Hartinez

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This is a dedicated thread for PAIRING POTS WITH TREES. If you are uncertain on choosing a pot for your tree, then this thread is intended to help with that. Pairing pots with trees, I’m finding, is easier said than done and takes a keen eye to the composition. There are quite a few members on here who are exceptional at this side of the art (@Brian Van Fleet @JudyB @MACH5 @Eric Schrader ) and I’m hoping this thread will become a great resource for ideas or specific questions. Or for people to just read through and get ideas without asking questions.

This thread could also be a great spot for our fellow BNUT potters to chime in with some of their products. (@sorce @Pitoon @Mike Hennigan @NaoTK @penumbra @mwar15 @ABCarve )

Some thoughts and general “guidelines” I feel this thread should abide by, but obviously no one will rake you over the coals if you dont, so this way you can get the best suggestions and advice for your chosen tree.

- TAKE GOOD PICS OF YOUR TREE FROM THE CHOSEN FRONT - this can’t be overstated and is key to seeing the lines color and shape of your tree to help with suggestions. Make sure the tree is pictured at eye level with a neutral background. Included in this could be scale to help give a better understanding of the tree in question.

- PROVIDE POSSIBLE IDEAS YOU ALREADY HAVE - I always feel it helps to give advice when the advisee already has an idea of what they want but can’t decide. Maybe a handful of pictures of pots your already looking at but can’t decide on. Or even just a general shape or size your thinking about. Your budget could also be helpful.

- IS YOUR TREE READY? - Dont be mad if someone says, your tree isn’t ready and needs more development before choosing a pot. Be open to suggestions and ideas, even if its not what you want to hear.

- DOES THIS TREE HAVE A THREAD? - Background on the chosen tree can help. Providing a link rather than a massive backstory could help the advisors with their thoughts!

I hope this thread is of help and is successful, because I feel we can all benefit from its content. A great tree/pot pairing will only help us all take our skills to the next level.

Here is a website also that may help with ideas or potters to look in to.
 

Hartinez

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I’ll go first. This is a San Jose juniper that has gone through a few iterations but has been in my possession since 2016ish. HERE . Its become literati like and needs a pot to fit as such. Here is the tree at current state, a drawing showing next years look with a pot shape i like and a few pots Ive found from American makers. I like the idea of the rougher glaze and a darker clay body, but the lighter colored pot i have pictured also really caught my eye. The pot with the mountainscape may be too much, but it may also be perfect.
 

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Colorado

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What a great thread idea! Pot selection is very challenging for me to wrap my head around sometimes…

My first choice would be #1. My reasoning is that the exposed roots demand a very delicate container. Second choice #2.

Now I am ready to hear from the experts! 😂 :)
 

Hartinez

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What a great thread idea! Pot selection is very challenging for me to wrap my head around sometimes…

My first choice would be #1. My reasoning is that the exposed roots demand a very delicate container. Second choice #2.

Now I am ready to hear from the experts! 😂 :)
1 is def my favorite. I think the cream with browns would look really great. Contrasting and complimenting simultaneously.
 

sorce

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In the first picture...

Note how the crooked pot lip line on the left sends the eye back towards the foliage.

Then in the drawing, without that line, the eye is allowed to wander off the deadwood, into the next display.

That leaves me feeling this tree goes in both directions. I hate "crescent pots", but something like that, with a similar line that crooked pot gives, can negate the leftward directionality of the base, making it dominantly rightward moving.

It may be more difficult, but I believe changing the foilage direction would be better long term.

Perhaps removing the more downward pointing high jin, or removing some mass in the DW all together could help balance the tree itself.

Of the pots..

I hope the glazed one doesn't break when we swipe it off the table.

For me, the horizontal lines of these pots are too straight and numerous to compliment the movement in this tree.

The lips add another line, and, a (vertical)barrier that makes one feel as if this wild thing is being contained. Lips tend to give a feeling of that continued level plane, which doesn't feel like a place you would find this tree. It also puts a line (horizontal) of disconnection. Every horizontal line like that, makes it harder to imagine the vertical scope of the "mountain". If you will, one extreme, is a pancake nebari maple on flat land that can have many horizontal lines. The other extreme, is rock plantings with high cascades where you don't even have to imagine the vertical scope of the idea, because it is present.

I guess this is full circle back to my original thought when reading this thread yesterday....

How is this guy not going to include stands I'm this thread!

It is never just "tree and pot".

How many horizontal lines does your stand have?

I don't think you can answer the pot question without first answering this.

Real Sticklers may consider tablecloth color, etc.

I think I'd like to see this in an Oval ish Nanban pot slumped to the DW side. Simple, maybe half banded, with a rough clay body that has dotted texture more than horizontal throwing lines.

No feet.

This tree has "feet". So the pot doesn't need feet.

I reckon I'll make that pot but I got more.

I gotta unclog a toilet.

Sorce
 

TinyArt

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In the first picture...

Note how the crooked pot lip line on the left sends the eye back towards the foliage.
imagine the vertical scope of the "mountain"
I like pot #1, but once I read & saw this, I can't "unsee" the good effect...
Would be beautiful with/in a rocky slope of stone or a pot sculpted with that feeling.
 

penumbra

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I love pot #1. But of course if the tree was mine it would go in one of my stone age pots. Sure, its a plug, notwithstanding how much I love my pots.
 

Hartinez

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Hadn’t considered a nanban but i love this one you have pictured here. Who’s the Maker? A soldano shredder could also be dope, bit i feel it may be a bit too deep. I also really like the idea of a free form rock or crescent, but i dont always see one i like and when i do its a million dollars.
 

Ohmy222

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#2 for me. I like #3 but it is probably too deep. 4 is too ornate for me and I don't think one would look right with a juniper. Like the pot but not for most conifers.
 

Paradox

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#1 is too shallow imo
#2 might work but still might be too shallow for my taste
I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to plant to deeper. Right now it looks like it's going to fall over with it sticking up in the air on those thin roots and the large mass of wood to one side.
 

Pitoon

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It's hard to judge the size of the pots with nothing next to it to compare it's size. I like the shape of pot #1, but would prefer the pot to be an unglazed dark clay body.
 
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