Recently, I saw some dusty miller species that had been grown and trained into a small treelike shape - it had been encouraged to form a thick central stem with foliage at the top. I'm not sure how old it was, nor what species, but the leaves seemed the traditional lacy variety.

Seeing as how I live in a dorm room for a fair bit of the year and I have a northwest-facing window, I figured this plant would be ideal, since it's typically full shade. I have african violets that thrive underneath my full-spectrum desk light, but I'd like to cut back on light useage.

Anyway, does anyone have any idea how to train this plant up? Has anyone grown it? I can't find any information on its response to pruning/shaping, nor how fast it grows. I'm not currently in an area to go observe or buy one, either.