• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Bonsai Tonight

An educational website about bonsai development

  • Blog
    • How-to Guides
  • Podcast
  • Shop
    • Bonsai
    • Books
    • Soil
    • Soil (wholesale)
    • Supplies
    • Tools
    • Video Consulting
    • Northern California Bonsai Resources
  • About
    • Workshops

Determining flower color by looking at the foliage – satsuki azalea

March 5, 2019 by Jonas Dupuich

I sometimes come across satsuki azaleas of unknown varieties. Although it’s nice to know what the flowers will look like, it can be fun to wait and see what colors show up in spring when the tree blooms.

Young satsuki azalea

In the meantime, I can make rudimentary assumptions about the flowers based on the foliage. Green leaves typically indicate white or pale pink flowers while red leaves indicate pink or red flowers. Striped or spotted leaves indicate striped or spotted flower petals.

Red and green striped foliage

Sometimes different parts of the same tree will produce different color flowers. I expect the azalea below to have darker flowers toward the apex and on the right side. I expect lighter colored flowers on the lower branches.

Young satsuki with red and green foliage

Green leaves

Red leaves

I’ll wait until the flowers open before making a guess about the variety, but with so many varieties to choose from, I don’t have any expectations about whether or not I can identify the flowers.

βœ•

Subscribe to Bonsai Tonight

New Posts Delivered Every Tuesday and Friday

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

Filed Under: Bonsai Care Tagged With: Satsuki

Previous Post: « Repotting exposed root satsuki azalea bonsai
Next Post: Bonsai Development Series #13: Balancing vigor »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jon says

    March 7, 2019 at 2:29 pm

    If you look closely on the tips of the leaves you will see they are coloured which usually indicates the colour the flower will be.

    All the best, Jonsai

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      March 8, 2019 at 8:05 am

      Thanks Jon!

  2. Alessandro says

    March 10, 2019 at 10:56 am

    Oh my! I definitely check my satsuky this spring and I will tell you if it works also in Italy (πŸ˜ŠπŸ˜‚β˜ΊοΈ). Thank you Jonas!
    Alessandro

Footer

Follow Bonsai Tonight

Subscribe

Instagram ● Facebook ● Twitter
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Shop
  • About

P.O. Box 6560, Alameda, CA 94501 · 510-915-2025 · jonas (at) bonsaitonight (dot) com

© Copyright 2009-2023 Bonsai Tonight · All rights reserved · Privacy · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish. Accept Decline Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT