It is an amazing plant! I'm guessing the combination of growing in soil, PLUS hardly ever watering is what works there. If she watered it more it would get unhappy, surely?
Another guess is that the plant may have a lot of roots that are up above the soil, if you peeked inside all those flowers and foliage. Perhaps it's just 'anchored' in the pot by some roots or its own weight. Our humidity and warmth take care of a lot of its needs.
This advances my "theory" that I need to grow my favorites into huge specimen sized plants so that by the time I'm old and feeble, they'll be taking care of themselves.
