Flowering Quince

[mcpesq817]

These guys probably won't ever make great bonsai, but I love them as they put out a ton of flowers in late winter signaling that spring is coming soon

Most of these were purchased from Brent at Evergreengardenworks.com. The O'Yashima flowered for the first time for me, fully opening today, and is one of my favorites.

 

[mcpesq817]

Here are a couple of contorted varieties. The "contorted white" flowered white last year, but this year many of the flowers were pinkish.

 

[Jason]

Beautiful blooms! I have a bunch of these myself. I had them in the ground for about 5 years and just got them in training pots in the fall. Man....are they bushy! I'm going to learn the art of reduction soon. My understanding is you prune back hard after bloom and then again in the late fall to shape. Does that sound right? Anyone have any finished ones they can post?

 

[milehigh_7]

Those are beautiful!

William Valavanis, has a great article that is a sample from his magazine on his site here:
http://www.internationalbonsai.com/files/1708315/uploaded/flowering_quince_article.pdf

 

[jk_lewis]

His last magazine in 2010 was all about Florwering trees. There is a lovely quince on the cover.

Here was mine this year:

 

[mcpesq817]

I have all my quince in pots. Brent believes that they grow just as quickly in pots as they do in the ground:

http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/quince.htm

I haven't really styled mine at all, as they are recent cuttings and I figured it was more important for them to get established and put on a little bulk first. I would say that the toyo nishiki variety seems to be the most vigorous, and puts on length and bulk a lot quicker than the others I have. I even cut off a sucker with a small amount of roots and potted it up, and it has been really taking off.

One cool thing was to see one of my toyo nishikis put out fruit last year. I reduced the number of fruits to two, and they got to about the size of a raquetball before I cut them off. Unlike the flowering, which doesn't seem to sap the strength of the quince all that much, the fruiting definitely slowed growth on the toyo nishiki to a slow crawl. Wasn't unexpected, but in the future, I'll probably make sure my quince don't fruit.

I have the International Bonsai magazine from last year. I also have The Art of Flowering Bonsai from Peter Adams which is pretty informative.

Nice quince JKL

 

[namnhi]

Sorry, don't mean to steal this thread but this tree attracts aphids like no other so what do you do to keep aphids off of this tree. Spray soapy solution every week?
Thanks, NN

 

[Jason]

Your right. I read Brent's posts after they were already in the ground and at that point they'd already taken off. I've never kept them in a pot long-term so I can't compare. They grew well in the ground but they could get away from you quick and the root structure is far from desirable at this stage. I have a toyo Nishiki too, but I've never got that one (actually any of mine) to produce fruit. Some of them barely bloom. Maybe they like pots. You must be doing something right!

 

[Pine Barron]

Bayer Systemic...No more bugs.

 

[mcpesq817]

Sorry, don't mean to steal this thread but this tree attracts aphids like no other so what do you do to keep aphids off of this tree. Spray soapy solution every week?
Thanks, NN

I think I only had an aphid problem once, and I just sprayed them with a hose and that was the end of that.

 

[Jason]

Oh....I forgot to mention that I've never had aphids on my quince. Maybe I've been lucky. Now roses........

 

[mcpesq817]

Your right. I read Brent's posts after they were already in the ground and at that point they'd already taken off. I've never kept them in a pot long-term so I can't compare. They grew well in the ground but they could get away from you quick and the root structure is far from desirable at this stage. I have a toyo Nishiki too, but I've never got that one (actually any of mine) to produce fruit. Some of them barely bloom. Maybe they like pots. You must be doing something right!

I haven't really been doing anything special with them. They get watered and fed like my other trees (I don't do a phosphorous heavy dump in the fall), same deciduous soil mix, and keep in partial shade (more shade for certain varieties). The only thing I can think of that I do differently is repot in fall.

 

[bonhe]

Hi Mcpesq817, you have a very nice collection of flowering quince there.
Bonhe

 

[mcpesq817]

Thanks Bonhe I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I probably have another four or five varieties on my benches. I lost a bunch when I first started in bonsai three years ago. Not sure of the exact reason, but it could have been that I repotted in spring or left them on the concrete floor of my detached garage when I overwintered them. Or, more likely, it could have just been user error. So when I bought a bunch of different ones from Brent a few years ago, I had expected a bunch to die, but they all survived.

I'll try to post more pictures when the others flower.

 

[mcpesq817]

For whatever reason, my quince have flowered like crazy this spring. Here are a few more pictures. I have some other varieties that are about the flower, but hopefully all the rain we have been having won't spoil the flowers.

 

[Jason]

I photographed these for a little "quince inspiration" this last weekend. I took my family (kicking and screaming) to the GSBF Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt on the way through Oakland. Maybe some of you will appreciate these more than they did. Excuse the photography. I had to use my cellphone. (the last one might be a Chinese Quince)

 

[Jason]

One more to make up for the Pseudocydonia sinensis.

 

[Poink88]

For whatever reason, my quince have flowered like crazy this spring. Here are a few more pictures. I have some other varieties that are about the flower, but hopefully all the rain we have been having won't spoil the flowers.

How's this years flowers?

 

[mcpesq817]

A bunch have already flowered, with others loaded with buds. I don't do anything special to get them to flower as abundantly as they do.

 

[Poink88]

Pics please!