Many visitors in my garden in this past summer wondered why I would keep a 'dead' bonsai and not at least hide it from the public. Actually one day before my late summer meeting an assistant thought that it was a good idea to put it into the garage over the weekend to not give a bad image!. The tree had not shown growth in spring! I purchased this wonderful pot from Peter Krebs at the end of March and repotted the quince right away. For some unknown reason it just did not show growth that spring. Quinces have the habit to show the buds and already some small leaves for next year extremely early. They actually start in December in my greenhouse. In April then this turns into real spring growth. But it did not in 2008. Over the summer the buds turned black and the tree was apparently dying!! Well, I, like many people, was very much afraid, but I always had hope. Whenever I made everything wet when watering I could see that the trunk and the overwhelming majority of branches were alive. The bark was green and they looked solid and did not shrink, which would be a terrible sign. So we left the tree in the garden over my big festival. Everybody could see it and the majority thought that it must be dead. I wonder what they said behind my back.
So look at it now. It is in the unheated greenhouse and not only has thrown buds but a lot of spring growth already. I will have to put it into the frost-free room where the pots are.The new growth might die when it gets blow minus 5 Celsius. I am even contemplating to show it at the Noelanders Trophy. What a resurrection!
