David I thought about growing this when I first discovered it but I read somewhere just to get any decent size at all takes up to 20 years. Before I gave up on the idea I thought it would look neat in a hanging basket. Good luck. You have a lot of patients to try something like this. It is an interesting plant that you can be sure you will be the only person on your block with one

By the sound of it I agree

Hehe. I know all about patience - I do Bonsai.

And yeah on the growing strange things for my Zone and particularly my city. Myrh, Hardy Banana, Frankincense, Bauhinia, Bay laurel, Agapanthus (I could go on with another 50 or so ) - not exactly Lowes plants here

There is one peep here at ATP who lists this plant. I tried to rattle his cage earlier to no avail.

Plantsmylove said:Good luck with the seeds I think it's cool you are growing strange plants I myself like amorphallus

Well - I think that is one pretty weird one too! Does it bloom for you? Outdoors in Summer & indoors in winter?

I'm currently hoping to find an heirloom squash called Brazil

Huh????

It's officially commerically extinct according to Amy goldmens compeat squash

As for the amorphallus yes they do bloom in spring but only after a few years they smell like rotting flesh

Well there is one advantage to growing a plant like this . You dont have to worry about messy cleanup from leaf drop LOL!!!!

From all of them that I have seen, they appear pretty rasty all the time during their whole leife. But yeas, it only has two true leaves.

Seeds arrived today. Yippee Will mix up a special batch of media and get them planted in next few days.

Please keep us apprised of developments.

Hope it goes well for you personally I wouldn't based on what you gave but okay


Corpse flowers are great BTW

David , how long have you been doing Bonsai . It is something that I am very interested in and would love tips on how to do this if you have time to spare sometime.

Heather....

Just 3 years. I am very much a neophyte and do not spend a lot of time on it. I am still at the stage of growing from seed to start and have < 20 trees. Some folks buy theirs - I want to do the whole thing start to finish. Wish I had started 40 years ago though.

I really could not offer anything that is not out there and much better - books and web sites. You can get books cheap at Amazon.

That is where I bought some of my tools as well. One can spend, like anything, a lot of money on tools.

Some of the places I learn from and use:

http://www.bonsaigardener.org/

http://www.ausbonsai.com.au/fo...

http://www.stonelantern.com/ Have bought tools and wire from them.

http://bonsaibark.com/

(Thanks again for the seeds - planted some today. )

LMFAO Found these on AliExpress $ 28 for 100 seeds. Their plant descriptions are a hoot - bonsai (a class they use for so many inappropriate things), annual, living room hahahhahahhahahhaaaa

Think I will pass cause I would not trust tht these would be the correct seeds. I have bought a few seeds on AliExpress. Super cheap. Not for the faint of heart or newbies.

Product Type: Bonsai
Use: Indoor Plants
Brand Name: seed
Cultivating Difficulty Degree: Slightly Difficult
Classification: Novel Plant
Full-bloom Period: Spring
Type: Blooming Plants
Flowerpot: Excluded
Location: Living Room
Function: Air Purification
Size: Mini
Applicable Constellation: Virgo
Climate: Temperate
Style: Annual
Model Number: seed
Variety: seed
name: seed
is_customized: Yes

David , have you tried to bonsai a ficus ? They would be pretty amenable to the process I would think .

I would love to try my hand at it but figure it is too long a process. I would never get to see the finished product.

We don't realize that some trees grow fairly fast ....and would it show it more quickly in a bonsai ?. When a maple takes 50 years to mature normally , in a bonsai situation ,would there be a lot of noticeable growth . I would think as the tree doesn't have to concentrate on upward growth because one keeps it cut back that it's energy might be focused in it's root growth, trunk thickness etc . By that I mean does the tree thicken out faster , mature faster when this parameter is eliminated . . Is this true in your experience? I am not sure if I am making myself quite clear in my meaning here .

Hi David-
I had a little expedition to Powell's Bookstore in Portland, the biggest used bookstore I have ever seen. This photo is only one isle of the gardening section, which does not even include trees and botany! I got this old book.
There is an essay about your Welwitschia! He calls it a tree, trunk growing 1 foot tall, four feet wide, taproot 15 feet deep.
It grows in the fog desert, and gets moisture from the fog, as it does not rain there. How are you going to keep it dry? How about a plexiglass roof on four posts? Or a centerpiece in a greenhouse? I assume it requires full sun.
Apparently the local people call this plant otji-tumbo, which means "Mr. Big".
I will follow your Welwitschia journey, for the next thousand years ;-)

David have you seen this site - http://www.plantzafrica.com/pl...
Excellent article w/ in depth detail on growing from seed?

signet said:David , have you tried to bonsai a ficus ? They would be pretty amenable to the process I would think .

I would love to try my hand at it but figure it is too long a process. I would never get to see the finished product.

We don't realize that some trees grow fairly fast ....and would it show it more quickly in a bonsai ?. When a maple takes 50 years to mature normally , in a bonsai situation ,would there be a lot of noticeable growth . I would think as the tree doesn't have to concentrate on upward growth because one keeps it cut back that it's energy might be focused in it's root growth, trunk thickness etc . By that I mean does the tree thicken out faster , mature faster when this parameter is eliminated . . Is this true in your experience? I am not sure if I am making myself quite clear in my meaning here .

Ficus is a very popular species used in Bonsai. Do an Internet search. Some very neat ones. My seedlings died and I did not start others. :(

Regarding long process et cetera. Yep - me too. I don't care.

You are very clear and yes that is more or less the case.

I just started 2 years ago, so I have very little experience. But regarding trunks growth I have a Myrh and a Frankincense that are both growing relatively large trunks. The plants are only ~ 15 or so inches and trunks ~ 5/8ths inch.

One of the keys for Bonsai is getting a tree that has small(er) leaves. A couple of my best specimens are Bauhinia with very small leaves. They will be neat looking even when full grown. They are 2 YO and ~ 12 ".

jmorth said:David have you seen this site - http://www.plantzafrica.com/pl...
Excellent article w/ in depth detail on growing from seed?

Yes. I wanted to buy my seeds from them - they were out. I have bought a lot of stuff from them.
Thanks for thinking of me. That is a good article.