Heehee, the first new pic is the same hideous Adenium that in the earlier pics I 'found' its caudex! (Just shows that even if you think a seedling is ugly now, it may turn into something beautiful like this! Although I didn't think it was ugly at the time!)I think I chopped the top of it the next day after the pic was taken. My Adeniums seem to have branched with out any help but I think I took the top off most when they where about 2-3 months old, but only did about six to try and judge what was the best option, (to chop or not). As for my results, I'd say that the side branches grow faster and larger if you remove the middle one and when they are the age mine are they look nicer because they are more even. I will try and find some pics that show this. In summer I watered them everyday as they dried out everyday (I had them in full outdoor sun), and fertilized them with liquid cacti and succulent food once a week. Otherwise I don't know what made them branch, but the ones I raise from seed myself often branch quite early. Please remember that although I have done a lot of online research into growing Adeniums my oldest is just over a year old so I am no expert! Thanks deanie and kaktuskris, I've put a lot of effort in to my babies so its nice to have them admired :P. And deanie your babies will get there, I have no doubt yours will be just as nice! I couldn't find any pics that show good chopped/non chopped Adenium examples but here are some group photo's anyway that might be interesting to some :P. I haven't chopped the top off any of the younger ones (except for a few that had mites earlier) as it is winter here now. Eeeppppp, its so exciting sharing these pics with people all around the world whole love adeniums just like me!!! And I love seeing other people photo's too. So post away everyone!

The crazy weather continues here into late August. Normally by now most everything is burned to a crisp except for the things that have had copious amounts of water. We had an almost unprecedented amount of rain over 2 + months which did drown out a few of my tomato plants and caused lots of yellow leaves on the rest of them. Now that it has turned off hot and dry, with my soak hoses in place I am pleased with lots of on up toward the tops of the plants like on this Cherokee Purple and this . I also practiced taking cuttings and rooting them which was successful with Big Beefsteak and which is doing quite well and has many tomatoes on it. Since I did not feel that the Mr. Bruno from Australia got a fair chance due to too much water, I did save seed from the few that I did get, planted some to test germination, (which was excellent) and have planted a couple of to give them another chance this fall. Right now, it looks like this may be a good year for a fall crop of tomatoes, if I can keep the stink bugs under control. I do not see nearly as many of them now that the ripe tomatoes are gone and there are no more ripe figs left on the fig tree, hopefully most of them have moved on or died off. Bill P.

Milkdud - sounds like you are handling all the changes in your life with a "cast iron" will. LOl Been thinking of you and hoping you were okay. Welcome Jane - Hope you join the "club". Tell us about yourself. Tikanas - I need your snail mail address. Haven't seen you post in awhile? Hope everything is all right. DeeMarie - I see that you are off to NC soon. Have a great time. NHSuzanne - Have a great weekend! Ivamae - I have some novelty yarn that I bought to make those fancy scarves that were popular for a few years. But I am a "one-knit" wonder and now have no use for the rest of the yarn. Do you have any use for "fancy" yarns? I can give you a better description of what I have if you think you could use any of them. Jan - Sounds like you had a nice birthday. Isn't 60 the new 40? LOL Donna - How are those puppies doing? Hi Raeanne and Besh and anyone I missed. We are having a garage sale this weekend and DH is out getting us some extra tables. I really didn't want to participate this year, but DH convinced me we had enough stuff to make it worth our time. I have things gathered, but need to start pricing and organizing. The weather looks good, so hopefully we will get the crowds. Does anyone have Tikanas' email just in case she doesn't see this? Later, Marci

What good looking boys!!! I was one of those weird Momma's that always hated to see my kids start to school!!