Contorted White Flowering Quince

[fredtruck]

In the last week, my contorted white flowering quince has peaked in blossoms. This morning, I removed most of the flowers you see here, but underneath those, there are still many more buds that will open. This tree is the most dense, heavy bloomer I have among my quinces.

 

[Poink88]

Really nice. I want one!

 

[JudyB]

Nothing like a white flower with that green tinge at the base. Love...

 

[Cadillactaste]

Beautiful...dumb question...since they go dormant...when they bloom can you bring them indoors for a short period to admire them? And if so...what length of time is that?

 

[iant]

"I'm not in the "chop it and start over" school. At least with this tree."

I think I might have to think about that some...

Pretty easy to say "chop!" and not very hard to do the chopping.

I think for my own I might try to move more toward the "Use what the tree has" camp.

Ian

 

[fredtruck]

Darlene, this tree is "indoors" from November to late April or early May. I have a large garage which is temperature controlled, ranging from 50 degrees to 40 degrees. It hovers closer to 40 degrees for most of the winter. It blooms at these temperatures. So, you can bring a quince like this one indoors for a very long time if the space is between 40 and 50 degrees. You can bring it in your house, assuming its temperature is between 65 and 70 for a much shorter time, maybe 3 days or so.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Darlene, this tree is "indoors" from November to late April or early May. I have a large garage which is temperature controlled, ranging from 50 degrees to 40 degrees. It hovers closer to 40 degrees for most of the winter. It blooms at these temperatures. So, you can bring a quince like this one indoors for a very long time if the space is between 40 and 50 degrees. You can bring it in your house, assuming its temperature is between 65 and 70 for a much shorter time, maybe 3 days or so.

Thanks for explaining...yes,bringing it inside your home for viewing was what I was curious about. Once it blooms...is it then no longer dormant? Just curious if a sunroom with tons of natural light would work...for longer periods. But, you answered my question. Thanks!

 

[lordy]

An awesome image fredtruck. Kind of like the branches are forming a protective cage around the delicate blossoms. I almost had luck with a flowering apricot, but not for long...You should be proud of your tree.

 

[fredtruck]

Here it is, a year and a whole lot of growth later. The quince is in a new pot, Yixing, and because of the long extreme cold we've experienced here, a bit slower in blooming. To my mind, the picture shows this quince at its most attractive. The leaves are not fully developed, but are present. There are flowers in various stages of opening and decay, and new buds are present. Enjoy!

 

[Cadillactaste]

Loving the shape of the pot it's in...lovely piece...you sure have added quince to my want list of trees to still add. (My list is rather small...but happen to be flowering varieties)

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Thank you for sharing this beautiful quince. It is delightful. I like the new pot; I've liked a good number of your pots.

 

[fredtruck]

The pot actually came about as a result of Bill Valavanis' suggestion, when I entered this quince in the last National Exhibition, that I change the pot. He didn't have a suggestion as to what pot exactly, leaving that up to me. But I credit him with the impetus for the change. The quince is better for it.

 

[fredtruck]

Here we are in August, another growing season coming to an end. My contorted white flowering quince has had a bang-up period of growth, even more so than last summer's. In part, this is because I defoliated the tree about a year ago. This produces fewer flowers but more shoots the following year. This fact has also allowed me to come closer to realizing my goal with my tree: I intended from the start to create a swirling mass of branches with a definite calligraphic feel.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

I've always had a place in my heart for something that resembles calligraphy in kanji or hiragana. Besides the addition of a certain type of movement, what else might you do for this quince to materialize that concept? Could you share a simple sketch? By the way, how tall is this quince now? My guess is that it's a little over 24 inches from bottom of the pot.

 

[JudyB]

It looks like it grew a ton this year. I wanted to ask if you intended to trim any of that back, as I enjoy the simpler silhouette from March. I think something in between the two will be really good.

 

[fredtruck]

thumblessprimate 1: The tree is actually 20" from the bottom of the pot, and I believe the pot is 5" deep. I hope you'll understand when I say I don't draw or sketch things out as many very fine bonsai artists do. Sometimes I make a photograph and remove a branch etc., but for the most part I work by paying attention to the tree. Every day I look at it, and when it grows or changes in some way, I just watch and see what happens. I usually have a concept, but mostly I depend on what the tree is at the moment. All my ideas come from that: paying attention. Also, as part of paying attention, I make hundreds of photographs, and study them very closely.

So, as for future plans for this quince, I don't really have any. It all depends on what I see as the tree changes, and when those changes meet my notion of what can be done with my particular skill set.

Judy: Yes, after it flowers this winter, I'll be trimming it back, maybe very hard. It just depends. I've looked many times at my early photographs of this tree and there is a kind of rugged simplicity to them that's appealing. The tree, however, seems to want to be as complex as possible [i.e. ramification, difficult and unusual for a quince], so I have to keep that in mind. After cutting it back, even hard, to achieve an ideal form, the quince will be trying to move out of simplicity towards a more complex form. I'll try to make use of that.

 

[JudyB]

Thanks for the explanation, I am looking forward to see where you take this. The way you approach your trees is very like my method.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

I can understand. My drawings aren't great like M5's or Si's, and I sort of just wait for a style to come out of my quinces. I wire and shape them, but it's just a basic concept; something that could change as the quince develops.

Do you have any success reducing the foliage size? Curious if it's even possible. I've not found anything on the topic. I'm not too worried as it seems the quince looks it's best without leaves but with flowers.

 

[fredtruck]

I have only shown this particular quince in a defoliated state. I did that at the Nationals. The truth is, I think I would show it that way almost any time. My general rule for quinces I want to show is: If it isn't in flower, defoliate. While leaves are important for the quince, they lose and replace them all the time. Additionally, the leaves themselves don't seem very durable. They rip, bend, get destroyed in the wind, and on this contorted quince, the leaves get stabbed by the very long thorns. Then they rip and fall to pieces. There is also the problem of fungal attacks, black spots, shot hole fungus, etc. etc. Undoubtedly some people show quince in leaf, but they are probably growing them in very controlled situations I am not able to duplicate.

With all this in mind, I think trying to reduce leaves is not a plan that will have a happy outcome for me.

 

[fredtruck]

On New Year's Day, a single flower opened on my Contorted White Flowering Quince. It was a good way to usher in 2016. As you can see in the picture, there are a ton of buds moving towards flowering. Potentially, I'll have more flowers than ever with this tree.