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Removing flower buds from azalea

May 18, 2012 by Jonas Dupuich

I’ve seen satsuki bloom in most months of the year, but they’re most likely to bloom around May. This is natural as the name satsuki (and old phrase for “fifth month”) refers to the month in which they bloom. Why, then, did my azalea’s single flower catch my attention today? Because I’d previously removed most of the other flower buds – this was one I’d missed.

Satsuki azalea

Satsuki azalea

White blossom

White blossom

I’ve been removing the flower buds in winter to divert more of the tree’s energy into producing foliage. I can either enjoy the flowers or get great spring growth – I can’t have both. As I’d like to speed along this tree’s development, I’ve been removing most of the buds.

Looking closer at the tree, I found a few others I’d missed. I removed them by gently bending the buds until they came loose.

A flower bud

Securing the stem below the bud

Breaking the flower bud

Bending the bud until it breaks away

Azalea flower buds and Spring shoots emerge from the same place. I work carefully when removing the buds this time of year to avoid breaking the tender new shoots.

Bud and new shoots

Bud with new shoots

Bud removed

Bud removed

It’s ok to remove buds that have started to open, but at this point I usually leave them alone so I can enjoy the color.

Flower and bud

Deep pink flower with light and dark green foliage

Once the majority of the flowers have bloomed, I remove them with fingers or scissors. I usually do this before the petals fall away as they have in the photo below.

After flowering

After the petals fade away – stigma, style, and ovary revealed

✕

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Filed Under: Bonsai Care Tagged With: Satsuki

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. EL TIM says

    May 18, 2012 at 4:33 am

    Un blog con gran calidad en las explicaciones y en los trabajos.
    Felicitaciones desde España.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      May 18, 2012 at 10:44 pm

      Muchas gracias Tim – lo aprecio su comentario! (And I think we met at Daiju-en last fall.)

  2. Frank Best says

    May 18, 2012 at 4:34 am

    Jonas.
    Thanks again, a great heads up. As I’m in Australia we’re 2 seasons in front/behind you. Your info is being stored for when it applies to me. A great advantage! Once again, thanks

    Frank

  3. anijhuis says

    May 18, 2012 at 9:31 pm

    All the nutrition the bud needs to flower is already there in the bud itself. Once the buds have formed they do not divert any more nutrition away from producing foliage.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      May 18, 2012 at 10:30 pm

      Thanks, Anton. I don’t have a good source for the claim about removing buds before they open. This could be a good opportunity for me to look into this further – or to experiment!

      Best,
      Jonas

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