Do you bonsai your adenium plants? Do you know that pot selection is very important in creating the proper bonsai look and to get the desert rose to grow wider caudexes?
***** WAIT DO NOT SCROLL DOWN THE PAGE. READ THE ARTICLE FIRST AND SEE IF YOU CHOOSE THE SAME POT *******
I just replanted a few adenium plants at our nursery to help clients understand pot selection and how to start adenium bonsai plants. I used desert rose a plant that had problems a several months ago (rot areas) but have recovered so the bonsai adenium plant will already have some character. Do you see the healed area on the side of the adenium plant?
The plant in the first image has NOT been bonsai wired yet. It was growing in the small oval pot that is about 3″ deep and 6″ inches wide (bottom pot in image) . All the roots you see were under the soil line and the caudex is about 2″ across.
Now, look at the pot selection and see which one would you use? One option is a shallow about 1.5″ deep but longer pot and the 2nd desert rose pot option is one about 3″ deep but not as long. Both of the pots are Bonsai pots.
Think about orientation of the desert rose plant before you determine which pot you would use. Do you want to make a adenium plant canopy tree, wind swiped, forest or hanging. Yes, if you are into bonsai you can use the fancy words such as hang kenjai, sokan, moyogi, etc. but for many of us using simple terminology helps when starting out and if you are like me I always use simple terms even after many years of doing bonsai plants.
Basically, ask yourself what do you like and how is the plant currently growing. There is no right or wrong in your final plant look – just what is pleasant to your eyes. I am not a bonsai expert by any stretch of the imagination. I just look at the adenium plant and experiment with it. Keep it fun and simple is my motto. Yes, I do wire some of the adenium plants especially when I want to make a canopy type plant but I do not always wire. I do not plan to wire the plant in the image for now.
In the next image you will see what I selected and how the adenium plant was oriented to give it a more interesting bonsai appearance.
OK, we are far enough down the page to give you the next image of what pot I selected:
I selected the shallow pot and then added an accent rock to the desert rose bonsai scene. I wanted the adenium plant to look windswept. I exposed more roots to let the image flow from one side of the pot to the other as if the desert rose plant is being pushed by the wind.
I tried the accent rock in three places and I like it under the trunk of the adenium plant the best. Is this the pot you selected?
Next year I plan to crop the upper main branch to create more branches to match the adenium bonsai plant lower branch to give it more balance.