My 'Ben Oki' azalea

[fredtruck]

Wow. Quite a tree and progression. And the flowers are tremendous.

 

[tmmason10]

Another informative, inspiring tree and post. Thanks for sharing Brian.

 

[akhater]

what a wonderful progression ! One can only hope for

thank you Brian for all you are providing to this forum

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

One last...probably a bit past the peak, but with schedule lately, I'm just glad to see it bloom.

 

[CamdenJim]

That's why we grow azaleas! To see things like this.
Thanks for posting.

 

[Dan W.]

Beautiful tree Brian

 

[JudyB]

Marvelous how you can see the arching right branch even beneath all the flowers. It's wonderful.

 

[Dan W.]

I agree Judy, but did you mean the arching right trunk?

 

[JudyB]

I agree Judy, but did you mean the arching right trunk?

Yes indeed I did. It's so nicely shaped up there....

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

One theme Peter Warren emphasized was the need to keep azaleas young, by removing the older twiggy ramification every few years and forcing them to produce lots of green new growth. This is similar to root pruning to reinvigorate trees. It can be nerve racking to prune away several years' of twiggy branching. I have gotten into a good routine with this tree over the last few years, so I decided to cut back into it a bit harder this year, and do it jut a bit earlier so it has time to recover.

Before pruning back:

After pruning back:

After aerating and top dressing with Kanuma:

The nebari spread:

 

[Bill S]

Brian this is coming along nicely, good job.

Aren't you the one that used to work w/ Kruetz(sp) the azalea guy/guru.

 

[Defect]

Very nice. This tree along with some other Azaleas now have me on the hunt for one. Very good work and love to see the progression. Thanks for the post!

 

[Harunobu]

Shibue satsuki garden put some pruning videos on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/satsukimania/videos

I have seen some people comment that they aren't sure if this type of pruning also works on mature kurume type azalea. Certainly the more R.kaempferi-like the kurume is, the less basally dominant and the less backbudding it is. You can't really prune back in old wood with those and expect backbudding. Still have to try to with kiusianum side kurume hybrids.


If you live in an area with mild winters and humid summers, satsuki azalea must be some of the most forgiving bonsai subjects. Even if you manage to mess up the design completely, it will still look fine when in flower.
They can be temperamental in climates with too short a growing season. They be killed by cold winters and then mysteriously never emerge from dormancy. And they don't like hot dry summers at all either.

The kiusianum-type ones have way smaller flowers and smaller leaves and are worth exploring. Hard to find nursery material with good trunks though.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Brian this is coming along nicely, good job.

Aren't you the one that used to work w/ Kruetz(sp) the azalea guy/guru.

Thanks...and no, never met Dave Kruetz.

 

[milehigh_7]

When is the best time to do root work on these? I just picked one up that is badly root bound. Wait for winter?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

When is the best time to do root work on these? I just picked one up that is badly root bound. Wait for winter?

I repot mine at the same time as the other trees...mid-March.

 

[the bonsai kid]

Brian i had a question.Is it normal for satsuki azaleas to show fall color then those leaves drop leaving mostly some leaves around the flower buds?because this is my first winter with my azaleas and i wondered if this was the norm.

Thanks

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Brian i had a question.Is it normal for satsuki azaleas to show fall color then those leaves drop leaving mostly some leaves around the flower buds?because this is my first winter with my azaleas and i wondered if this was the norm.

Thanks

yes, that sounds normal...

 

[MACH5]

As usual, a wonderful and informative progression Brian! Admittedly I am not a big azalea person but this one I really like with and without flowers. Well done!

 

[Erndogy]

Brian, you stated on the first page of this thread that you last re-potted this tree in 08' with 100% kanuma. Did you mean that that was was the first year you potted it in 100% kanuma, or that you no longer pot it in 100% kanuma? If you no longer do, what do you use as your mix?


Thanks

Ernie