I was contacted by a very kind forum member who is willing to sell me some tall seedlings that I will use for my braiding experiments. Thanks, R-

I will attempt to tightly braid/plait five Adenium stems together, to form a tall, tower-like trunk, leaving the uppermost parts of the original stems for training into a rack of branches above the tall trunk. As time passes and the five stems thicken, they might eventually fuse-graft. Over the years, the original, individual stems, the branch tips, will continue to be pinched back, and encourage and form a ramified canopy. I will then top-work and graft all branch tips with a scions from one, selected, named Adenium having small, single blossoms, e.g. "Star of Yellow Dream". I happen to like the Tower Adenium style, and that's the "look" I'm shooting for... although my plant will also have a braided trunk.

Adeniums grow very slowly, so it will take years of training... and this undertaking will become a work-in-progress. A major challenge for me, is to keep plants alive and happily growing in NYC, with its lousy Winter climate, and short growing season. Supplemental lighting -during the long, dark months- will be necessary to keep plants growing throughout the year.

So that's my plan. Will it happen? Who knows....but I'll keep my fingers crossed, and try to make it happen. I just wish I was 30 years younger, with more time for these slow-growers.

Frank

NYC/7b

Sounds like a very exciting project, we’re looking forward to see it from the beginning! ):

Elena,

Thanks for the interest.

Way back when this forum was first introduced, there were multiple threads on how to braid multiple Adenium plants and their stems together- to form a "single" but plaited "trunk". Resulting trees are interesting, if you like that sort of thing. Of course, many of the braided trees probably had different flowers blooming from the top branches.

It is a process not for the fainthearted. Adeniums must be bare-rooted and water withheld until turgid stems go limp, like a dried carrot. When stems eventually become soft and bendable, you can braid stems without cracking, if you are lucky. The Adeniums are then repotted, and given good cultural conditions. Your Adenium will resemble those braided "Money Trees" (Pachira aquatic) that have flooded Home Depot, etc.

A search of threads posted around 4-5 years ago by Marie Tran, will lead to some pictures of braided plants, and to many interesting discussions.

I must mention that I have successfully braided 7 separate Adeniums together to form one, very thick "trunk", and grew it until I killed it, from laziness. I left it out just a little too late in the NYC Autumn weather, and frosted the whole shebang to death, by an unpredicted drop in temperature. At that point, I invented some new terms to the vocabulary of profanity. ;)) Now, I'll try it all over again. Not the profanity, but the braiding.

Frank

NYC/7b