Recently I have a great problem about the flower buds of satsuki trees. I have been unable to find out the reasons why a half of the short satsuki trees in my gardens do not have any flower buds, and the other half of them have a small number of flower buds though some large trees of them in the gardens have a considerable number of flower buds for these years. When we built a house on a new area of about 1,000 square metres in 2002, I made a variety of gardens and planted a lot of short young satsuki trees along the curbstones of them and among the stones, and a large tree of Yama no hikari in and Kakuo a small courtyard.
Some years later on when three large garden trees died, I planted Daigokuden, Komei and Shiroebisu in the east garden by the house and large Daigokuden in the garden between the house and the garage. Therefore since these satsuki trees have each condition of the sunshine, I have recognised the differences of growth among them since ten years ago.
And besides it had not been very hot from the last ten days of August to the first ten days of September and it had not been hot from the middle of September to the start of October because three typhoons approached to Japan and the autumn rain front stayed across Honshu three weeks earlier than usual. Therefore I had another problem: A lot of satsuki bonsai on the shelves was unable to have a lot of flower buds though more than a half of them have a lot of long shoots which have flower buds.
Section 1.The satsuki trees in the small back garden behind the house
I planted 16 thin-trunked oak trees which are multi-trunked in the garden behind the house and a lot of short young satsuki trees along the curbstones though some of them had been shaped by wiring. They had a lot of flowers for about five years after I had planted them there. But the number of flowers decreased year by year. And last year when I cut the long shoots to make them look beautiful at the start of May they had a small number of flowers buds or nothing.
Judging only from these facts, I cannot find out any reasons why these satsuki trees have only a small number of flowers or nothing. Of course the trunks of oak trees grew thicker though I pruned them drastically in the middle of July and December, and the satsuki trees grew large though I pruned them after blooming.
It is said in Japan that if we prune satsuki trees by the Tanabata festival (the seventh of July), that is, within the rainy season, they will have flowers next year. Therefore at least I always finish pruning them at the start of July. Recently it was extremely hot in midsummer. Though it is said in Japan that if satsuki trees have the extremely hot sunshine after pruning it is difficult for a lot of new buds to come from the branches, I always prune the oak trees drastically immediately after I pruned all satsuki trees in this garden so that both of them may have much more sunshine and I may save the time because I do not have to give a lot of water to the oak trees in mid-summer. It is because a half of satsuki trees in this back garden do not have any sunshine from the last ten days of October to the middle February because of the shadow of the house.
Though this photo was taken on October 26th, these satsuki trees in the east half of the back garden already don’t have any sunshine. Though a lot of satsuki enthusiasts in Hokkaido keep their satsuki bonsai in the shelters from the first frost (about the last ten days of October) to the start of April because the temperature falls below - 20 degrees C in winter, they make their satsuki trees have a lot of flowers at the satsuki flower shows which are held at the first ten days of June.
Since my wife cut the long shoots of these satsuki trees to make them look beautiful in the middle October, you can see a lot of leaves of them now. But when she did it, all long shoots did not have any flower buds except several ones of Benizuru which you can see on this left photo. But Byakuren and Jukokan which you can see on the middle and right ones do not have any flower buds as well as other trees.
To my great regret, these trees continued to have a lot of flowers for some years since I had planted them there in 2002 though they had been small, but they have no flower buds except one tree though you can see a small number of flowers on the photo which was taken on June 3rd, 2011.
If I cannot make my satsuki trees in the back garden have beautiful flowers, I have to find out the reasons, for they are not worth my while planting them there if they do not have any flowers.
And though the satsuki trees in the west part of back garden have a considerable sunshine through a year, recently they have been unable to have a lot of flowers. Judging from these photos, you can guess how many hours they have the sunshine in summer. The left photo was taken at 11:00, the middle one at 13:00, the right one at 15:00, October 26th.
When I pruned Nikko (the left tree of these photos) and Benizuru (the right one) on July 12th, the small branches and new shoots of the apexes had a lot of white roots because I was late in pruning them and we had much more rainy and cloudy days in the rainy season than usual. Therefore I had pruned their tops so drastically (the left photo) that they did not have only several new shoots on August 15th (the middle photo). And though they have a lot of new shoots on October 26th (the right photo) and still a lot of sunshine now whenever it is fine, they have no flower buds. But the lower branches of the trees have only some flower buds.
Other 12 trees have no flower buds though my wife cut the long shoots to make them look beautiful in the middle October. Of course some of the long shoots may have had flower buds. But since Eikan, Hakatajiro, Jukokan and Korin of them are between the oak trees and the wall and do not have a lot of sunshine in summer it is natural that they should not have a lot of flower buds every year. The rest of them are Jukokan, Byakuren, Karenko, Banri no kagayaki, Eikan and Nikko.
And 5 trees have only some or several flower buds. One of them is Kozan. You can see the whole figure (the left photo) and the lower branches (the right one) which have some flower bus. The rest of them are Eikan, Nyohozan, Benizuru and Nikko.
Only two satsuki trees have a considerable number of flower buds. They are Nikko (the left photos) and Benizuru (the right ones). It is sure that they are in the centre in this back garden. But I wonder why only these two trees have a lot of flower buds.
I can understand the reasons why the trees at the ends of both sides of this back garden have much less flower buds than above two trees but cannot understand the reasons why the trees in the middle of this back garden have a few flower buds or nothing.
Fortunately I have some photos of the trees in this back garden which were taken on June 3rd, 2011. Judging from this picture, I can understand that the number of their flowers already decreased to a high degree in 2011 and that there was a difference of the number of flowers among them. And you can understand that the number of flowers depends on the varieties though of course all of them do not have the flowers at the same time.
Section 2. The satsuki trees in the small garden between the house and the garage
Since I planted a considerably high Ume trees in the centre of this garden several satsuki trees which were planted in the south side have the considerable sunshine through a year. Even in winter, they have it for more than 4 hours per a day. But they have a few flower buds or nothing this year. I cannot understand the reasons.
And the satsuki trees which were planted in the north side of this smallgarden have a few flower buds or nothing except large Daigokuden which has a considerable number of flower buds. But the number is less than usual.
Since the left photo was taken at about 11:30 on October 26th, 2015, it is sure that these satsuki trees have some quantity of sunshine in the last ten days of October and that they have a lot of sunshine in summer if you see the right photo which I took on June 3rd 2011. And each of them had flowers in 2011 though the number of flowers was few. Therefore comparing the former photo with the latter one, it is very lonely that these several trees have no flower buds now though the large Daigokuden has a considerable number of flower buds.
But now even Korin of them has only a few flower buds though you can see a considerable number of flowers on the above photo which was taken in 2011.
Section 3. The satsuki trees in the small courtyard
Since this small courtyard is between the guest room and the drawing-room, each satsuki trees has a lot of sunshine through a year.
When I pruned Yama no hikari on July 11th, the small branches and very long new shoots of the apex and branch pads had a lot of white roots because I was late in pruning it and we had much more rainy and cloudy days in the rainy season than usual. Therefore I had pruned it so drastically (the left and middle photos) but it still did not have a lot of strong new shoots on August 15th (the right photo).
And though it had a lot of strong new shoots (the right and middle photos) before I cut the long shoots on October 26th and always has a lot of sunshine, it has only less a half number of flower buds than usual (the right photo). I think that the numerous white roots and the bad weather gave it a great damage. But it may have other reasons.
Since this Byakuren had a lot of long shoots which had no flower buds (the left photo), I cut them on October 26th. And then I could not find out only several flower buds (the right one).
But this Kobai no kagayaki had a lot of long shoots which had no flower buds (the left photo), I cut them on October 26th. And it has a considerable number of flower buds (the right one) though the number is less than usual. Why?
Since this large Kakuo had a lot of long shoots which had flower buds (the left photo), I cut them on October 26th. Though it has a considerable number of flower buds, the number is much less than usual (the middle and left ones). I think that it was because I was very late in pruning it. I and my wife left our house to go to Ireland and take a bus tour around the isle on May 6th and she came home on 15th, but I dropped over in Amsterdam to have some demonstrations of satsuki trees as a volunteer and came home on 21st. Perhaps since this tree had begun to flower earlier than usual, it had finished flowering till I came home. And though I pruned it on June 28th, I already could find out a lot of seeds. I had an acute pain in the belly in the evening, June 5th and stayed at the Ise General Hospital on 8th, had an operation on 15th and left there on 19th. Therefore I had been unable to work hard in the garden for a while since then.
Seeing the photos of the small courtyard which were taken on May 30th, 2011 and on June 3rd, 2013, I think that the number of the flowers of Yama no Hikari is about the same though it in 2011 was much less than that in 2002 when I had planted the tree, but that of Karenko is very different between them. Of course when I planted this Karenko in 2002 which I had grown from the cutting, it was small and young. But it continued to have a lot of flowers for some years. And though you cannot see the flowers of Kobai no kagayaki on the photo in2011 because it is later for flowering than Yama no hikari and Byakuren, you can see the several flowers at the right side of the photo in 2013. It has a considerable number of flower buds now after I cut long shoots on October 26th, but it continued to have a lot of flowers for some years since I had planted it in 2002.
Section 4. The satsuki trees in the small east garden beside the house
Since I planted four very large trees – white crape myrtle, ilex, podocarp and mokkoku tree (Pentaphylacaceae) – in the south part of this garden in 2001, they always make large shadows except the podocarp when their new shoots extend long. Therefore I pruned the mokkoku tree in July to keep the style, cut all new shoots of the white crape myrtle in December which has a lot of white flowers at the ends of the very long shoots in August, and pruned the ilex drastically in July and December to keep the style and lest a lot of branches and long shoots should make large shadows. Of course it is to save the time to water in summer that I always cut the mokkoku, podocarp and ilex in July. Therefore the satsuki trees in this part of garden do not have the sunshine through a whole daytime but it is a fact that they have a lot of sunshine.
The satsuki trees in the north part of this garden always never have any sunshine after 14:00 because our house makes a large shadow. It means that they can have the sunshine from about 5:30 to 14:00 in summer and from 7:00 to 14:00 in winter. Therefore the sunshine is no problem. But they have a small number of flower buds or nothing. Since I pruned them on July 12th, it is true that I was late in pruning them. I have to admit that this is one of reasons why the number of flower buds is less than usual, I think that it is not only the decisive reason.
But they continued to have a lot of flowers for some years since I had planted them there in 2002. And you can know that they had a considerable number of flowers on the photos which were taken on June 3rd, 2013. The left photo is the north part of this garden. The middle one is the centre of it and the right one is the south part of it. All of these satsuki trees had a considerable number of flowers. But the number of them in 2015 was much less than that in 2013. I could not understand the reasons at that time and wonder that the number of flowers has decreased year by year.
Though I had planted a large holly tree and a large maple tree in the centre of this garden in 2002, the large maple tree died in 2006 whose leaves had had the large yellowish and white stripes. Therefore I planted a large Daigokuden which had been grown in the pots from the cuttings and a large Shiroebisu and a large Komei which had been grown in the nursery.
This Komei had a lot of white roots from top to the lowest branch when I pruned it on Jun 11th. A lot of new shoot grew very long and thickly because I was late in pruning it and the weather was very bad in the rainy season.
But since this tree does not have a lot of good branches to make an apex, it does not have a lot of good new shoots on the top after it has passed about 40 days since I pruned it. I think that a lot of white roots and the very strong sunshine gave it a great damage because it never had any shadow over it. These photos were taken on August 15th.
This tree is so strong that it has a lot of new shoots which have a lot of flower buds. Of course the number of them is less than usual but I will be able to enjoy the flowers next year. These photos were taken on October 26th.
The numbers of flower buds of the large Daigokuden and the large Shiroebisu are less than usual like this Komei. The varieties of Daigokuden and Shiroebisu always have a lot of flowers if they were grown under the normal conditions because they are very strong.
The variety of Komei always has a lot of flowers. Therefore though it showed me a lot of flowers on the photos which were taken on May 27th, 2010 and May 30th, 2011, the number of flowers in 2010 was less than that in 2011. What does it mean? The answer is easy. In this case the number of flower buds depends on the weather in summer and the quantity of water which I gave. If the pruning time was same, a difference of the number of flower buds would depend on whether the satsuki tree continued to have the extremely hot sunshine for several days after it had been pruned or not, and whether the suitable quantity of water continued to be given or not in summer. A lot of garden satsuki trees die in summer.
Judging from these facts, I think that flower buds of the garden satsuki trees depend on the place of the garden, the weather in summer and September and the varieties of satsuki. And I may have to consider the quantity of water and fertilisers which I give them in summer. Once I thought that one or two of 20 agrochemicals which I have used recently might give some seedless damage to satsuki trees. But when I saw these trees which I had repotted last March, I had to deny my opinion. These Shinkyo (the left and second photos) and Kakuo (the third and right ones) on the bonsai shelves have a lot of flower buds. Since I had pruned them drastically in March did not have to prune after blooming, they could have a lot of flower buds in October.
Section 5. The satsuki trees on the bonsai shelves
Since I had stayed at Ise General Hospital from June 8th to 19th, I was very late in pruning the satsuki bonsai and the young satsuki trees in the pots. And I finished pruning them on June 29th. Generally speaking, the number of flower buds of all satsuki trees in the pots is much less than usual. I thought that the black nets to make shadows over them might give some damage because the weather in the rainy season, the second half of August and the first half of September was very bad. Judging from the bad weather, I spread the black nets at 9:00 and rolled them at 4:00.
But recently I was told that the number of flower buds of satsuki bonsai which two friends of mine in Toba and Ise had was less than usual. My satsuki trees have had so many flower buds that I may think that the number of flower buds of them is much less than usual. You can see them on the photos which were taken on October 26th.
The variety of Kinsai always has a lot of flower buds. And since this Kinsai is so strong that it has a lot of long shoots whose ends have a lot of flower buds (the left photo). Especially the top has a lot of long shoots (the middle one) because it has had a lot of sunshine. After I removed long shoots, it looks beautiful (the right one).
The top has a lot of flower buds (the left photo) but the number of flower buds of low branches (the middle and right ones) is much less than usual because I think they had a lot of shadows which the upper branches and neighbouring trees made though I turned the turning tables on which a lot of pots were put once a week.
The variety of Kusudama does not have a lot of new shoots because the flowers and leaves are very large. It is so strong that it has several long shoots and strong leaves (the left photo). And this two-trunked tree has a nice shape after pruning. But the number of flower buds is much less than usual. Especially the lower branches do not have a lot of them (the right one).
The variety of Nyohozan always has a lot of flowers. Therefore the number of flower buds is a little bit less than usual. It has a nice shape after removing long shoots (the left photo). And the top (the middle one) and lower branches (the right one) have a lot of flower buds. Therefore when it has the flower next year, it will be very beautiful.
Though the number of flower buds of the large satsuki bonsai is much less than usual, the small bonsai has a lot of them. I think it is because the whole bodies of them had a lot of sunshine without having any shadows. The left photo is Shuho no hikari, and the right one is Nikko.
I think that readers of my web site have a variety of gardens. Especially in Europe the hours of sunshine per a day is a problem because the summer term is much shorter than that in Japan. Therefore it will be useful if you read my web site about “The connection between the sunshine and the flower buds of satsuki trees.” I hope that your satsuki trees will have a lot of flowers in June.
Attentions:
Since I have thought that all satsuki trees in the terracotta pots and in the nursery are my materials to increase my knowledge of satsuki trees since I began to grow satsuki trees in 1972 and made the nursery in 1992, I have tried practising various kinds of methods and ways to grow them and to make good bonsai according to my ideas. And sometimes I dared to practise drastic ideas. As the results of them, I made some satsuki trees die or gave great damages to them, but I got some little success from them. This is my experience.
Now that I am 73 years old, I think that I have to complete several satsuki bonsai as my final working, and that I have to give up practising any kind of drastic ideas because I think I have only several years to work in the garden in the rest of my life. Therefore this is my final renewal of my web site about repotting of large satsuki trees because I will be very tired from repotting heavy satsuki trees, taking a lot of photos.
But I would like to continue to renew it by practising the shohin or chuhin or others. Please send me your e-mail about something that you are interested in. It is because I do not have a lot of good ideas now.
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