You want the pot and tree to compliment each other - like an oil painting and its frame. You can absolutely use a glazed pot with a conifer... as long as it's the right glaze and the right pot. If you buy a juniper bonsai from a big box retailer and it comes in a shiny blue glazed pot... you might decide to swap it out for something more appropriate later on.
Thank you. That helps.
This would mostly be true for low fired pottery like earthen ware and terracotta like you mentioned. Many mid-range stoneware and higher fired ceramic bodies like porcelain absorb negligeable amounts of water. Also, because the pots are not traditionally glazed inside, the low fired clays like terracotta would absorb tremendous amounts of water during watering, rain storms, etc.
For bonsai pots, you only use higher fired stoneware. If you don't, and if your pot absorbs water, it will shatter when it freezes.
Well... you could always display a Rembrandt in a red plastic frame. Nothing stopping you. Would you consider it aesthetically pleasing? Of course, you could display an Andy Warhol in a red plastic frame, and it might feel "just right".
I gotcha. I'm just wondering if that "rule" is based on foundational principles of art and design, or if it's based more on recently prevailing cultural conventions.
As someone into ceramics I think a perspective no one is considering is perhaps the ceramics ability to absorb water when unglazed which assists in drainage?
Where glaze is literally glass filling in all the small fine holes in the unglazed product.. that's my immediate thought
What cultural conventions are you referring to? I am referring to a pot complimenting - versus contrasting with - a tree. That is why feminine trees with smooth bark are usually paired with rounded pots with clean finishes. Gnarly old masculines pines are usually paired with angular, strong pots - and some might feature rough finishes to compliment the rough bark of the tree. Delicate fruiting or flowering trees will be paired with delicate, painted or porcelain pots - where the intense colors balance each other. I could go on and on... but the point is the two elements working together to make a whole greater than the sum of the parts. That's why I said: you can certainly have a glazed pot with a conifer... as long as it's the right pot and the right glaze. There's nothing cultural about it.
Following the thread as I’m considering the next pot for my recently potted little JPN. I’ve always liked matte vs. gloss, or unglazed vs. glazed, rustic vs. w/e. As long as base width matches pot depth, I think it’s okay to choose glazed or non. My preference is unglazed.
And by the way - it isn't a sin if you don't have the right pot, or want to pot your tree in a bigger pot in the short term to give it room to grow as a training pot, etc. Good trees are expensive - good pots are too. You will often see people on this site saying "the tree is currently in the wrong pot" or "I need to find a better pot for this tree". Trees change... the pot you had it in five years ago may suddenly not look as fitting, or you may just want to try something new for a change. However I'm just going to say - if you buy your tree at Home Depot and it comes in one of those square blue glazed pots - those pots aren't good for any tree that I have ever seen
Doesn't mean to throw it out - or not use it. But just embrace its ugliness and unsuitability for anything but your beginner trees
You are correct. I worked at Lowe’s and the pots are as you described. I think the garden center gave us their standard little glazed pots for our workshop.And by the way - it isn't a sin if you don't have the right pot, or want to pot your tree in a bigger pot in the short term to give it room to grow as a training pot, etc. Good trees are expensive - good pots are too. You will often see people on this site saying "the tree is currently in the wrong pot" or "I need to find a better pot for this tree". Trees change... the pot you had it in five years ago may suddenly not look as fitting, or you may just want to try something new for a change. However I'm just going to say - if you buy your tree at Home Depot and it comes in one of those square blue glazed pots - those pots aren't good for any tree that I have ever seen
