What does the tender plant/root out of dry ground mean? Mosiah 14:2

What does the tender plant/root out of dry ground mean? Mosiah 14:2

Abinadi is still talking to the wicked priests of King Noah, still quoting Isaiah.

The quote could be paraphrased like this: Who believed us, and who will know the identity of the Lord? He's like a tender plant growing in the desert; he's not beautiful or nice to look at, and we won't be attracted to him for his beauty. In fact, more than that, he's despised, rejected of men, he knows sorrows and grief. And we all hid ourselves so he wouldn't see us. He was despised, and we didn't even care. Even though he experienced our griefs and sorrows, we still rejected him, considering him an outcast from God, and cursed.

Elder Bruce D. Porter says in his talk from 1995 called Redeemer of Israel:

In the premortal realm, he had been the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Creator of the earth, the great I AM. From these exalted heights, he descended, coming to earth in the most humble of circumstances that he might be no stranger to our sorrows. Instead of worldly station, he chose to be born in a lowly stable and live the simple life of a carpenter. He grew up in an obscure village in a despised precinct of Palestine. He made himself of no reputation, and was “a root out of a dry ground,” having “no beauty that we should desire him”

There is probably more to the plant symbolism than I understand or can see, but I think that the imagery of a lush, tender plant that is somehow firmly rooted and growing in the middle of a barren wasteland would be surprising, miraculous, remarkable - something that we should stop to pay attention to. It's like a flower growing in the middle of the sidewalk. (tangent: I vaguely remember seeing some passive aggressive person on a reality TV show getting her revenge by filling an obnoxious pothole with potting soil and planting flowers or a tomato plant in it. I thought it was hilarious.)

Jesus Christ lived on earth in a horribly wicked time and place. Maybe the dry ground is symbolic of the wicked environment in which he lived.

Answer:
Jesus's power is self-sustaining. It wasn't dependent on his environment. He's God. He chose to come to this horrible earth. We should notice him.