Keels Quince

Forum for discussion of Flowering and fuiting bonsai - Azalea, Serissa, Apricot etc.
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MJL
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Keels Quince

Post by MJL »

Back in December 2019, I had a visit from Keels. It was an excellent day. He toured the courtyard ;) , we went to Bonsai Art and then came back home enjoyed some salad rolls and a chat over lunch.

Keels was kind enough a drop by with a Japanese quince clump sourced from his garden (not pictured in this thread) and this little quince here.

You can see it was originally in a Pat Kennedy pot but in January this year, the tree drooped overnight and I was worried that I was losing it. I conducted an emergency repot into some fresh, better draining mix and a larger pot in the hope that it would regain vigour. Thankfully it did.

Today I had a first rough re-style; forget the pot - it is still in an over-sized emergency vessel - it was all I had on hand back in January. In essence, I am trying to trim it back to encourage a denser form and also I removed two really thick branches that were quite high on the little tree - I couldn't reconcile branches this thick so high, so I removed them. For me, cutting these branches felt like a reasonably bold move but I think the tree looks better for it.

As a rule, I think clumps look best for quince but here, I am working with a reasonably straight trunk; perhaps too straight but I think I can create movement and interest around the tilted trunk.

The photos below tell the story.

Anyway - thanks again Keels! This thread is created to record the progress of the tree. We'll see where it goes over the coming years.
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Tending bonsai teaches me patience.
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Keels
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Re: Keels Quince

Post by Keels »

Wow you've made some bold cuts Mark. I hope you can wrangle this little beauty into something amazing.

I seriously struggled with this little tree. Two years in a row it dried up faster then i expected then it was too wet for too long as you can see by the damage on the bottom of the trunk.

My daughter picked it out from the 2015 Canberra bonsai show sales table. It flowered each year but only 1 flower apart from last year which had 6 from memory.

:tu: looking forward to seeing its journey in your hands
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MJL
Aussie Bonsai Fan
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Posts: 2840
Joined: October 26th, 2014, 8:47 pm
Favorite Species: Maples, Elms, Cedars and Pines
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Location: Melbourne
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Re: Keels Quince

Post by MJL »

Hey Keels,

I hope you and your family are well. I did not realise this was a tree picked out by your daughter some years back!! Mate - I hope you’re not offended by all the cuts - I’ll try and be a good custodian!!

I like the idea of custodianship in bonsai - a tree passing through generations and lifetimes .... the humans end up as fertiliser and the tree continues on.... (actually - I am not sure about liking the fertiliser bit! That said, humans haven’t solved the problem of death yet to my understanding.)

Anyway .... I am about to go off in a tangent .... so I’ll stop before boring everyone and just note that I’ll try to keep the little tree healthy and let’s see where it heads.


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Tending bonsai teaches me patience.
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Keels
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Posts: 692
Joined: December 11th, 2012, 12:13 pm
Favorite Species: Pines, Eucalyptus and Callistemon
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Bonsai Club: CBS, Goulburn & VNBC
Location: Canberra
Has thanked: 223 times
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Re: Keels Quince

Post by Keels »

MJL wrote: June 8th, 2020, 6:15 am ..... I did not realise this was a tree picked out by your daughter some years back!! Mate - I hope you’re not offended by all the cuts - I’ll try and be a good custodian!!
No offence taken :tu: i just like to tell the story of a tree. I reckon it gives the tree more worth as a bonsai. Every bonsai artist is different and i enjoy seeing your different approach to this tree. I never even thought to remove the larger branches up top, i always struggled to get more ramification but i think you've chosen a good direction :D

Family is good btw and i hope yours are too.
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