Finding a nursery grown quince with a large thick trunk is nearly impossible. The next best solution is to find a quince with a nice single trunk and try to grow it larger. The best solution would be to plant it in the ground and let mother nature grow it bigger for you. I don’t have anywhere to do that, so I purchased Chaenomeles japonica ‘Moned’ or ‘Super Red” in a 3 gallon pot and have been taking care of it for 6 years. I gave it an initial styling 5 years ago and chopped off the lower branches and have been pruning off any sucker growth. The tree has responded rather nicely since then. I have let it grow where every it wanted. I also remove the fruit early in the season, no sense putting any energy into fruit at this point. The tree seemed to want grow rather tall and slant off to one side with branches forming about midway up and up to the apex of the tree. So I had a nice assortment of branches on the tree. I finally decided on what to do with the tree the other day when watering the tree. A semi-cascade slanting style would work with the tree, or at least I hope so. I spent about 3 hours styling the tree and took some photo’s of it the next day. After taking the photo’s I sat outside and looked at the tree again and made a few improvement to the tree. I moved the second highest branch up so it could be seen from the front. I also moved a back branch up and around the back some. Finally I moved the branch directly in front of the tree up and positioned it so it would extend farther away from the trunk and be more in line with the width of the upper branches. I did manage to crack two of the branches and applied cut paste to the worst of the two cracks. I plan on adding additional wire support to the crack branch to prevent it from being bent. The second crack is not very bad I will leave it alone for the time being.
Here are a couple photos of the tree, I will take a couple more photos showing the new branch placement. The flowers will be dark red and hopefully this tree will look really great when in bloom. Right now it does have some color in its fall leaves. Hopefully it will look good from spring to fall. The tree does have some nebari at the soil line.
I have currently picked a nice Iker pot for the tree and they should look great together.
Note the use of a zip tie with an “O” opening at the end of it. Its a great way to anchor pulley wires with out attaching the pulley wire to a pot or root etc. This technique was taught to me by my mentor Ponderosa Pine Master Bonsai Artist Larry Jackel.
Updated 05-03-2020:
The tree was attacked by squirrels in the summer of 2019 and some of the soil and roots were eaten or damaged by the squirrels. The tree had lost most of its leaves and I was not hopeful that the tree would make it. The tree surprised me this spring by leafing out all over the tree and it even has some flower buds on it. I did decide to remove the largest branch on the bottom of the tree. International Bonsai Master Larry Jackel made this suggestion about 4-5 years ago. Well I guess it took that long to sink in! I think the tree looks much better. I did trim the up some and wired in some new branches. I did place a new piece of wire screen over the top of the remaining moss and soil. The tree is currently showing off its red flowers. I have already put up the 30% shade cloth as temperatures have almost reached the 90 degree temperature range. Here are some photos of the tree:
Updated 12-20-2018: The tree was potted into a blue-ish/gray and red pot this spring. Moss was added to the soil at the this time to.
The tree was placed outside under a crab apple tree and left alone all summer/fall. The tree was getting direct sunlight for around 5 hours a day and filtered shade rest of the day. The tree looked good at the end of year and next spring should be exciting to see if it flowers.
Chaenomeles japonica ‘Monet’ or ‘Supper Red’ Quince, simi-cascade slanting style with deep red flowers.
Chaenomeles japonica ‘Monet’ or ‘Supper Red’ Quince, simi-cascade slanting style with deep red flowers.