Satsuki bonsai can entertain us with the different images every month. In other words, we can enjoy the flowers which have single colours of white, red and pink or purple and variegated colours and are glad to see a lot of new buds on the branches in July after pruning them in June, and can enjoy them which have a lot of coloured leaves in autumn and good shapes in winter. But, in spite of these merits, the cycle of repotting them is earlier than a lot of other bonsai because a lot of them are strong. And they like a lot of water though they dislike being very wet for a long time in the pots. Therefore though a lot of people think that it is difficult to grow them in the pots, they like the beautiful flowers very much.
Recently I think it is much easier for European people to grow them than Japanese people do so because the former does not have an extremely hot summer. I have some serious problems about them now. Therefore I would like to explain them: the time of pruning them, the unseasonable flowering and the tint of their leaves in autumn. In recent years we have the temperature of more than 30 degrees C at the end of September. Though it has been said in Japan from the old time that summer heat or winter cold usually does not last beyond the equinox days, this proverb is dead in a lot of districts now.
Section 1. The time of pruning satsuki trees
It is said that a lot of satsuki trees which were pruned after blooming have small new flower buds at the end of June to the end of August. But if it continued to be extremely hot till the middle of September and their new shoots continued to grow long, they cannot make small new flower buds till then and these long shoots deform the completed satsuki bonsai. Therefore I think I have to prune the completed satsuki bonsai in late June after I removed the flower stalks perfectly from the branches after blooming or in blooming lest the new shoots should grow long.
But since I have a lot of satsuki trees in the pots and do not have any time to do so, I always have to prune them one by one after blooming. Therefore I always do not give a lot of fertilisers to the completed satsuki bonsai though I give fertilisers to them twice after blooming. If some of them are strong, they have a considerable number of long shoots, so that I have to trim them in winter to keep the good shapes. But since one of them, Hakurin, was very strong and healthy and had a lot of long shoots, I pruned it on July 23rd again though having pruned it after blooming. It is because I gave it a lot of fertilisers to make it into a completed satsuki bonsai as soon as possible. And the family of Korin is apt to suck nutriment more easily than other varieties. Therefore we have to be attentive to lacking water and giving so many fertilisers to them. The left photo is the front side of this tree before pruning, the middle is the back side before pruning, and the right is the front side after pruning.
And I took the left photo of this Hakurin on December16th, 2016 after I had trimmed it and the middle one when it had the first thick frost on the following day. It is so strong and healthy that you cannot see perfectly coloured leaves on the photo. But we cannot see any large coloured leaves which mean the spring ones on the right photo which was taken on January 9th. They fell down without turning their colours perfectly because they had a great damage from the thick frost on 17th. It means that hot days continued much longer than usual last summer, it continued to grow till the minimum temperature was cold and I gave it a lot of fertilisers.
I had bought it for 15,000 yen from Mozu-en in Sakai city, Osaka prefecture in January 1997 and planted it in the nursery. And rebuilding the nursery by the concrete blocks 12 years ago, I dug out and replanted all satsuki trees which had been planted in the nursery and dug it out from there in March 2014. I removed the soil drastically and a lot of roots after washing with a jet water because it had so many roots, and planted it in the bonsai pot in March 21st, 2014. The height was 37 cm and the girth was 38cm.
When I took the left photo of this Hakurin on March 13th, 2015, it already had a lot of new shoots and grown strong and healthy, so that you can see a lot of flowers on the right photo which I took on May 14th, 2016 because a lot of my satsuki trees had the flowers about ten days earlier than usual in 2016.
And if I pruned young satsuki trees immediately after blooming and gave a lot of fertilisers to them thrice after pruning to grow them large, the new shoots would grow so long that the whole shapes of them will not be good when they have a lot of flowers in the next year. Since I already explained how to prune them in July again in my previous web site, I think you could understand the situations. But in this case, since summer in the European countries is much shorter than it in Ise is, I think European people do not have to do so though I think some varieties of satsuki trees may need more sunlight in summer. It is because satsuki trees have the ability to adjust themselves to the weather if it is not extreme.
Section 2. The autumnal tint of the leaves of satsuki trees
We can enjoy not only the flowers of satsuki bonsai in May and June but also their good shapes as bonsai through the year, especially the autumnal tint of their leaves. It is said that the autumnal tint of the leaves of trees are very beautiful if we did not have extremely hot sunlight in summer, had a lot of rain in summer and autumn, and it were warm in the daytime and cool at night in autumn. Recently, since we sometimes have the extremely hot temperature of more than 35 degrees C in Ise, we cannot see a lot of beautifully coloured leaves of not only bonsai but also the trees in the nature in autumn. Besides, since our summer continues till the middle of September and it is very warm in November, it is very late that the leaves of bonsai begin to turn their colours. In other words, they continue to grow for a longer time than they did 10 years ago, that is, till the leaves turn their colours.
We can get the new knowledge from the autumnal tint of satsuki trees when we watch the coloured leaves carefully and remember the colours. At first I would like to show you a distinct example. This tree has simple-coloured flowers of purple and white throats. And it has only red leaves in autumn. In other words, the flower bud of shoot which has red leaves in autumn will have a purple flower or a white throat next year. This tree is a good example concerning of coloured leaves but no a good tree because I had to disposed of it when it had the first flowers of purple. Strictly speaking, this tree is not Asuka because it does not have the flowers of all colours which the variety of Asuka has to have. Therefore even if you made a very good bonsai by using such a material, you cannot exhibit it on any satsuki flower shows.
But since this Asuka had had a good colour arrangement of leaves on December 1st, 2011, it had beautiful flowers on June 3rd, 2012. It is because I removed the shoots which had purple and white throat when pruning it after blooming and red shoots whenever I saw them in summer and august.
And when I took the left photo of this Asuka on December 17th, 2013, the colour arrangement of leave was very good. Since I had removed the shoots which had had purple flowers and white throat when pruning it after blooming and red shoots whenever I had seen them in summer and august, I could enjoy the very beautiful flowers on May 22nd, 2016. But you can see a small number of red leaves on the middle photo which I took on December 11th, 2016. This means that I removed all shoots or branches which had purple flowers and the genes of purple flower and white throat of Asuka are not very strong. Therefore it is sure that I will be able to enjoy the good colour arrangement of flowers of this tree in 2017.
And the next is a good Asuka as a tree which has the good colour arrangement of flowers but not a good material to make a good satsuki bonsai. I do not like the trunk base line of this tree because it is lacking in the natural stream of trunk. When I took the left photo of the flowers of this Asuka on May 25th, 2013, the colour arrangement of flowers as the variety of Asuka was perfectly good. And the colour arrangement of coloured leaves is extremely good on the middle and right photos which I took on December 15th, 2015. It is because I removed the shoots which had purple and white throat when pruning it after blooming and red shoots whenever I saw them in summer and august. The middle photo is the front side of this tree and the right one is the back side.
The colour arrangement of flowers of this tree in 2016 was super as a young tree of this variety though it is classified as a middle class of bonsai. If this tree were much larger than now, I am sure it will amaze everybody when it has a lot of flowers because this variety has large flowers. And it will have a better trunk base line if the trunk will grow much thicker in the future. The left photo is the front side of this tree, and the right one is the back side.
Since this tree has the very good colour arrangement of flowers, it is natural that it should have the very good colour arrangement of leaves in autumn. And the colour arrangement of leaves of the back side is much better than that of the front side. If you compared the flowers of the front side of this tree with those of the back side on the above photos, you can understand that the latter has better colour arrangement of flowers. I am sure that it will have the same colour arrangement in 2017 as it had in 2016. The left photo is the front side of this tree, and the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on December 11th, 2016.
Though I would like to introduce some trees that have a lot of distinctly red-striped leaves in autumn, I could not take any good photos in 2016. And recently I have not done so because a lot of my satsuki in the pots have not turned their leaves into beautiful colours because of some causes. Though this Meicho does not have the beautifully coloured leaves in December and the good shape, I would like to introduce it because its leaves are good examples. I made some saplings of this variety about 43 years ago. But all trees died except this one because I had lent them to some friends of mine, which had had good shapes and flowers. It was because they did not give a lot of water which I had told them to give or they had kept them in the rooms for a long time. Now I can call this tree Meicho, but I could not do so about 25 years ago because it had only red flowers and white jewel border.
Fortunately it had a new shoot on the trunk of back side which had white flowers about 20 years ago. And now you can see some white flowers on other branches on the left photo which was taken on May 28th, 2012. But though it does not have a good shape on the middle photo which was taken on December 15th, 2016, on the left photo you can see two shoots which have red leaves among the green leaves on the back branch and three shoots which have green leaves among the red leaves on the first left branch.
Besides, to my surprise, on the left and middle photo I could find out some shoots which have the large red-striped leaves and some red-spotted leaves on the back branch which has a lot of white flowers. I think that these large red-striped leaves foretell large red-striped flowers in 2017. I am looking forward to seeing them. And on the right photo you can see two shoots which have green leaves among the red ones on the apex. Judging from these facts, my knowledge about the variety of Meicho may be wrong. It is because I have thought that the tree of Meicho which has only red flowers never will have white flowers in the future. Therefore I may have to add it to the variety of Yama no hikari which will have white flowers in the future even if a young tree of the variety had only red flowers.
In the next, I would like to show you the autumnal shapes of several trees which have better shapes and colours of leaves than other trees. I bought this Shuko no hikari for 280,000 yen in November 2001. The height was 43 cm and the girth was 37cm. The price was one third of that in 1988. And since this variety is a little bit weak, it takes me a little bit longer time to complete it into a good bonsai. Therefore I planted it in the very large terracotta pot. And I repotted it into a bonsai pot on March 27th, 2013. The height was 46 cm and the girth was 46 cm. Since I trimmed it before the first frost (December 12th), it has a little bit beautiful tint of leaves. I would like to complete it by 2020. These photos were taken on December 26th, 2016.
I bought this Korin for 400,000 yen in January 2003. The height was 43 cm and the girth was 38cm. If I had bought it in 1990, I would have paid more than 1,000,000 yen at least. Now the price of very large araki is one third or a half. I planted it in the very large terracotta pot. And I repotted it into a bonsai pot on April 4th, 2013. The height was 52 cm and the girth was 44 cm. The variety of Korin is very strong, but its growth has not been good because I expected that the girth would be 51 cm in 2013. But now it is strong and since I trimmed it before the first frost, it has a little bit beautiful tint of leaves. I would like to complete it by 2020. These photos were taken on December 26th, 2016.
I bought this Juko for 30,000 yen in January 1987. The height was 50 cm and the girth was 20cm. I thought that it was very cheap at that time. And I planted it in the nursery. I dug it out from there, washed the roots and planted it in a bonsai pot on March 18th, 2014. The height was 58 cm and the girth was 47cm. You can see very beautiful flowers on the left photo which was taken on June 1st, 2016. Though it has a little bit a lot of purple flowers, the colour arrangement of flowers is good as the variety of Juko. Therefore though the colours of leaves in autumn are not very good on the middle and right photos which were taken on December 26th, 2016, the colour arrangement of leaves is good.
In the end, I will show you some trees which have comparatively beautiful leaves in autumn. The left photo has five varieties of Togenkyo, Nikko, Shinnyo no tsuki, Korin and Hikorin. The middle one is Benigasa, and the right is Kakuo.
Section 3. The unseasonable flowering
A considerable number of satsuki trees have the unseasonable flowers from July to November in Japan. We call them “Kuruizaki” which means “crazy flowering” if I translate it word by word into English. Some people do not like them and other people like them. Do you like them, or not? Though they are unseasonable, the unseasonable flowering is not a kind of diseases or viruses.
The mechanism of unseasonable flowering depends on a mistake of plants. When a satsuki tree has flower buds on the branches which are completed from summer to autumn, if it has the time like the flowering season in autumn, it has some flowers in autumn by mistaking that spring came.
Why does the unseasonable flowering happen? Generally speaking, these reasons are thought in Japan. Firstly, it is said that it is caused by lack of complete pruning of a satsuki tree after blooming. Perhaps some of many flower buds cannot flower in the flowering season of May by the incomplete growth. It is thought that these flower buds have flowers in autumn after living through summer. If a satsuki tree was pruned completely after blooming, any flower buds which had not flowered would be removed, so that it would not have any unseasonable flowers.
Secondly, if any satsuki trees are not pruned after blooming, a lot of new shoots will grow large and have flower buds in the much earlier time than those of bonsai. If they are completed by autumn, it is thought that several of them are apt to bloom out of season. Therefore we often can see the unseasonable flowers on the branches of satsuki trees which were planted in the grounds and were not pruned completely after blooming. But it is a fact that we cannot see all of these flower buds blooming.
Thirdly, some varieties of satsuki trees are apt to bloom out of season even if they were pruned completely after blooming. “Ai no tsuki,” “Kinsai” and “Fujizakura” are known as varieties which are apt to bloom out of season. It is because these varieties have each special conditions to complete flower buds. And it has not been found out how to prevent satsuki trees from having the flowers blooming out of season yet.
But, in spite of above conditions, my Shintaiyo and Meicho had the unseasonable flowers on July 25th, 2013 when I took their photos. It was very strange that I saw the unseasonable flowers of these trees because I had pruned them drastically after blooming every year, that is, I had cut all shoots short whether they had had flower buds or not. And though it was still hot in the daytime on October 11th, 2014 when I took a photo of this Eikan, that is, it was only the start of autumn in Ise, it had some large unseasonable flowers. The left photo is Shintaiyo, the middle one is Meicho and the right one is Eikan.
Since I cut all satsuki trees in the nursery drastically in January, February and early March, the conditions are different from those of the satsuki trees in the pots. They always have the new shoots at the end of March and complete their flower buds in July. And it is true that since I keep one tenth of flower buds of every trees, they can flower in May. And I remove flowers and flower stalks in June. The new shoots by the flowers grow soon and complete their flower buds in July and early August because I give them a lot of fertilisers. But a lot of trees in the nursery do not have the unseasonable flowers in late summer and autumn except a considerable number of trees. Especially the variety of Fujizakura has a lot of unseasonable flowers but other trees have a few or some ones.
When I see these unseasonable flowers, I can have a good chance to confirm the colours of flowers of the trees in the nursery with them. If I can see the white-striped flower of Nikko on the left photo which was taken on November 6th, 2016, I can be sure that this tree has a good colour arrangement of flower. When I can see two white flowers and three red ones of Aoi no hikari on the middle photo which was taken on November 6th, 2016, I am very glad to be sure that this variety has the perfect colour arrangement of flowers. And when a white flower and two red ones are seen on the left photo which was taken on November 6th, 2016, this Shin-nikko foretells that it has all colours that the variety has to have. Therefore I can cut these trees freely in February.
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