A Brief History of Raising the Roots of my Utamaro Flowering Quince Clump
Camellia Forest Nursery says of the Utamaro cultivar of flowering quince:
(zone 4-9)- Named after a famous (in Japan?) print maker, this Japanese Quince features bright but dark 1 1/2" wide orange-red flowers in early to mid spring. The spreading form of this plant is attractive with many short branches. Very suitable specimen for Bonsai use. Prefers full to part sun and rich well-drained soil. Though we were under the impression 'Utamaro' is a dwarf form, our plants have great vigor and have grown to over 2' tall in under three years. [4'T X 4'W]? Maybe larger.
I began this clump in 2006 with four Utamaro cuttings from Brent @ Evergreen Gardenworks. I wired together four cuttings. I hoped they would fuse right away and then I could undertake the work of building a trunk.
Building a trunk? What am I talking about?
One of the primary features of the flowering quince plant are the very kinked and twisted roots they display. On a nursery plant, these roots are buried. When beginning a clump of a number of cuttings, I leave the roots buried for quite awhile so they can both get stronger and fatter, and also get entangled with the roots of the neighboring stem.
By 2011, the roots of all the cuttings had formed a very solid mass, and I began planting the A clump higher at every repotting, uncovering the roots. Here is what the Utamaro looked like at that point:
By 2011, the roots of all the cuttings had formed a very solid mass, and I began planting the A clump higher at every repotting, uncovering the roots. Here is what the Utamaro looked like at that point:
You’ll notice in this picture that a number of things have changed besides the roots being raised.
First, the clump now has a different number of stems. I’ve found that when I make clumps from a number of cuttings, until all the cuttings are fused, there is a lot of competition between the cuttings resulting in the demise of some of them. In this image, I’ve added 5 more cuttings the previous year. Not all of them will survive.
Second, growth is gangly and not very attractive. A couple of years after the photo above, I cut the tree way back, very hard, in order to correct the situation.
Here is what the Utamaro looked like after the pruning. I had just repotted the tree, and I had raised the roots to about half of their present height.
What is the difference between raising the roots and creating an exposed root design? Not a lot, I suspect. My design here calls for the roots to be raised about 2”. An exposed roots design may raise the tree 6” or more.
Last week, I was poking around the roots and I noticed some areas were really wet, not a good sign. I continued working, broke off some rotted roots, and realized I had a great opportunity to finish my design. This picture is of the tree today:
You'll notice many of the roots have fused into a stump-like structure.
. Yellow or original white pot is nice contrast.
