Satsuki and Other Trees in Mack's Garden 44

Renewal March 30th, 2018

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I would like to introduce some beautiful photos of satsuki flowers which were chosen from the collection of their photos whenever I renew my homepage.




The ways to completion of satsuki bonsai --- Part 2


The following articles are the continuance of those in my last web site. Therefore if you were interested in them, please read these sentences. Or if you did not read my last web site, please read it in the Archives.

Section 2. Semi-finished bonsai which were grown in the nursery

Now I would like to introduce how to complete satsuki trees which I have grown from the araki which I had bought and dug from the nursery. I left the chairman of Ise Satsuki Society to publish the book so that I might get the title of literature doctor and withdrew from it about 14 years ago, and it disappeared in two years. And now since I am not a member of any satsuki or bonsai societies, I cannot exhibit my satsuki bonsai at any satsuki flower shows or bonsai shows. Therefore I do not have to put the living moss on the soil, wash the trunks and branches and clean the pots to prepare for flower shows when I trim them.

If the coloured leaves of satsuki trees fell down from the branches in winter, we can see through the whole figures clearly. Therefore we have good chances to restyle, prune and trim them. If we would like to exhibit some of them at the flower shows or see the beautiful figures when they have flowers, we had better trim them in winter. And we can remove the flower buds or flowers which are disturbing the good shapes of trees when they begin to have flowers.

D. Nikko A

I bought this Nikko for 12,000 yen in Kanuma in November 1991 and planted it in the nursery. This tree grew very rapidly, and the bottom of trunk grew very thick. And each branch grew so thick that sometimes I cut the thick parts of them short and make them have thinner branches. Since it had a good shape, I dug it from there and planted it in the very large bonsai pot after washing the roots on March 17th, 2014. The height was 46 cm and the trunk girth was 46 cm.

The left photo is the whole figure of this tree in the nursery after rough pruning, which was taken on January 24th, 2011. At that time, I pruned the satsuki trees in the nursery drastically after rough cutting lest they should have some damages from the very cold winds and frozen soil. But since it was not very cold recently, I pruned them drastically without rough cutting. And some trees had serious damages from them last winter. It is because we had the severe cold in Ise which I have not experienced.

The middle photo is whole figure after I pruned drastically on February 11th, 2014, to dig it up from the nursery and plant it in the bonsai pot. And the right one is this tree which was put on a box to wash the roots after removing the soil, which was taken on March 15th, 2014. The well-tapered trunk is very good.



The left photo is the roots after washing, which was taken on March 15th, 2014. Since the nebari is good, you can see a lot of thin roots even after removing a lot of roots. The middle photo is the whole figure of this tree after being planted in a Kanton pot. The bottom of trunk was so thick that I had to plant it in a very large pot. The right one is the whole figure after trimming on March 13th, 2015. Each branch does not have a lot of new shoots because it has passed only a year since being dug up from the nursery and planted in the pot.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree before pruning in March, and the middle one is it after pruning. Since it has the good nebari, it has a lot of long shoots. But since I pruned it drastically when digging it up from the nursery, it has only a small number of shoots after pruning. The first and second photos were taken on March 28th, 2016. And the right one is the flowers whose photo was taken on May 18th, 2016. All trees of Nikko family began to have flowers much earlier than usual in 2016. And since I could see three red flowers on the right side, I thought that the colour arrangement of flowers is no problem.



The left photo is the flowers of this tree whose photo was taken on May 27th, 2017. Though I am happy to see a lot of red flowers, if it will have some white flowers in some years, I will be much happier. The middle one is the whole figure before trimming in winter. And the right one is it after trimming. Though the whole figure is much better than that in 2014, the branch pads still are weak. Therefore I hope that I will be able to complete it as bonsai in 2023 when I will repot it. Of course I will repot it in March 2019.



E. Nikko B

I bought this Nikko for 10,000 yen in Kanuma in March 1989 and planted it in a large terracotta pot because it had a nice shape though it did not have a thick trunk. The height 53 cm and the trunk girth was 12 cm. But I planted it in the nursery in October 1992 to make it grow large as soon as possible.

Since it had a nice shape and a very thick trunk, I dug it out from the nursery and planted it in a large terracotta pot in April 2008. The height was 54 cm and the trunk girth 36 cm. And when I repotted it in the same pot on April 6th, 2013, the height was 59 cm and the trunk girth was 40 cm. Since the core of top of this tree had several shoots, I cut it short on March 12th, 2015. And I planted it into a bonsai pot on April 5th, 2016. The height was 53cm and the trunk girth was 41cm.

Though the left photo was taken on August 27th, 2008, after this tree had been dug out from the nursery and planted in a very large terracotta pots on April 11th, 2008, it has a lot of new shoots. The middle one which was taken on April 19th, 2011 is the whole figure after being pruned drastically in February to make it grow prosperously as soon as possible. The right one is the flowers, which was taken on June 5th, 2012. I was very happy to see a group of red flowers and some red-striped ones. I am sorry to tell you that the first and second photos are not clear becuase I duplicated them by photographing the originals. Though I could transfer their files to the folder of my web site, they did not appear on the display of the computer.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree before restyling the top to make it shorter on March 12th, 2015. The middle one is it after pruning it and restyling the top. The whole figure is much better than that before restyling. The right one is the new top. Since I changed the top, the taper of the trunk is much better than before.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree before pruning it to repot it. It is so strong that it has a lot of long shoots. The middle one is it which was pulled out from the pot and put on a box to remove the soil. On the right one you can see the fresh tree which was planted in a bonsai pot. The whole style is rather good. The photos were taken on April 3rd, 2016.



The left photo is the flowers, which was taken on May 31st, 2017. I was sad not to see a group of red flowers which I had seen in 2012. It is because I cut the branch sort lest it should be very thick. But since some red-striped flowers can be seen, I can hope that the colour arrangement of flowers will be good. The middle one is the whole figure before trimming in winter. And the right one is it after trimming. Though the whole figure is much better than that in 2015, the branch pads and top still are weak. Therefore I hope that I will be able to complete it as bonsai in 2023 when I will repot it. Of course I will repot it in March 2019.



F. Nikko C

I am sorry to tell you that I do not have any records of this Nikko C in the time of young tree and while it was planted in the nursery. Perhaps it was one of the trees which I grew from the cuttings in about 1980 to sell them at our satsuki flower show. Though it did not have good nebari, since the bottom of trunk was thick, perhaps I dug it out and planted it in a large terracotta pot in March 2007. And when I repotted it into a bonsai pot on April 5th, 2011, the height was 32 cm and the trunk girth was 30cm. When I repotted it in the same pot on March 29th, 2015, the height was 35 cm and the trunk girth was 32 cm.

The left photo is the whole figure after pruning to repot this tree in March 2011, and the middle one is it after it was repotted in a bonsai pot. This nebari is not very good because the left side of the bottom of trunk is weak. But it already has a lot of strong new shoots on the right photo which was taken on April 19th, 2011. Though the top is weak, the taper of the trunk and the whole style are good. Since these three photos are the duplications of the originals, they are not clear.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree before trimming on January 21st, 2012. Though it has not passed a year since I repotted it in the bonsai pot, it has a lot of shoots. And the middle one is it after pruning. Though I pruned it drastically, each branch pad is already good. The right photo is the whole figure, which was taken on November 27th, 2012. Since it is very strong, it has a lot of long new shoots.



The left photo is the whole figure before blooming, which was taken on May 15th, 2017. Though it is very strong and healthy, it does not have a lot of flower buds. Therefore you cannot see a lot of flowers on the middle one which was taken on 26th. But since I can see only one red flower, I am very happy and can hope that it will have good colour arrangement of flowers in some years. The right one is the whole figure after light trimming, which was taken on January 13th, 2018. Since the whole style and branch pads are good, I will be able to complete it as a bonsai in three years.



G. Nikko D

This Nikko D has the same history in the time of young tree as Nikko C has. Since I could not sell it at our satsuki flower show, neither, I continued to grow it in a terracotta pot. I planted it in the nursery in October 1992 and dug it out from there and planted it in a terracotta pot on March 28th, 2011. But since the trunk girth was not thick, I did not measure it. And when I repotted it in a bonsai pot on March 30th, 2016, the height was 33 cm and the trunk girth was 25 cm.

The left photo is the whole figure of this tree after pruning to repot it in a bonsai pot. Though the style is not bad, the left side of the nebari is not good. The roots on the middle one prove that it does not have a very good nebari. After being planted in a bonsai pot, it has a rather good shape on the right one. They were taken on April 3rd, 2016.



The left photo is the whole figure before blooming, which was taken on May 14th, 2017. Though it was so strong and healthy that I pruned it drastically in the previous winter, it has a lot of flower buds. Therefore you can see a lot of flowers on the middle one which was taken on May 31st, 2017. But I am sad not to see any red or red-striped flowers. Perhaps I cannot hope that it will have a good colour arrangement of flowers though these flowers are beautiful. The right one is the whole figure after trimming, which was taken on January 13th, 2018. Though the whole style is not bad, since one of branches is still thin, I will be happy if I will complete it as a bonsai in several years.



H. Kozan

This Kozan has the same history in the time of young tree as Nikko C and D have. I planted it in the nursery in October 1992 and dug it out from there and planted it in a terracotta pot on March 28th, 2011. But since the trunk girth was not thick, I did not measure it. And when I repotted it in a bonsai pot on March 30th, 2016, the height was 33 cm and the trunk girth was 25 cm.

The left photo is the whole figure of this tree before pruning to repot it. Since it was planted large terracotta pot, it is so strong and healthy that it has a lot of long shoots. And the middle one is it after it was pruned drastically. And the right one is it after it was repotted in a bonsai pot. The photos were taken on April 3rd, 2016. Though the taper of trunk of this tree is not bad, the first branches of left and right sides may be low.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree before blooming, which was taken on May 16th, 2017. Though it was so strong and healthy that I pruned it drastically in the previous winter, it has a lot of flower buds. Therefore you can see a lot of flowers on the middle one which was taken on May 31st, 2017. Since its variety is Kozan and all its flowers are the same colour, there is no problem concerning a colour arrangement. The right one is the whole figure after trimming, which was taken on January 13th, 2018. Though each branch pad is weak so far, since it has a good shape, I can hope that I may complete it as a bonsai in some years.



I. Juko B

This Juko B is one of trees which I have grown from the cuttings which I took from the parent tree in 1980. And since I broke the trunk when I wired it in December 1986, I cut the trunk short and restyled it. Though it did not have the very good style, it was better than a lot of other young satsuki trees. Therefore I grew it in a terracotta pot. I planted it in the nursery in October 1992. Since it has a good style, I dug it out from there and planted it in a terracotta pot on April 11th, 2008. The height was 41cm and the trunk girth was 20 cm.

Though I repotted this tree in a bonsai pot on March 22nd, 2013, the bottom of trunk had stopped growing for 5 years while it had been planted in the terracotta pot. The height was 46 cm and the trunk girth was 20 cm. Generally speaking, if a young satsuki trees was planted in a terracotta pot, they would grow larger than in a bonsai pot. And besides, when I repotted it on April 10th, 2017, the height was 46 cm and the trunk girth was 21 cm.

Judging from the progress of growth of this tree, though it looks strong on the photo which was taken on November 27th, 2012, it may have the rotten part in the trunk because I had cut the trunk short in 1986. Or it may have had a serious lack of water. Even if we planted some young trees in large terracotta pots or nurseries after it had been planted in terracotta pots for several years after we had cut the trunks short, they would not grow large rapidly. And it is a fact that if we repot a satsuki bonsai in the same bonsai pot every three years after pruning it and washing the roots in March, we cannot expect that the bottom of trunk will grow thick. Therefore if you would like to grow your young satsuki trees large, never let an opportunity slip: that is, grow them large as soon as possible by the age of ten.

The left photo is the flowers of this tree, which was taken on June 7th, 2012. Though a lot of pink-striped flowers cannot be seen, they are beautiful. The middle one is the whole figure before pruning. It is so strong that it has a lot of long shoots. The right one is it after I pruned it drastically to complete it as soon as possible. Since the top is heavy, I have to make it smaller when repotting it. The second and third photos were taken on November 27th, 2012.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree, which was taken on May 4th, 2013. Though you can see the rather good style because I repotted it in March, the taper of the trunk is not good. It is because I cut the trunk very short when I failed in wiring and broke it in 1986. And the top is still heavy. The middle one is the coloured leaves, which was taken on January 4th, 2016. They are beautiful. Perhaps it is because it was cold at night in December. According to weather and quantity of sunlight, water and fertilisers colours of coloured leaves of satsuki trees in autumn and winter differ every year. The right one is the flowers, which was taken on June 1st, 2016. Though I did not give it a lot of fertilisers, these flowers are large. In the case of this formal style of satsuki trees in the middle class or small one, you can understand that large flowers are not suitable.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree, which was taken on May 12th, 2017. Since I made the top smaller when I repotted it in March, the whole figure is much better than the above photo in 2013. The middle one is the whole figure of the front side of this tree, which was taken February 10th, 2018. Though I trimmed it in January, the top looks still heavy even if each branch pad had the enough volumes of leaves. But judging from the back side of it on the right photo, the top does not look large. But now the right first branch is so thick that I cannot restyle it.



I. Juko C

This Juko C has the same history in the time of young tree as Juko B has. Since I could not sell it at our satsuki flower show, I continued to grow it in a terracotta pot. Though I had planted it in the nursery in October 1992, I dug it out from there and planted it in a terracotta pot on March 26th, 2013. But since the trunk girth was not thick, I did not measure it. And when I repotted it in a bonsai pot on April 8th, 2016, the height was 33 cm and the trunk girth was 25 cm.

I repotted this tree on April 4th, 2016 when I took these three photos. The left photo is the whole figure after pruning. The style is rather good. And the nebari on the middle one is not bad though I had to cut the long roots short to plant it in a bonsai pot. Judging the right one, the pot is a little bit large.



The left photo is the flowers of the front side of this tree, which was taken on June 6th, 2017 and the middle one is those of the back side. Though these flowers are beautiful, compared with the height of this tree, they are large. Therefore I must not make it have a lot of flowers and give it a lot of fertilisers and water lest it should have large flowers. The right one is the whole figure after trimming, which was taken on January 13th, 2018. This bonsai pot is still larger now, but when it will have flowers this year, will it be suitable to the whole figure? Thinking about it in mid-summer, I would like to continue to use this pot.



Section 3. Semi-finished bonsai which have been grown in the pots from araki

I could not buy any expensive satsuki trees in the thirties and forties. It is because I did not have a lot of money as the pocket money. Therefore I grew a lot of saplings from the cuttings. But when I got a lot of money as my pocket money except my monthly salaries and bonus equivalent to the pay of more than five months which my wife managed to pay and save, I paid three fourths of them for fishing on the sea.

And when one of my friends bought a very big leisure boat, he often asked me to go fishing with him. Since I did not pay him any money, I had a lot of money: more than 100,000 yen as a part-time instructor at some universities and a private tutor, and 50,000 yen as my pocket money from her and 50,000 yen from the hospital where I have a job as an inspector. Therefore I could buy a considerable number of expensive araki. And a lot of satsuki enthusiasts bought a lot of very expensive completed satsuki bonsai and araki because Japan had enjoyed the bubble economy for a long time. And the price of them was extremely high at that time, but now the price is a half or one thirds. And besides, any expensive araki are very good without any large scars.

But at that time when the growers of satsuki trees began to sell very expensive araki, they had a lot of large scars though they had very thick trunks. Therefore three fourths of expensive araki which I had bought at that time died or are dying.

A. Korin D

I bought this Korin for 400,000 yen in January 2003. The height was 43 cm and the trunk girth was 38cm. If I had bought it in 1990, I would have paid more than 1,000,000 yen at least. I planted it in the very large terracotta pot to complete it as soon as possible. And I repotted it into a bonsai pot on April 4th, 2013. The height was 52 cm and the trunk girth was 44 cm. Though the variety of Korin is very strong, the growth of this tree has not been good against my expectation that the trunk girth would be 48 cm in 2013.

When I repotted this tree on March 17th, 2018, the height was 53 cm and the trunk girth was 46 cm. Since I cut the roots of front and back sides drastically to plant it in the large bonsai pot in 2013, the trunk girth was not what I had expected. But since the whole figure is much better than that in 2013, I would like to complete it in 2022 when I will repot it.

The left photo is the whole figure of this tree before trimming in winter, which was taken on January 3rd, 2012. It has a lot of long new shoots and a lot of coloured leaves have not fallen from them yet. It is because I gave it a lot of fertilisers and water till the middle of autumn ant it continued to be warm till January. The middle one is it after trimming. You can see not only the red leaves but also the yellow ones. Generally speaking, this variety has only red ones in autumn. Why does it have the yellow leaves? Please think about the reasons. The right one is the flowers, which was taken on June 5th, 2012. Since the previous pruning was strong, it does not have a lot of flowers.



Repotting this tree into a bonsai pot on March 27th, 2013, I did not take the photos before and after repotting. The left photo is the whole figure, which was taken on May 4th 2013. This well-tapered trunk is beautiful, and the style of trunk and the nebari are very good. The middle one is the whole figure before trimming in March. Since it has a lot of long new shoots though I trimmed it strongly, the style after trimming is good on the right photo. The second and third photos were taken on March 13th, 2015.



The left photo is flowers of this tree, which was taken on May 24th, 2016. Since it continued to be very warm in May, it began to have flowers earlier than usual. Though I think you can understand that the left first branch does not have a lot of flowers, it is because a lot of shoots of it were so long and strong that I cut them short when trimming it. Generally speaking about large satsuki trees, lower branches have longer and stronger new shoots than upper branches. The middle one is the whole figure after trimming and the right one is the back side of this tree after trimming. These coloured leaves are beautiful. The second and third photos were taken on December 26th, 2016.



The left photo is the flowers, which was taken on May 26th, 2017. Since this tree has a lot of swelling flower buds, if it is in full bloom soon, the whole figure will be much better. The middle photo is the whole figure in winter before trimming and the right one is it after trimming. The second and third photos were taken on January 4th, 2018. Since it was very cold in the last ten days of December, a lot of coloured leaves already fell down. Since it had a lot of long and strong shoots, I trimmed it strongly. Therefore though each branch pad has not been completed yet, the whole style is much better than that in 2015.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree which was pulled out from the bonsai pot. Seeing the front side of the root ball, the large part of the soil is black. It means that the soil of the part is hard and it has passed a long time since the previous repotting. But when I began to remove it, it was not so hard that I decided not to remove all grains of Kanuma soil from the roots and to cut the thin roots very short to make it have a lot of flowers. You can see a lot of Kanuma soil and thin roots on the middle photo. The right one is the whole figure after repotting. Though the length of each branch and the figure of the top have to be considered carefully, I would like to complete it in 2022 when I will repot it.



B. Shuho no hikari

I bought this Shuko no hikari for 280,000 yen in November 2001. The height was 43 cm and the trunk girth was 37cm. The price was about one third of that in 1988. And since this variety is a little bit weak, I thought it would take 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 trunk girth was 46 cm.

When I repotted it on March 17th, 2018, the height was 48 cm and the trunk girth was 49 cm. Though the thick roots of the front and back sides do not have a lot of thin roots because I cut them drastically to plant it in the large bonsai pot in 2013, the bottom has grown thicker than I supposed. Though the whole figure is much better than that in 2013, I may not complete it in 2022 when I will repot it because this variety is a little bit weak.

The left photo which was taken on May 30th, 2011 is the flowers of this tree which was planted in a very large terracotta pot. Though it has passed 10 years since I bought it, it does not have a lot of flowers. The middle one is coloured leaves in winter in 2011 - 12 before trimming and the right one is those after trimming. The second and third photos were taken on January 3rd, 2012. Since it continued to be warm in December and I had given a lot of fertilisers and water till the middle of October, coloured leaves of a lot of satsuki trees in the pots did not fall from the branches yet. Though it seemed to have a lot of long shoots before trimming, these branch pads are thin and do not have a lot of shoots.



Repotting it into a bonsai pot on March 27th, 2013, I did not take the photos before and after repotting. The left photo is the whole figure, which was taken on May 4th 2013. Though this well-tapered trunk is beautiful, the style of trunk and the nebari are not very good. The middle photo is the whole figure in March before trimming and the right one is it after trimming. The second and third photos were taken on March 4th, 2015. Since it has a lot of thick and long shoots, you can understand that it recovered the strength to live after repotting and the whole figure is much better than that in March 2013.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree on March 26th, 2015. It began to look like a bonsai. The middle one is the flowers, which was taken on May 24th, 2016. It does not have a lot of flowers because a lot of long new shoots were cut short or removed when being trimmed in winter. But the coloured leaves on the right one are very beautiful, which was taken on December 26th, 2016.



The left photo is the flowers, which was taken on May 29th, 2017. Since the branch pads have not been completed yet, this tree does not have a lot of flowers, but the whole figure is beautiful. The middle photo is the whole figure in winter before trimming and the right one is it after trimming. The second and third photos were taken on January 4th, 2018. Since it was very cold in the last ten days of December, a lot of coloured leaves already fell down. Therefore you can see the whole figure clearly. The style is much better than that in 2015.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree which was pulled out from the bonsai pot. Seeing the front side of the root ball, the large part of the soil is black. It means that the soil of the part is hard and it has passed a long time since the previous repotting. And the middle one is the roots which is not very good because the thick roots do not have a lot of very thin roots. It is because this variety is one of weak satsuki trees. Generally speaking, satsuki trees which have small leaves are weaker than those that have middle leaves. Since I judged that I had to make the roots stronger, I removed all grains of Kanuma soil from them. Therefore I had to remove a half of flower buds though I had finished trimming it on January 4th lest it should be weaker when it will have flowers. The right one is the whole figure after repotting. Though these branch pads are a little bit weak, the style is considerably good. The three photos were taken when this tree was repotted on March 17th, 2018.




To be continued.



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