Here's some of the damage I've been doing....

A table full...

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.Green baby pods on a pale yellow mama.

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Red baby pods on a red mama

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a BIG fat pod on a red mama, see my tiny thumb for size.

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These two are prolific! "Moonlight" (a double) on the left, and "Snow White" (a triple) on the right.

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I guess I've gone over the top with this pollinating business. Maybe I'll go find a farmer to marry, so I'll have a field to grow these buggars. Oh, yes, in one of the photos, a pod is beginning to open. I wrapped a bit of sheer curtain around it, and will give it another day or two before I cut it and sort out the seeds. Some of the seeds are big and nice, some are shrivled and have no embrio. You can spot the bad seeds on the left. Do click on this photo to enlarge it, so you can see what I mean by bad seeds, empty, no embrio.
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So glad you have your camera back!

me too! This one is "Siam Purple" that's a good parent. also. I have pods coming along crossed with Mike's 'Purple Rose', which are both double and triple.
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WOW I would just LOVE to have four of those seeds.

Doris, Dmail me----

Looks like you are going to have a bumper crop of seeds,like the Siam Purple,good looking plant.

Melissa, is that a seed pod I see on your white one just to the side of the first picture? Boy am I impressed; you hand pollinated all those by hand huh? Good work.

Yes, Jim. I do everything completely differently than Wilfred. I use a sharp Exacto knife to gently cut open the flower, peel back two of the petals, cut one of the antlers off, then I bring pollen from another flower with a teenie tiny paintbrush. Then I tape the flower closed, and it usually just keeps on blooming like notheing happened.

I guess I should do a tutorial.

Oh, and I wear 4X geezer glasses from the grocery store, and I still squint!

Here's a link to a really good series of photos, that I learned from. Until the end where he says he gets 10-20% success. I figured the pistil dries out or something, so I try to disturb the flower as little as possible. The author is David Clulow, a long time grower/breeder who lives in Venezuela. I wrote to him about my ideas, and he wrote back that he would try my method. That he used to breed orchids by chopping open the flowers.

Click on one of the photos to start the slide show.

http://www.adeniumsindia.com/c...

Great link Melissa

Melissa, I'm impressed!
While living and working in Taiwan I saw these plants for the first time (2003-2005).
Of course I fell in love with them.
Over here in Romania, I tried to grow some from seeds, received some seedlings in trades and well,I only got one to bloom for me and the coming fall/winter I managed to kill it. I guess I kept watering it till I got it inside and well, root rot!
Same happened to another 1-2 year old, same story.
Now I have some "seedlings" from this spring and they are doing OK ... FOR NOW!
I guess I need to double my time zone if I want to grow these care-free!
:)

I am not in the clan that claims these plants are easy to grow. Too little water is much better than too much, then you don't get the growth and blooms! arghhhh!

As far as adeniums are concerned, I find that the less attention I lavish upon them, the better they fare. Some water here and there, Florida rain whenever it falls, MiracleGro when I think about it and leftover orchid bloom boster solution when I think about it and a good drench of BT when caterpillars appear and we're in business. Grow, my pretties, and don't even think of rotting on me! It sounds awful, but whenever I tried anything else, they declined noticeably. I also have an army of little lizards that continually patrol the branches in search of little insects. I think they help a bit.

Take care, all.
Sylvain.

Melissa, I'm breathlessly awaiting your tutorial, I just know you have all sorts of spare time between volunteer work, scuba diving, keeping house and tending garden etc etc Joking aside, I would like to see you do it, especially showing how you tape the bloom when your done.

Hmm, I'll have to take more photos! Sheesh, hundreds of pictures, and not one of a taped flower. Just two tiny thin strips of masking tape around the base and upper part to hold the bloom together. OK, photos Monday.

A Lousy Yellow. (pale. poor flower shape) Not saying I dislike it, tho.