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A pot for a dwarf wisteria

January 7, 2014 by Jonas Dupuich

I’ve been growing a dwarf wisteria made from air layer for some time and am now ready to show it. The tree is still young and I have yet to see it bloom, but it might make a nice second tree in a medium sized display. Which means, of course, I had to select a pot for the upcoming exhibit.

There were several fun candidates. One of them is quite a bit more expensive than the others – any guesses which?

Wisteria

Pot #1 – Bunzan

Roots

Roots peeking out from the drainage holes

Wisteria

Pot #2 – glazed Japanese

Wisteria

Pot #3 – unglazed oval with demon feet

Wisteria

Pot #4 – Glazed Japanese

The first pot, made by Bunzan, is fun and colorful, but it’s a little on the large side. Pot #2, a glazed oval, is the conservative choice. Pot #3 is less conventional as it’s unglazed – and in possession of demon feet – but I really like how the feet raise the pot above the ground. It’s also a bit large for the tree. Pot #4 may seem small and the style strong, but I think it could work well. It’s also worth infinitely more than the tree as it’s made by Tofukuji.

Which did I select? The glazed oval. I selected it instead of the demon feet less because it suits the tree well and more because I thought it might be easier to pair it with another tree. In other words, were the wisteria paired with a conifer in an unglazed pot, the two unglazed pots together might distract from the overall diplay.

Wisteria

The blue oval – after repotting

Of course, I don’t yet know with which tree it will be displayed so time will tell whether or not the selection was actually conservative.

✕

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Filed Under: Display Tagged With: Pot Selection, Pots

Previous Post: « Repotting a shore pine
Next Post: Preparing a small pine for exhibit »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Merilee says

    January 7, 2014 at 8:38 am

    It looks perfect. I do, however, really like pot #4.

  2. The Editors of Garden Variety says

    January 7, 2014 at 9:12 am

    Hmmm…I am partial to Pot#3!

  3. Zack Clayton says

    January 7, 2014 at 11:00 am

    I like the oval, but think #4 is the best.

    Jonas, what are your thoughts on styling for a tree that is to display mostly for weeping flowers/foliage vs. non-weeping? That might make for an interesting post some time.

  4. nelibonsai says

    January 7, 2014 at 11:17 am

    It looks perfect! I have one also but the bark is very different.Totally different.

  5. Mac says

    January 7, 2014 at 12:17 pm

    Pot 4 with no doubt. The other pots give too much root room. For your Wisteria to bloom it needs to be kept root bound. The color of this pot will complement the blossoms wonderfully well. By moving it to the larger oval you have given it extra root room and it’ll make roots instead of blossoms. But when it does bloom I hope you’ll post photos of it here.

  6. brendenstudio says

    January 7, 2014 at 12:48 pm

    I prefer #4 of the selection you had…a raw sienna glazed pot would be the perfect complimentary color choice for wisteria blooms. Something to keep your eye out for the future 😉

  7. kuromatsu says

    January 7, 2014 at 1:19 pm

    I had what was referred to as a Chinese dwarf wisteria and was reliably informed that it would not flower and it never did with or without pruning or use of any other techniques.

    I also found out more recently, that the form I had was actually a Millettia sinensis or even could have been Millettia japonica ‘Hime fuji’ and they are related to the wisteria family and called the blind wisteria – hence no flowers.

    Research tells me that wisteria in general tend to only flower when mature or older than 10 years but it does vary with each species of Wisteria.

    Is your air layer off a tree that did flower? If so you may be lucky but will still need to wait for it to age a bit, if it is a flowering wisteria.

  8. Jonas Dupuich says

    January 7, 2014 at 1:39 pm

    Interesting – thanks for the update. The air-layer was taken from a tree – Boon’s – that flowers, though I can also say it didn’t flower for maybe two decades before Boon started taking care of the tree at which point the little blooms began to appear. Bill Valavanis chimed in on the topic at bonsainut: http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?6396-wisteria-quot-hime-fuji-quot

    Michael Hagedorn wrote about getting wisterias to bloom, though I don’t know if the advice holds for millettia as well.

  9. Bonsai Mohegan says

    January 8, 2014 at 7:15 am

    Hi Jonas. How’s it? I like your pot choice. May I add…wist. needs alkaline soil conditions and high p to flower. In the ground it will send roots an extreme distance until it finds both. In a pot you must provide them. Thanks for your plentiful and consistent sharing.

  10. Bruce says

    January 9, 2014 at 12:06 am

    If this is true about alkaline soil it explains why mine doesn’t flower very well due to acid rain from Kilaeua volcano 5 minutes from here.

  11. Bonsai Mohegan says

    January 9, 2014 at 5:31 am

    Bruce, next repot mix pulv. limestone with soil and keep cation exchange capacity low. The higher c.e.c. the more acidity is trapped/held.

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