Satsuki Azalea

[Leo Schordje]

Azalea satsuki type hybrid, cultivar (clonal name) 'Asahi-no-izumi'

Tried an experiment, rather than leave my early season satsuki azalea in cold storage, I thought I would see if the autumn chill was enough to set flowers. I brought this indoors, under lights the first week of December. Only 7 weeks and the first flush of blooms are fully open. There is some chlorosis in the leaves, due to rapid onset of growth and my not fertilizing heavy. I think the new growth will be somewhat 'leggy' and bolt upright, top section growing well (near to the light) and lower branches suffering because of lower light. I won't do this again because outdoor light is much better for balanced growth throughout the tree. instead I will winter the tree in my cold root cellar with its compatriots. It is fun to now know the timing for forcing blooms, the next time I need a tree for a show, it will be possible to set the timing. I suspect each cultivar of satsuki azalea will have its own timing from bringing out of the cold to blooming. Later season cultivars will have a longer interval to blooming.

This year 2012 the jewel marks in the flowers are few and faint. Last year they were much more vivid and a few large sectors of color occurred. Possibly due to lower nitrogen this season.

I had removed a heavy branch between 2011 and 2012, it was 'poking me in the eye' when the tree was out of flower. In flower you would hardly notice, but I want it to look like a decent bonsai when it is not in bloom. I am dabbling with Satsuki Azaleas as bonsai, and am enjoying it, unfortunately their bloom season is not long enough to distract me from orchids for very long. enjoy

 

[Gcroz]

Beautiful. I find bonsai to be one of the most beautiful art forms! I have tried in the past, but always manage to kill the plant. Very expensive hobby as well. I think I will continue to enjoy them from afar without direct participation.

It is a lovely azalea! Thank you very much for posting it!

 

[SlipperFan]

That is sweet, Leo!

 

[W. Beetus]

Beautiful plant! I have a Bougainvillea bonsai that needs some attention...

 

[Paph_LdyMacBeth]

Oh my word that is beautiful!

 

[jtrmd]

beautiful !

 

[JeanLux]

A very nice shape for your Azalea Imo, and rather good sized flowers too!!!! Good growing also!!!! Jean

(I killed a smaller pink one within 3 years, and my large one, that I got from Lodder in the Netherland some 25 years ago has lost most of its 'bonsai' shape, nevertheless flowers regularly with somewhat oversized blooms)

 

[Lanmark]

Simply wonderful! I fell in love with Azaleas back in the late 70s. This white Satsuki of yours is very nice indeed! :clap:

 

[Lycaste53]

What a wonderful plant, everything is perfect, flowers, shape, size...
Best regards, Gina

 

[Leo Schordje]

Thanks everyone for the compliments. I have been dabbling with bonsai longer than I have been dabbling with orchids. My success rate is low, I've killed hundreds of trees over the last 35 years. I only have 6 azaleas and 2 dozen other trees, that are works in progress. Not one of my trees is well enough developed to be considered ready for a formal, judged, bonsai show. I enjoy the doing, and am not at all attached to attaining 'the finished product'. The doing the craftsmanship with horticulture is fun.

The bonsai are my hobby away from orchids and work. I really save working on the trees to recreation time, where working on the orchids is often scheduled more like a "day-job", though the orchids are a passion for me.

Beautiful. I find bonsai to be one of the most beautiful art forms! I have tried in the past, but always manage to kill the plant. Very expensive hobby as well. I think I will continue to enjoy them from afar without direct participation.

It is a lovely azalea! Thank you very much for posting it!

I'll share 2 secrets to the improvement in my success with bonsai:

1.) About the rapid death of all things bonsai; Look at the pot the azalea is in, it is way too big, deep and 'clunky' for the design of the tree. For an exhibition, that tree should be in a much shallower pot, that is more graceful in design. :evil: I finally started keeping trees alive when I began over-potting them into pots large enough that the tree did not need to be watered every day in the summer. My trees are more or less on a similar watering schedule as the orchids, and they all get the same water & fertilizer blend.

2.) the second secret is to just ignore everything the bonsai books say about fertilizer, and just go ahead and use MSU at 1/2 teaspoon per gallon, all year round. The color of my pines are excellent, junipers and other trees all have nice foliage with the right amount of blue for the species with blue tinted needles. My azaleas and flowering quinces have great color in their blooms. I gave up trying to explain what I was doing to other bonsai people. They are still stuck on using high phosphorous fertilizers for fall and winter. Bonsai books have elaborate fertilizing schemes, that require a truck load of different products and a critical path project engineer to coordinate the timing of application.

Trees are plants and all plants have fairly similar nutritional needs as orchids. I think we have it largely right with the MSU style formulations (yes, with or without Rick's low K modification of the MSU concept, what we use is far superior to what the bonsai books suggest for fertilizer).

So if you want to dabble with bonsai, do it, but pot your plants so that in the heat of summer, the pot holds enough moisture to not require daily watering, and trust what you know about fertilizer from the orchid realm over the byzantine formularies used by the bonsai books.

Last note, if you have time, you don't need to spend a lot of money to get a passable tree going. Common nursery stock from your local landscape nursery can give you excellent results. In as little as 5 years you can change nursery stock into a passable bonsai in training and if you persevere, (and the tree survives your mistakes) within 10 years the tree can conceivably be ready for a local bonsai show.

 

[Ozpaph]

Last note, if you have time, you don't need to spend a lot of money to get a passable tree going. Common nursery stock from your local landscape nursery can give you excellent results. In as little as 5 years you can change nursery stock into a passable bonsai in training and if you persevere, (and the tree survives your mistakes) within 10 years the tree can conceivably be ready for a local bonsai show.

Truly magnificent, but 10years...................worse than a roths!

 

[Leo Schordje]

But quicker than Paph stonei and micranthum and Laelia purpurata. But if your only reason to do Bonsai is to exhibit trees at shows, you have missed the point of doing Bonsai. :evil:

 

[rdlsreno]

Very nice!!:clap:

Ramon

 

[abax]

Lovely bonsai. A bit of Miracid should correct the yellowed
leaves. I have a Chinese Elm and an Okinawa Holly that
have been with me ten years or more. I love them both, but the holly tends to piss me off when it comes time to wire. I heel mine in during the winter in a protected spot on the south side of my house and pot again in the spring.

 

[Leo Schordje]

Thanks abax, I have hit this tree with a little acid fertilizer just to combat the yellowing. I suspect the yellowing was caused by the very rapid growth spurt and my using a faily dilute concentration of fertilizer. As the growth rate levels out, it should green up nicely. I will prune & repot it soon, after most of the flowers are done, and that will slow the growth rate down.

Chinese elms have been a problem tree for me, I think I have treated them too gently. A friend is giving me some rooted 'Sejiu' cutttings this spring, I think I'll leave them outside, healed in for the winter, to see if they do better.

I hate wiring trees with very stiff branches, there is always that cracking sound. I also hate wiring Ponderosa pines, because no matter how long you leave the wires on, it seems that the branched remain infinitely flexible, and never 'sets' with the new shape. But old ponderosa branches will crack and break off suddenly, but only if you really need that branch for the design.

All in all it is a fun process, to learn how to work the compromise between what the tree's horticultural requirements are, and what shape & form you would like to train the tree into. And on top of that, to try to make the 'craft' or techniques invisible, so that an observer only sees what apprears to be natural growth.

Glad to know there are a few other fellow tree benders here on the forum.
There are other things worth growing besides orchids. :evil:

 

[biothanasis]

Nice plant!!! I haven't tried them yet...but they seem nice!

 

[JeanLux]

Ok Leo, you got me showing my azalea!

First, I managed to find an old photo of the then still looking bonsai.like azalea (1993 !!!), with a Pinus parviflora and a local hornbeam!? (both collapsed meanwhile )


And here a pic from last year's bloom (the top of the tree is dead, the lower branches far too important to give a 'tree'-like shape, but it is still alive !



And a last pic of our actual pinus parviflora:


Jean

 

[SlipperFan]

Impressive, Jean!

 

[Leo Schordje]

Wow Jean, very nice trees. Your Satsuki has developed a really nice nebari (root base, for the non-tree-benders here ) With some judicious pruning, and repotting into a shallower, bonsai style container, I think your azalea would have a very nice tree like appearance. I see a semi-cascade style as one possibility with your azalea. If you don't want to do the pruning and reshaping yourself, check out your local bonsai club, there may be a local artist who could give your azalea the 'tune up' it needs to reshape it. We do grow the azaleas as bonsai more for the flowers than as 'trees', and you have done a great job of keeping the azalea healthy and blooming every year.

Your Pinus parviflora is really nice, the texture of the bark suggests it is one of select cultivars noted for rough textured bark, like Ibo-can, or Arakawa. Very nice, and very healthy looking.