Adeniums are basically long lived, succulent perennials from tropical regions. They are not, generally, desert plants. More over, the cultivars and even species in cultivation today represent a "domesticated" selection- only clones that could take the wetter conditions under cultivation survived with the result that remaining plants are even less happy with arid conditions than wild populations.

For a group as tough as Adeniums, for all practical purposes, the only way to kill established plants is to provide a combination of wet and cold or to over water them in a sticky, poorly draining medium. Once night temperatures go below 10 deg C, plants need to be kept quite dry or they will rot.