Cut back some Shibui Satsuki azaleas

[Shibui]

I've been allowing some Satsukis to grow to speed up trunk development.
Decided the trunks were getting too long, thin, straight and taperless. Summer here. Satsuki flowering is almost finished so it seems a good time to chop these back.

Kinsai #1 before and after


Kinsai #2 - before and after


Kairaku - after only


I don't have any fixed ideas on size or style for these yet. Plan to allow them to grow again for a few more years then chop back again and see what I have to work with then.

 

[SeanS]

View attachment 577928

This one had an interesting sport that sprouted!

 

[Shibui]

This one had an interesting sport that sprouted!

If you look close you'll see there's 2 extras in that pot. The others also had some but small enough to rip out before the photos.
Feral tridents have become a feature of Shibui pots, thanks to a couple of semi-mature trees on the upwind side of the nursery. Probably about half the pots end up with an unplanned extra. On the upside, I have not had to sow trident seed for around 10 years now but always plenty of trident trees to grow, experiment with and to sell.

 

[Glaucus]

Whoa, it is actually a trident weed? I thought that maybe it was intentionally planted that way.
Last year, I had to pull hundreds of birch seeds germinating from my azalea pots. This year, the nearby trees didn't produce anywhere near that many seeds. And for some maybe weather issue, none of them germinated.

 

[Shibui]

Definitely trident weeds. I've also started pulling them out because there are so many and they do compete with the trees that are supposed to be growing in the pots.
Here are a few more:
JBP with trident weed

Chinese elm with a small trident weed

Cotoneaster with unplanned trident

Trident with trident

Even the older bonsai get them


There's also some in the garden beds

So I'm not likely to be short of trident maples any time soon.

I also get birch tree seedlings, Japanese maple seedlings and Pussy willow seedlings in the pots.
Pity JBP don't self seed like that.