Teach me how to Fish. Azalea

[Glaucus]

I am not sure how the transport works. Could a trunk carrying your plants be parked outdoors overnight at altitude in Colorado? Probably not, but maybe you can ask Nuccio? They will know how much theis plants have woken up. And maybe on shipping their plants northward very early spring as well. There wouldn't really be a downside to having them hold off shipping until you are fully in spring as well.

Once they arrive at your place in good conditions, yeah you can just put them in a attached garage when frost is expected.
It is just that by moving them from Cali to MI in late March, you also kinda teleport them back into winter by maybe 2 months?
Plants are only winter hardy when they are dormant. If there is some dry windy weather with temperatures below 0C/32F, all new growth can be destroyed. If it is a wet cold and temps only drop below 0C/32F during the night for an hour or so, they are probably ok. But minimum ground temperatures are often different from normal night temperatures. A prediction may say it will be 2C/35.5F and then just as dawn is about the start, the clouds may clear up and your local ground temps may drop to -4C/25F, damaging the new growth.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

I am not sure how the transport works. Could a trunk carrying your plants be parked outdoors overnight at altitude in Colorado? Probably not, but maybe you can ask Nuccio? They will know how much theis plants have woken up. And maybe on shipping their plants northward very early spring as well. There wouldn't really be a downside to having them hold off shipping until you are fully in spring as well.

Once they arrive at your place in good conditions, yeah you can just put them in a attached garage when frost is expected.
It is just that by moving them from Cali to MI in late March, you also kinda teleport them back into winter by maybe 2 months?
Plants are only winter hardy when they are dormant. If there is some dry windy weather with temperatures below 0C/32F, all new growth can be destroyed. If it is a wet cold and temps only drop below 0C/32F during the night for an hour or so, they are probably ok. But minimum ground temperatures are often different from normal night temperatures. A prediction may say it will be 2C/35.5F and then just as dawn is about the start, the clouds may clear up and your local ground temps may drop to -4C/25F, damaging the new growth.

Yeah I'm in no hurry anyway. When I spoke to Jim he recommended shipping wait at least until April. The plants are fine in CA, despite Jim telling me how wet and cold it was out in CA this season. I use that strategy at my local nursery, if I see something that I might want to buy during the fall or winter I let them take care of it until spring and then purchase it because I got to see it with the leaves off, and they have more room than I do. If it's gone when I go back c'est la vie.

Thanks for all the help and info on hardiness, I really appreciate it.

 

[yashu]

I just got the tracking number from Edelweiss so it appears the plants were sent on time. I’m a little excited.

 

[yashu]

My package came yesterday but our postwoman suspected it was plants and instead of leaving them outside (not knowing if the package would remain outside overnight and subject to sub freezing temps) she held on to it at the PO so it would not freeze. The up side is knowing that our postal carrier out here actually cares (I moved from the city to very rural just a couple years ago) but the downside is that I had to wait an extra day. I called her this morning and told her it was ok to leave the box at the front door as the days now stay well above freezing.

The box was well packed with packing paper holding the pots in place and shredded newsprint stuffed around the foliage and one piece of wet packing paper pressed into the top of the pot.



The pup was curious.

The plants were small but all had nice single trunks and were very healthy showing the normal signs of winter dormancy in the foliage that you would expect in a temperate zone.





They’re about the same size that the satsuki that I purchased from Riverbend last season were when I received them but maybe a little more full than the Riverbend plants. These seem like they’ve been in the pots longer.

The substrate seems to be mostly peat with a small amount of perlite thrown in. Riverbend definitely had the nicer substrate with a kanuma mixture that was fairly easily cleaned from the roots. I bare rooted those plants when I received them. I have no kanuma at the moment and am hesitant to put these in my standard tree mix so they may stay in their little nursery pots until after they bloom. The plants all have many flower buds. For now they’ll be doing the shuffle with my other satsuki, outside on the warm days and in the garage under lights when it’s chilly and windy like today.



Overall I’d give Edelweiss two thumbs up and wouldn’t hesitate to use them again. So far the only azalea they have are Kazan but their selection of other hardy perennials is pretty good. Prices are decent. I think there is a $35 order minimum before shipping but shipping appears to be significantly less expensive than other options. The plants were shipped from Oregon Monday and arrived in Maine for delivery on Wednesday so I fail to see a downside from their inexpensive shipping. Thanks for the heads up @jal777 that was a good call.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

My package came yesterday but our postwoman suspected it was plants and instead of leaving them outside (not knowing if the package would remain outside overnight and subject to sub freezing temps) she held on to it at the PO so it would not freeze. The up side is knowing that our postal carrier out here actually cares (I moved from the city to very rural just a couple years ago) but the downside is that I had to wait an extra day. I called her this morning and told her it was ok to leave the box at the front door as the days now stay well above freezing.

The box was well packed with packing paper holding the pots in place and shredded newsprint stuffed around the foliage and one piece of wet packing paper pressed into the top of the pot.

View attachment 479438

The pup was curious.

The plants were small but all had nice single trunks and were very healthy showing the normal signs of winter dormancy in the foliage that you would expect in a temperate zone.

View attachment 479439

View attachment 479440

They’re about the same size that the satsuki that I purchased from Riverbend last season were when I received them but maybe a little more full than the Riverbend plants. These seem like they’ve been in the pots longer.

The substrate seems to be mostly peat with a small amount of perlite thrown in. Riverbend definitely had the nicer substrate with a kanuma mixture that was fairly easily cleaned from the roots. I bare rooted those plants when I received them. I have no kanuma at the moment and am hesitant to put these in my standard tree mix so they may stay in their little nursery pots until after they bloom. The plants all have many flower buds. For now they’ll be doing the shuffle with my other satsuki, outside on the warm days and in the garage under lights when it’s chilly and windy like today.

View attachment 479441

Overall I’d give Edelweiss two thumbs up and wouldn’t hesitate to use them again. So far the only azalea they have are Kazan but their selection of other hardy perennials is pretty good. Prices are decent. I think there is a $35 order minimum before shipping but shipping appears to be significantly less expensive than other options. The plants were shipped from Oregon Monday and arrived in Maine for delivery on Wednesday so I fail to see a downside from their inexpensive shipping. Thanks for the heads up @jal777 that was a good call.

I got two Shiryo no Homare from riverbend gardens back in early March when we had a warm spell $18. The soil is nice.

 

[jal777]

Overall I’d give Edelweiss two thumbs up and wouldn’t hesitate to use them again. So far the only azalea they have are Kazan but their selection of other hardy perennials is pretty good. Prices are decent. I think there is a $35 order minimum before shipping but shipping appears to be significantly less expensive than other options. The plants were shipped from Oregon Monday and arrived in Maine for delivery on Wednesday so I fail to see a downside from their inexpensive shipping. Thanks for the heads up @jal777 that was a good call.

Awesome!!!!

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Finally got my Nuccios order since the weather has been warm enough for the past week. Couple of them are in full flower, and going in the garage Sunday afternoon because I'll be back to normal for MI weather.








The names in case your wondering.



Some are bigger than others but they all look to be in good shape. Should I let them grow for a year or can I work on them? Work wouldn't be happening until the weather stays above 40F and that's probably a month away.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Your choice. Either

1. Let the azaleas get stronger -

2. Rootwash - repot in a training container

3. Initial prune.

My preference is do either 1. or 2. in my situation and take my time to study each tree before hacking on them. That way the tree is stronger before I prune abcs I get to know each better.

There are good points for either of The three actions

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Carol 83]

Finally got my Nuccios order since the weather has been warm enough for the past week. Couple of them are in full flower, and going in the garage Sunday afternoon because I'll be back to normal for MI weather.

View attachment 482420
View attachment 482422

View attachment 482423

View attachment 482424

The names in case your wondering.

View attachment 482425

Some are bigger than others but they all look to be in good shape. Should I let them grow for a year or can I work on them? Work wouldn't be happening until the weather stays above 40F and that's probably a month away.

I figured they would get there today. Is the one with all of the flowers the Plum Purty?

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Your choice. Either

1. Let the azaleas get stronger -
My preference is do either 1. or 2. in my situation and take my time to study each tree before hacking on them. That way the tree is stronger before I prune abcs I get to know each better.

There are good points for either of The three actions

Cheers
DSD sends

That's me to a tee! I'm only 14 months into this and come from a vegetable gardening/house plant background so I like to watch them grow & learn how to care for them before I dive in with a full tank of deep sea knowledge. Not to mention all these species are new to me, so the brake pedal seems more logical than the gas pedal.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

I figured they would get there today. Is the one with all of the flowers the Plum Purty?

Flower girl with the flower eye. Yes it is, and quite frankly I find it Plum Purty.

Don't you have 83 of the plum purty?

 

[Glaucus]

For some, you will have to consider if you need to prune to prevent reverse taper. Especially for the Yata no Kagami one, it will be hard to see if there is a trunk structure in there somewhere.
Assuming you want to bonsai them and not enjoy them as flower domes instead.

For those wondering, first picture is Chojuho (left) and Yata no Kagami (right).
Second one is Plum Purty
Third is Orchid Star
Last post is Shiryu no Homare (left) and Kazan (right), respectively.

They seem to be in large pots already, so they can stay in these pots and in nonbonsai soil for at least 3 more years, if you so please.
In fact, I am a bit surprised at how big these pots are compared to the plants.

If you'd do some hard pruning on them, bare rooting, putting them in kanuma, and somehow they die, you learned very little.
In fact, you wouldn't know if they also would have died, say becuse of the very cold winters, if you had done nothing at all and kept them in these pots, just trying to keep them as healthy as possible while learning if you can grow them as plants, let alone as bonsai.

For the Chojuho, it is clear which branches you need to slow down and eventually remove entirely to prevent reverse taper.

 

[yashu]

I ended up root washing mine and putting them in training pots with kanuma. One has been started as a neagari since it had a few course roots already headed in that direction.

They came in small containers


Root wash and fresh kanuma


Neagari in training

 

[yashu]

It’s interesting to see the plants from SoCal in blossom and my Oregon plants still quite sleepy.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

It’s interesting to see the plants from SoCal in blossom and my Oregon plants still quite sleepy.

I was wondering if the ones I have from CA will adapt to MI weather as far as bloom time next year. If not the early ones will bloom before they can safely go outside each Spring. I went to the nursery today (the same place I bought first azalea. pics on page one) and their Pink Pearls are blooming and mine isn't. It's close but no flowers yet. They keep theirs inside a hoop house and I two step mine from the garage to the outside. So the light levels are way lower for my pink pearl and you can see the results.

The nursery Pink Pearl.

 

[Carol 83]

I was wondering if the ones I have from CA will adapt to MI weather as far as bloom time next year. If not the early ones will bloom before they can safely go outside each Spring. I went to the nursery today (the same place I bought first azalea. pics on page one) and their Pink Pearls are blooming and mine isn't. It's close but no flowers yet. They keep theirs inside a hoop house and I two step mine from the garage to the outside. So the light levels are way lower for my pink pearl and you can see the results.

The nursery Pink Pearl.
View attachment 482854

I like that a lot, very delicate looking.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Nice looking semi double!

Don’t see why not. The azalea will get the same paradormancy cues as the other azaleas in your area.

As you surmised, it’s all about light and temperature cues gathered once the azaleas complete dormancy….actually temperature likely would rule.

Being theirs is in a hoop house wouldn’t change much except the differential from the garage lighting/heating vs the hoop house unless it was heated. That might account from one week to most of a month depending difference.….

For example Ihave Hino Crimson Kurumes as whips and planted in the garden. The whips in the cold green house are about 3 weeks ahead.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Nice looking semi double!

Don’t see why not. The azalea will get the same paradormancy cues as the other azaleas in your area.

As you surmised, it’s all about light and temperature cues gathered once the azaleas complete dormancy….actually temperature likely would rule.

Being theirs is in a hoop house wouldn’t change much except the differential from the garage lighting/heating vs the hoop house unless it was heated. That might account from one week to most of a month depending difference.….

As far as I know/experienced the Hoop house isn't heated. It does look like I'm 2-3 weeks behind them with the two step pink pearl.