From someone who never even THOUGHT of staging until reading posts on this forum and seeing the huge difference in overall appearance that good staging creates, I think it's great! It reminds me of the motion of wind blowing across the land causing plants to grow with a lean and the idea that with perserverence one can overcome adversity.

What does the wire do?

Donna

Tom,

If you're growing it for consumption, it will need a larger pot to grow to mastication size.

Seriously, that's a fine job there. and a nice pot, too.

When it really is growing (in the summer) be wary of its gripping tendrils getting hold of a fence, because that's what they love to do.

Donna,

I'm thinking the wire is holding it in that position, until the plant 'takes' to the pot and the finer roots find purchase in the soil. Either that or Tom's really trying to improve his radio reception.

Thanks, Donna...that is EXACTLY the look I was trying to obtain (just kidding - but I am very glad it creates that image for you)! Your description is much more creative than my staging ;-).

The wire across the base is holding the plant and the stone in the pot for now. Hopefully, at some point, I can cut the wire after the plant has had a chance to root into the soil a bit.

Tom

That is so nice it made me bite my lip while easting a peanut butter and jam sandwich.

I'm no good at staging things or bonsai, despite me best efforts. Just don't have the vision I suppose.

I really like the plant too. Very neat.

Ouch! Hope you are okay, bunny.... You should just try it and don't worry about the 'vision'. You would probably surprise yourself.

BTW, at one point today it was 57 degrees in Sudbury...when it was 54 degrees in Baja California! Nice!

T

Curious, Jeff - you haven't ever tasted one of these...have you?

Judging by the sticky, milky sap they exude I imagine they might taste a bit like a cross between kaopectate and milk of magnesia?

T

Tom,

I don't know for sure (no recipes, either), but it's like taro - you have to boil it for hours. I can't remember where in Africa these come from, but perhaps there are some wind-swept ones.

Donna,

You got me to thinking. I wish I could find the exact picture on the Interwebus of the plant's trunk looking like lava poured on the rocks into which is was growing and bent by the wind. It was something like what's in the link (a Pachycormus, like a Fockea a plant raised many times for the roots, i.e. a pachycaul plant / caudiciform) minus the doggy.

And the picture's thanks to Mr. Adenium himself, Mark Dimmitt.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:467549}}

According to Desert Tropicals:

Origin: Namibia, South Africa (North Cape, Western Cape)

Heh. Thanks Tom...though it was actually my tongue that I bit...and I wasn't easting...I was eating. Bloody typos.

Funny thing is I tried to shape a couple things, a Podocarpus into a windswept look and a Ficus benjamina into an informal upright...but they didn't make it...perhaps it was the lack of water that did them in though. >_>

Oh, and yes I made it through the agony.

Nice Tom! You have a photo of before? What size pot is that?

Caudex -

The pot it is in is approximately 13x9 oval...the only other pic I have of the plant is from January 2008, when it looked like this:

{{gwi:467553}}

I found it, surprisingly, at a local nursery. At that time, it was totally upright and the caudex was mostly buried, its vines growing into a trellis.

T