I came across an article about my new found adenium farm that locals may find useful, I wasn't aware that he breeds scented adenium, now I guess I have to go and buy at least one more, I also wasn't aware that there was such a thing as an adenium counsel and that he is a member. Hope you find this interesting.
It's hard to believe this 53-year-old man who works so gently with plants in his Southwest Ranches nursery can also be a pit bull of a lawyer who has lost only three of the hundreds of cases he has tried in 17 years.
His plant passion is the Adenium, or the desert rose. McKee is one of the few Adenium breeders in the United States and a founding member of the World Adenium Society.
"People love them because they have a personality," he says. "They have an almost animalistic quality in their twisted trunks and can be as heavily flowered as azaleas. But most of the people buy them for the base, not the flowers. They are like living sculpture. They seem like they want to come to life and walk away."
McKee's law speciality is toxic exposure and contamination cases caused by agricultural, environmental and chemical sources. He fights for people and companies who have been injured or harmed by defective or dangerous products.
"Someone once told me that I am the best of friends and the worst of enemies," he says, sitting on the patio of his second home that shares 2 1/2 acres with the nursery. (His eastside home is in Hollywood.) "I will give you the shirt off my back, but if I am wronged there will be payback. If a client is wronged, I make sure justice is done."
Kelly Hancock, a friend and law partner, describes McKee as "one of the best attorneys in chemical cases in the United States." Hancock has worked cases with him and has dined with McKee and his wife, Angie, at their home.
"He is a family man, a lawyer and a nurseryman, and in every area he has done extremely well," Hancock says.
McKee also has done well in his nursery, Lucky Sumo Adeniums.
Although Asians are considered to be in the forefront of developing Adeniums, Jesse Durko calls McKee one of the best breeders.
"He is a first-class grower. His main contribution is developing fragrance and doubles," says Durko, who operates his namesake collector nursery in Davie.
McKee is developing plants with blue flowers, dwarfs and fragrance. 'Sumo's Scentsation' has pink flowers and a baby powder smell. Some of his best reds include: 'Sumo's Smile,' 'Sumo Angie's Passion' and 'Angie's Sumo Sweetheart.' Multi-petaled flower cultivars include 'Amazing Thailand,' 'Black Ambassador' and 'Zeus.'
If you google Lucky Sumo Sanctuary you should get his face book page and other stuff concerning him and his ability, I found him very impressive, not only for his talent as an adenium expert, but his willingness to take time to show me so much and for an attorney to also have degrees in horticulture is I think great. About your camera, have you checked out hock shops to buy another. With so many cell phones having cameras, I bet a used one would be less then having one repaired. I'm in the process of digging up so many adenium I grew from seed and thought they were "bottle" types only to find that under the earth were great caudexes. My intention was to throw them out, now I'm putting them in pots and putting the pots under the soil. In the soil because of my fear of pots blowing through some ones window if we get a hurricane or severe tropical storm, plus it's a pain to go out picking up pots that have blown over. It will also be much easier for me to raise them up once a year. Bob has many of his in what I would call an bonsai pot, very shallow. Do you know the trick for that? It's gotta have to do with trimming the roots. Whatever it is, I want to try it. Sorry for being so long winded but, hey, it's been a long time. Tell me if you find Bob's page.
I see a road trip in the near future.
