A Guide to Pot Selection

The basic guide is a definition of the so-called OPTICAL WEIGHT of the tree. Generally, but not always, deciduous trees have less optical weight than permanently green conifer trees.
 
 If we wanted to keep it very simple, deciduous trees can be kept in oval pots, conifer trees in angular pots and literati in small round pots.  But as each tree has a different character and the same can be said for pots, its not quite as simple as that.

The pot should have the same properties as the tree as far as optical weight is concerned, usually if the visual mass of the pot is somewhere around 1/3 of the visual mass of the tree, it’s about right. 

There may be an angle or curve in the trunk line of the tree that we would like to pick up in the profile of the pot.

For example the curves on this pot reflect the curve of the deadwood and also the shape of the foliage.

 

On this pot I used the glaze to continue the trunk into the pot and reflect it’s character

There are many variables, and personal choice also has to come into the equation. We may decide to put a formal upright tree into an oval pot for example, personally this may  suggest a different landscape than it would if the tree were presented in a formal rectangle. In this way the pot can also have a psychological effect on the whole composition.