Utamaro Flowering Quince

[fredtruck]

My Utamaro flowering quince is blooming now. Last fall, I lopped off about 2/3 of the top because it was too gangly. It has recovered well, though some trunks are a little slow to leaf out. I’m hoping this chop induces ramification. Even so, the flowers are enjoyable, the largest red ones I have.

 

[GrimLore]

That is elegant! Nice picture as well! I do not know about ramification with that cultivar but I do hope it works out. Brilliant blooms indeed

Grimmy

 

[coh]

Beautiful flowers. Keep us posted as to how the ramification develops...it's got a good basic structure.

Chris

 

[Cadillactaste]

Love the flowers...I didn't see it before...but it looks like a good decision you made. For it looks great!

 

[Ryan820]

I love quince!!!! What are you plans for its future?

 

[fredtruck]

I love quince!!!! What are you plans for its future?

Ramification, ramification, ramification...somehow. Quince, as most here know, don't ramify easily, so I'll have to try a lot of things if this chop doesn't do it.

 

[Poink88]

Very nice trunk and base you got there, it looks ancient then the flowers counter it...I love it. I hope you get ramification well.

I am experimenting with mine and seems like to get ramification, you need to prune after the branch have hardened.

 

[fredtruck]

Kyuzo Murata suggests summer pruning of almost hardened off branches, via leaf pruning. I haven't tried this yet, so I don't know if it will work on this cultivar, but I thought I would try it on one branch to see what happened.

 

[edprocoat]

Nice, and the pot is perfect for it.

ed

 

[fredtruck]

Here's my Utamaro Flowering Quince, almost a year later. Some ramification has happened, but it is difficult to see because the quince leafed out much earlier this year than previously. As a result, the flowers are nestled in among the leaves. This tree is one of those that does well under my policy of ignoring it as much as possible. I feed it a lot and prune it...that's about it.

 

[jk_lewis]

Very nice little tree. I'd never heard of that cultivar. If I were still looking for new plants . . .

 

[GrimLore]

Very nice little tree. I'd never heard of that cultivar. If I were still looking for new plants . . .

Flowering Quince or Chaenomeles japonica 'Utamaro'. Utamaro is or perhaps was a well known Japanese Block Print Artist and that cultivar was named after him. It is said to be dwarf but I think they refer to the foliage and not the plant itself. No matter what any Nursery tries to tell you they grow to 3 foot easy

Grimmy

 

[fredtruck]

This quince is indeed named after Utamaro, but more specifically, it is named after the shade of red he used in his prints, which is quite distinctive when compared to reds used by other print makers contemporary with him. The flowers are said to match that red.

 

[Shorty54]

Amazing....I just picked up a Quince today to eventually Bonsai. Seeing yours is pure inspiration. Thank you for sharing....

 

[fredtruck]

The Utamaro has flowered again. As it has gotten stronger, it has had a tendency to repeat bloom. This flush is better than the previous one.

 

[ColinFraser]

Lovely. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Cypress187]

How did you make or process that picture/photo, it looks and feels like a drawing, very nice. Maybe accidental but nice anyway.

 

[fredtruck]

It's not accidental. I begin with an HDR (high dynamic range) photograph, one that combines two exposures. Then, I process it in Photoshop CC, accenting the HDR toning. Then, I run it through Light Room. I sharpen it there, as well as do some other processing, if the picture needs it. Finally, I spend a long time looking at it in Photoshop, making sure that everything I want visible in the picture is actually visible. At that point, if not everything is visible as I want, I may look at earlier exposures, or I may use Photoshop to add more light to a part I want highlighted. Then, I'll copy and paste that portion back into the original picture. I don't always do this, but in a given picture, I might.

 

[barrosinc]

It's not accidental. I begin with an HDR (high dynamic range) photograph, one that combines two exposures. Then, I process it in Photoshop CC, accenting the HDR toning. Then, I run it through Light Room. I sharpen it there, as well as do some other processing, if the picture needs it. Finally, I spend a long time looking at it in Photoshop, making sure that everything I want visible in the picture is actually visible. At that point, if not everything is visible as I want, I may look at earlier exposures, or I may use Photoshop to add more light to a part I want highlighted. Then, I'll copy and paste that portion back into the original picture. I don't always do this, but in a given picture, I might.

Lightroom does hdr now, joins two or more raw files and gives you a raw file equivalent. Time to ditch photoshop.

For the second part, you can use a brush and use the shadow slider.

 

[fredtruck]

Here's my Utamaro at its fullest. It's still blooming like crazy.