sigh I can't make up my mind...

6 years ago

So my Ming Aralia has gotten ousted from its old pot because I need it for some other plants. I had been saving this other pot for an Adenium sometime down the road. However, as I don't know when that time will be, and I need to put the Ming in something, I figured I may as well put the pot to use. My conundrum is deciding how to position the plant in said pot. So here we go:

Option 1

Option 2

On the one hand we have Option 1 which is likely how most folks would go about it. The plant stolidly situated in the "heavy" end of the pot.

On the other, we have Option 2 with Ming located near the edge of the "cliff/stone outcropping ". I find myself rather liking Option 2 more than I would have expected. Not sure if this is just because it would be "different, " or if it has to do with the upward sweep of the "rock" continuing on with the Ming.

(Oh, and I do plan on pruning the Ming down by about half its current height.)

So out of curiosity, which way would you lean?

Featured Answer

tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

6 years ago

Your plant is already rather well-developed in what is called the "flame" style, a presentation widely used with ginkgo trees, which have much the same growth habit as your aralia. The flame style closely mimics the shape of a flame you would see on a candle.

Most trees are a mix of masculine and feminine characteristics. Choosing the right pot depends on the grower's ability to weigh the characteristics and choose the right pot based on the characteristics that stand out most. An old pine with rough bark or an old juniper with lots of deadwood would be considered a masculine tree and would be potted in an unglazed pot with square corners, but a Shimpaku juniper, with it's soft clouds of foliage in many if not most cases would be considered feminine. Japanese maples, with their fine/delicate foliage, relatively smooth bark, and rounded shapes are almost always feminine. Most Ficus and other tropicals are feminine, but exceptions are common.

The characteristic that stands out and makes your tree feminine is the sparse/airy/delicate foliage and the slightly sinuous lines of the branches.

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Comments (10)

rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
6 years ago
If interested in my opinion, Option 2...I just like it more.
Marcy
6 years ago
#2 is my vote!
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Paul MI
Original Author
6 years ago
How could your opinion not be of interest, Rina, m'dear? ;-)
christine 5b
6 years ago
I love the pot and your art work, I agree with y'all #2. Will you be putting anything on the other side?
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Because I may not be right by "proper rules of bonsai" and so on...I just like something or don't. Same with art...like Relativity(?) or Belvedere(?) don't have prints, just a book...(should check it before to make sure my memory is still OK)
jamilalshaw26
6 years ago
Option 2. And I think a golden pothos would look awesome in that pot as well!!!
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
6 years ago
IF we were talking about a bonsai arrangement: When you look at the base of the pot and move your eye upward, it always ends up at the point on the left of the rim; so, the 'movement' of the pot as it's positioned in the image, is to the left. To make best use of the pot, the plant should visually balance the pot and move in the same direction. That would put the plant right of center with a leftward lean. Since the aralia is virtually string straight vertical, it wants a neutral movement pot and should be centered in the pot.

Too, the aralia is a feminine plant, and as such it wants a much shorter round or oval glazed pot, or a square/rectangular glazed pot with round corners in a pastel color (I'd choose a cream color pot) instead of the masculine/craggy/boulder look the pot mimics.

Does any of that matter? Not at all. That you're pleased with what you decide is all that counts.

Al
Paul MI
Original Author
6 years ago
Al, what qualities makes the aralia a "feminine" plant? I would have thought a feminine plant would possess a lot of soft, rounded curves.

i imagine that, from a bonsai standpoint, aralia are somewhat limited with regards to lending themselves to a wide variety of bonsai styles. Their growth habit is so strongly straight up.....
Paul MI
Original Author
6 years ago
Ah, interesting! That's an intriguing way to look at trees. :-) I had heard of "broom" shape before. So flame would be somewhat similar just with the plant's top coming to a point, yes?

sigh I can't make up my mind...

tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

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*sigh* I can't make up my mind...

tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

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rina_Ontario,Canada 5a

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