Toyo Nishiki Improved Forest

[discusmike]

I could never get the leaves in scale with the tree with my toyo,thats gonna be cool looking in ten years

 

[bonhe]

Some interesting things are happening with the flowers.

View attachment 181933

Thanks for sharing. Very beautiful! Mine did not fully wake up yet! It may be ready in few weeks.
Bonhe

 

[fredtruck]

What a surprise Toyo Nishiki Improved has been! I never expected a show like this.

 

[JudyB]

Awesome Fred, it's so nice.

 

[Carol 83]

So pretty, I have one on order, can't wait to get it now!!

 

[fredtruck]

Exactly one year later from the post above:


This year, the red flowers came first and white flowers, or whitish flowers have come last.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Exactly one year later from the post above:

View attachment 232578
This year, the red flowers came first and white flowers, or whitish flowers have come last.

Very nice! Both mine from Brent only produce reds.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Great colors Fred! Delicate composition.

 

[bonhe]

Exactly one year later from the post above:

View attachment 232578
This year, the red flowers came first and white flowers, or whitish flowers have come last.

Very nice ! Thanks for sharing

Very nice! Both mine from Brent only produce reds.

I think this is the way it is. The red flower is much stronger than the white. You will be lucky to have the white flowers ?
Thụ Thoại

 

[fredtruck]

Here is the other side of the forest:

 

[fredtruck]

Hidden, under the leaves, I found this: 2 red flowers and 2 white flowers on the same branch.

 

[n8]

Very nice, Fred.

 

[bonhe]

Hidden, under the leaves, I found this: 2 red flowers and 2 white flowers on the same branch.

View attachment 233055

I know how you feel now ?
Thụ Thoại

 

[fredtruck]

For those attracted to flowering bonsai, the Toyo Nishiki is irresistible. Most likely, this is due to the red, white and pink floral display that comes each spring. Also included with this beautiful quince, and a number of problems: 1) Internodes (space between the buds) tend to be long, making for gangly bonsai, instead of the compact forms favored today, and 2) While white and pink flowers are standard, the red flowers are notoriously difficult to generate. There are different theories as to why this is so, but for the enthusiast like myself, I just want the flowers. Of course, grafting branches that have already produced red flowers is one approach to the problem, but the value of the tree is less than if the red flowers appeared spontaneously. According to critics.

In Japan, there are cultivars of Toyo Nishiki that have all 3 colors of flowers present from the start, but these cultivars are not readily available in the US. Then, Brent Walston of Evergreen Gardenworks offered his Toyo Nishiki Improved in 2013. I have been working with this cultivar since then, mostly in the form of my Toyo Nishiki Improved Forest. Here’s what Brent says about his offering:

“The flowering is variable and quite unpredictable. Some branches … will be mostly red flowers, others mostly pink and white, but nearly all will also have multi-colored flowers as well. “

I find this description to be true. It is the multi-colored flowers that sets this tree apart. Additionally, the internodes can be managed easily by judicious pruning, and the tree ramifies reasonably well.

 

[just.wing.it]

Its like a weird mix of chaos and beauty....
I love it, Fred.....well done, sir.
Keep it going strong!

 

[Adair M]

Fred, I love toyo nishiki, and especially the red flowers! But, I think this would benefit from letting it just letting it grow for a few years.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

For those attracted to flowering bonsai, the Toyo Nishiki is irresistible. Most likely, this is due to the red, white and pink floral display that comes each spring. Also included with this beautiful quince, and a number of problems: 1) Internodes (space between the buds) tend to be long, making for gangly bonsai, instead of the compact forms favored today, and 2) While white and pink flowers are standard, the red flowers are notoriously difficult to generate. There are different theories as to why this is so, but for the enthusiast like myself, I just want the flowers. Of course, grafting branches that have already produced red flowers is one approach to the problem, but the value of the tree is less than if the red flowers appeared spontaneously. According to critics.

In Japan, there are cultivars of Toyo Nishiki that have all 3 colors of flowers present from the start, but these cultivars are not readily available in the US. Then, Brent Walston of Evergreen Gardenworks offered his Toyo Nishiki Improved in 2013. I have been working with this cultivar since then, mostly in the form of my Toyo Nishiki Improved Forest. Here’s what Brent says about his offering:

“The flowering is variable and quite unpredictable. Some branches … will be mostly red flowers, others mostly pink and white, but nearly all will also have multi-colored flowers as well. “

I find this description to be true. It is the multi-colored flowers that sets this tree apart. Additionally, the internodes can be managed easily by judicious pruning, and the tree ramifies reasonably well.

View attachment 286919

This year, my Toyonishiki Improved from Brent has suckers from 2019 that bloomed. For a while the cuttings from Brent only bloomed red, but from the suckers I now have the other colors. For my purposes, I may remove the suckers or get rid of them. I'll keep only the reds for grafting.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

This year, my Toyonishiki Improved from Brent has suckers from 2019 that bloomed. For a while the cuttings from Brent only bloomed red, but from the suckers I now have the other colors. For my purposes, I may remove the suckers or get rid of them. I'll keep only the reds for grafting.

I love all Chaenomeles, flowering quince. Your tree is no exception, I love it.

To the best of my knowledge, the point of 'Toyo Nishiki' is the random flower color variations. If I understand it right, in Japan, the "best appreciated" flowerings are where the flowers are like billowing clouds of colors, with the white being on the upper surfaces, and the pink and reds like the shadows in the clouds, appearing between the pillars of white and below the pillows of white flowers. All very poetic. In Japan, I surmise, selecting flowers only happens on really well developed, large bonsai, of venerable size and age. Not more average material the ''Common Man" like ourselves would have access to. I do believe the "ideal standard" for 'Toyo Nishiki' is to have all 3 flower types, and the white flowers are supposed to dominate. Selecting for only red ruins the conformation to type of the cultivar. Now there are dozens of of flowering quinces that have plain red flowers. My point is I would encourage you to preserve conformation to type, as there are relatively few cultivars of flowering quince that do the multiple color pattern. Most are single color cultivars.

To get technical, I believe if you select "red only" long enough, to the point your branches no longer revert to white or pink at all, it is supposed to be given a name different than 'Toyo Nishiki' because it no longer flowers like 'Toyo Nishiki'. But of course, this is just "nit picking". Its unlikely you will get it to the point that it never gives. white flowers.

Though if it were mine, I would try to keep it so that at least half the flowers were white, and the few red ones then would really "pop" visually.

RIght now I have 'Chojubai', 'Minerva' and 'Iwai Nishiki', all are solid red or red-orange. The 'Minerva' is fluorescent light red, 'Iwai Nishiki' is double, and deep red, and 'Chojubai' is a scarlet orange red. Red is a common color for flowering quince.

 

[vp999]

Hi Fred! Beautiful forest, I just bought my self one today, what is the recommended soil for them? Thank you.

 

[fredtruck]

My Toyo Nishiki Improved began its life as 5 cuttings. I originally called this tree a forest, because I viewed the cutting as separate. Now I view them as joined, but instead of a forest, I call it a thicket.

Brent Walston has had some difficulty with the Toyo Nishiki Improved, because apparently the stock plants have reverted to their original form.

With my tree, there have been changes but nothing quite so severe as what has happened to the stock plants. My tree is not a pure Toyo Nishiki, because the colors of the flowers aren’t pure red, pink and white.

My tree is beautiful to look at, so I’m intent on enjoying it for what it is, no matter what its name is.