Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
Here's my entry a Dorothy hayden cultivar with a good sized trunk and line. The nebari looks decent but really not able to see it completely. It has a bunch of flower buds right now, it should bloom nicely in spring.
Pitoon's "Azalea 2020-2025" entry
- Thread starter Pitoon
- Start date
coltranem
Chumono
Nice base
Bonsaidoorguy
Chumono
Nice single leader base. You thinking informal upright?
Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
Honestly not sure really. I guess time will tell depending where the buds come out after the chop this summer.
Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
Well finally got around to pruning it down. Hopefully the azalea gods will give me buds in all the right places. All cuts have been sealed with cut putty which should keep the branches from dying back.
Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
Buds are finally popping. Im glad it survived the root work and cut back. I didn't want to loose this one since it had a decent trunk.
Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
Just wanted to post a couple of quick update pics of the buds that popped. Pretty much all the buds came out in decent locations to work with later down the road.
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Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
On this azalea I'm using small grain akadama and pumice at 1:1 ratio. I also use small grain akadama, pumice, and monto clay at 1:1:1 ratio for my other azaleas.
Love those little ones.
Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
Unfortunately I think I may have lost several mame's. When putting wire and bending it's very tricky. You think you can bend it just a little more and then snap. Once they snap if you don't cover the break with cut paste they will die eventually. If you cover with cut paste you can get better odds of them healing and making it through to push out new growth.
Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
Here's some updated pics of all the sides. Everything is looking good. One branch seems a little weaker than the rest as the buds are just now starting to emerge. Later today I will remove any unnecessary foliage on the trunk and key in on specific branches.
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Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
So here's some updated pics. Wire has been removed as it was starting to bite. I removed all unnecessary growth and left only at strategic locations. I also left just one small emerging branch on the trunk. This will become the lowest and longest branch. Since azaleas are not apical dominate, my hopes are that this branch will catch up in size to the upper branches....I hope.
Yamabudoudanshi
Shohin
Are you planning on keeping all of the branches you left as part of the final design, or will some be sacrificial?
Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
No, not planning to keep all the new branches. At this point I will let them grow and see which are best to keep (position and strength). Then I will begin wiring and setting position once they harden up. Right now they are too soft, if I wire a branch it will fall off with very slight movement.
Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
After several days of wiring here and there I managed to finish the styling on the tree. Now just have to wait till the branches set in place while keeping an eye out to make sure the wire doesn't bite in. Certain branches had their tips removed while others didn't to help distribute the growth on certain branches.
Before
After
Before
After
Yamabudoudanshi
Shohin
It's taking shape so quickly!
What kind of wire did you use for your guy wires? SS?
What kind of wire did you use for your guy wires? SS?
Pitoon
Imperial Masterpiece
Yes, the azalea is very heathy. It had enough growth on it to convince me it was ready to be styled. All wire used was 1mm aluminum wire.
Clorgan
Omono
Sorry you'll have a lot of notifications from me liking all these photos! 
Looks great - I love the trunk! Can't wait to see more updates
Looks great - I love the trunk! Can't wait to see more updates
