Satsuki

Satsuki azalea bonsai at the World Bonsai Convention

June 13, 2017 by Jonas Dupuich

The best thing about spring shows is the opportunity for color.

Gyokurei

Saien

This was the first spring show I’d attended in Japan. I was struck by how nice it was to see bright indications of the season.

Sayaka

Jukokan

Somewhere between one third to half of the satsuki bonsai on display at the 8th World Bonsai Convention were in bloom. For the most part, these trees had slender trunks and were covered with color head to toe.

Satsukibare

Asukanishiki

The rest of the satsuki on display were appreciated for more generalized bonsai characteristics – good roots, trunk and branch density.

Satsuki azalea with good fundamental bonsai characteristics

These azaleas took a variety of forms, from informal upright to multi-trunk to root over rock.

Informal upright

Multi-trunk – Hinotsukasa

Informal upright

Root over rock

Informal upright

Root over rock – great branch pad density

Some had massive trunks and meandering branches.

Great trunk and branches

Trunk detail

Large trunk and key branch

Meandering branches

Most of the satsuki bonsai were clustered together in a few areas. They provided great contrast to the mostly coniferous and deciduous varieties that filled the exhibit.

Root over rock

Possibly the result of fused whips

Informal upright

Satsuki bonsai at Kobayashi Sangyou

May 30, 2017 by Jonas Dupuich

Last week’s tour of satsuki bonsai in development at Kanuma’s Kobayashi Sangyou nursery didn’t hint at the general quality of trees there or at the scope of the operation. Most of the six or so greenhouses at the nursery were filled with well developed trees. The smaller, younger, trees were impressive in quality and in number.

Standing in a sea of azaleas

Half of one greenhouse at Kobayashi Sangyou

The rest of the bonsai on site were larger and older. Trunks like the one below were a common sight.

Interesting satsuki trunk

Some of these trees were still in wood boxes or plastic nursery containers. The trunks on these trees were in good shape but more branch work was needed.

Large satsuki in wood box

Satsuki in the branch development phase

Satsuki in plastic garden pot

The more refined trees were in bonsai pots.

Satsuki with large trunk

Trunk detail

Many of the azaleas took informal upright forms.

Yama-no-hikari

Medium sized satsuki – informal upright

Others had simple curves with alternating branches – a standard approach for the variety.

Gentle curves with alternating branches

On the other end of spectrum was an exposed root specimen unlike any other I saw on this trip.

Large exposed root satsuki

Some of my favorite trees at the nursery were conservative in form but with great trunks.

Medium sized satsuki with interesting trunk and branches

Medium sized satsuki azalea

Others took less standard forms.

Satsuki with strong flow to the left

Satsuki with strong flow to the right

After spending two days in Kanuma visiting satsuki nurseries, we headed to the main event – the World Bonsai Convention in Saitama. Photos coming up later this week!

Azaleas in development at Kobayashi Sangyou satsuki bonsai garden

May 26, 2017 by Jonas Dupuich

Over the years, I’ve seen a number of spectacular azaleas at exhibits like Taikan-ten and Kokufu-ten – trees with super trunks, interesting movement and full canopies. I’ve appreciated them for years and they make a compelling case for satsuki azalea as a great variety for bonsai.

On a recent visit to the Kobayashi Sangyo company – a major satsuki garden in Kanuma City – it took me by surprise how much I was taken by rough stock that had recently been dug from the field. The trees had very interesting trunks and primary branches but were in need of maybe ten years of branch work – the kind of work I enjoy but have yet to undertake with such awesome material.

Field-grown azalea

On the day we visited, one of the nursery’s workshops was filled with recently dug specimens. The trunks were in good shape, but the primary branches needed some tune-up and the secondary branches wouldn’t be started for another year or two.

Straight from the field

Another field-grown specimen

I think these trees struck me because it was clear that investment in the time it would take to grow branches for these trees would be rewarded with awesome results.

On the other end of the spectrum were wired whips – the starting point for enthusiasts willing to invest some time in developing the trunk.

Wired whip

Not surprisingly, I spent far more time investigating the trees that already had well-developed trunks.

After an initial cutback, the azaleas were bare-rooted and placed in a greenhouse that was kept hot and humid.

Trunk and primary branches

Not a bad starting point

Some of these trees had leafed out a week or two before we visited.

New leaves

A few weeks after cutback and repotting

Massive trunk

Interesting trunk

Some of the trees in the garden were just a little bit further along the development path. At this stage the trees were easy to appreciate as bonsai.

Informal upright azalea

Satsuki azalea – the basic outline is in place

Unfortunately few trees in the garden had any labels, and the labels we found were usually in Japanese. I’ll be sure to report the variety names when they’re known.

Live Q&A on Facebook this Sunday!

Bonsai Empire and I will be hosting a live Q&A on Facebook this Sunday at 11:00 a.m. PDT. I’ll be showing viewers around my garden and answering as many questions as I can.

I’m looking forward to meeting you – join us on Facebook here.

Rakujyuen satsuki bonsai garden

May 23, 2017 by Jonas Dupuich

Kanuma City is satsuki central in Japan. It’s where the eponymous azalea soil comes from, and it’s home to numerous satsuki nurseries including Rakujyuen.

Rakujyuen satsuki bonsai garden

Rakujyuen is a family business run by Minoru Fukuda, his wife, his son Yoichi, and his daughter Chieko.

Rakujyuen has a good selection of azaleas in a variety of styles. It’s also a go-to for exposed root azalea bonsai.

Exposed root satsuki azalea

Neagari (exposed root) satsuki bonsai

More exposed root satsuki

Some of the trees at Rakujyuen had only begun their container training. Here are two examples that were recently pruned and repotted.

The basics – a trunk and primary branches

Next step – secondary branches

Some trees come to the garden with large scars or poor primary branching. These trees are often planted in raised beds where they can develop faster than they would in containers.

Developing satsuki in raised beds

Of course, Rakujyuen also haw lots of more developed satsuki ranging from young trees to some pretty impressive specimens.

Young satsuki azaleas

Specimen azalea

One of my favorites was in a wood training box. The trunk was massive.

Satsuki with a very large trunk

Up next – more satsuki from Kanuma!

Live Q&A on Facebook this Weekend

Bonsai Empire and I will be hosting a live Q&A on Facebook this Sunday at 11:00 a.m. PDT. What can you expect?

A live garden tour
A look at different varieties of bonsai at different stages of development
Answers to your questions about black pines and whatever else you need to know to make beautiful bonsai

I’m looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible – join us at: https://www.facebook.com/events/261889984219099/

Some notes on shopping for azalea bonsai

May 19, 2017 by Jonas Dupuich

On my recent visit to Japan, I visited several satsuki azalea nurseries with a group led by David Kreutz of Satsuki Bonsai-en in St. Louis. Dave’s been going to Japan for years and is a great guide for all things azalea. The first garden we visited was Zuishou Nakayama’s.

Nakayama’s garden has a lot of azaleas, and at first glance it can be a little overwhelming.

Satsukis everywhere

More satsuki azalea bonsai

After strolling past hundreds, if not thousands, of azaleas, I started taking a closer look at individual specimens. In general, the trees didn’t have tags we could read so we appreciated what we could based on the trunk, the branches, and the foliage.

As for the foliage, it often presented its own challenges.

An abundance of shoots!

To get a better understanding of what was going on beneath the foliage, we had to reach in and glean what we could of the trunk and surface roots from glimpses.

Once in a while we came across trees that had recently been pruned and repotted. These were easy to appreciate.

Freshly pruned azalea

No secrets here

I spent a lot of time evaluating these trees as they were easy to appreciate – interesting movement and plenty of branches to work with.

What I most enjoyed about the azalea gardens we visited was seeing so many trees at different stages of development. Not only was the sequence of stages easy to follow, but some of the techniques used to refine the trees were on display too.

Bridge graft to close a small wound

Double bridge graft across a large wound

Multiple approach grafts to create new branches

We also saw a number of trees with fabric wrapped around the trunk. In general, this measure was intended to protect the trunks of varieties that were sensitive to the sun.