Question
QUESTION: I recently bought a desert rose plant from my local gardening store and an employee told me that it would be appropriate to keep indoors in a well lit room. I keep it on a window ledge that a few other house plants are kept on. The leaves were all very green and succulent looking when I purchased it, and stayed that way for about a week. All of a sudden in this past week on the lower part of the plant, some of the leaves have fallen off, while some are yellow. The top of the plant still looks healthy and the leaves are still green. I water the plant when it feels dry, its in a pot which has holes in the bottom to let out excess water. When I purchased the plant, it seemed there were a few little flowers starting, and now those are dead. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong?!

ANSWER: Dear Amanda,

I wouldn't worry too much about lower leaves dropping - this is natural - either due to change of environment or just age.  However the desert rose does like sun which encourages it to flower.  If you can find it a sunny spot hopefully it will reward you with more flowers.  It likes regular water, good drainage and should be fed once a week during the growing season.

Just to be on the safe side have a look to see if there are any insects and if so spray with an insecticide which your local store recommends - I'm told that insecticides can damage the leaves of this particular plant if used excessively, so take care.  If there are only a few insects then try washing them off.  

But, hopefully, your plant is just going through a period of acclimitising to a new situation and will settle down soon.

Diana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok thank you so much, I was hoping I wasnt hurting its growth somehow! Just one more question, as far as the plant should be fed once a week during the growing season, do you mean with a fertilizer? If so, do you recommend any particular kind? The growing season I'm guessing would be the summer months? Maybe may to september?
Thanks again!

Answer
Hello Amanda,

Yes I mean with a fertiliser.  I use Phostrogen in powder form but I don't know if that is available in the States.  I am sure your local garden centre or store can recommend either a general fertiliser or perhaps one especially formulated for flowering plants.  I only use a general fertiliser on all my plants be they flowering, non flowering, tomatoes, etc. to make life easier for myself - and cheaper!  

The normal growing season is in Spring through Summer - the months you suggested are fine however, I believe the desert rose sometimes flowers during the winter so, if you are lucky enough to get some flowers during that season then by all means give your plant a helping hand with an occasional feed.

Hopefully you will soon have flowers on your plant.

Diana