Satsuki and Other Trees in Mack's Garden 48

Renewal December 7th, 2018

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I would like to introduce three photos of satsuki flowers which were chosen from the collection of the photos of my bonsai. But these trees do not have a lot of flowers. And the trunk of Ukigumo no tsuki has a long deep scar.




Styling of Small Young Satsuki Trees


I have 8 small young satsuki trees which I have grown as the materials for my web site since about 7 years ago. I introduced them under the title of “How to Style the Young Satsuki Trees into Shohin and Mini --- Part 2. Nikko and Others” in my web site whose date was April 2nd, 2015. Please compare the following photos with them if you are interested in them.

At the end of November it was still very warm. Therefore the leaves of a lot of satsuki trees in the pots, the nursery and the garden still were green. But since I had a lot of time to spare, I pruned these young satsuki trees on November 29th. And I styled and wired them on December 2nd and 3rd.

Though at first I thought that I had to do so and repot them in March, I had to change my schedule. I always begin to cut the satsuki trees in the nursery drastically at the start of January. Therefore I hoped that they would begin to change the colours of leaves at the start of December.

We are leaving our house for Turk in the very early morning on 22nd of January and coming home on 31st. Therefore I hope that I will cut one thirds of satsuki trees in the nursery by leaving our house on 22nd. Though this is hard working, if they have a lot of green leaves, I have to stop cutting them lest they should weaken by the very cold winds.

Last year I began to cut the satsuki trees in the nursery drastically at the start of January. Three weeks later some of them (especially Wakaebisu) had a lot of withered leaves which were caused by the very cold winds. Since I have to defend these damages in January, if I begin to cut only all of long shoots of them on15th of December, I think it will be good for them. But doing so, I will have to continue to cut them in the first 10 days of March. And I will be so busy in March that I will not be able to have the time to prune and style these young satsuki trees.

Nikko A

Since the leaves of these Nikko are smaller than those of normal Nikko, the trunks of them never grow thicker than those of the parent do. But since this tree about 11 years old and has been planted in the larger terracotta pot (21 cm), the bottom of the trunk is rather thick. Therefore the taper of the trunk is very good.

The whole style is good on the left photo which was taken on July 5th, 2018. Therefore I could hope that it would be a good bonsai in the near future. Since these young trees were given a lot of water and fertilisers, it had a lot of long new shoots in summer. The middle photo is the front side and the right one is the back side. They were taken on November 29th.



The whole figure is good. And the taper of the trunk is very good. The left photo is the front side of this tree after pruning on December 2nd. And the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on December 2nd.



Though the style of this tree was good, I removed the right first branch to make this tree much better bonsai. Since the lower part of trunk can be seen clearly, the taper of the trunk looks much better. The height is 15cm. The left photo is the front side after styling it on December 3rd. And the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on December 4th.



Nikko B

The whole style of Nikko B is good on the left photo which was taken on July 5th, 2018. But I wonder whether it will be a good bonsai or not. Since it has several curves, when the bottom of trunk will be very thick, will the taper of the trunk look well? It is because we had better not make the material have several curves to make small or mini bonsai. It had a lot of long new shoots in summer. The middle photo is the front side and the right one is the back side. They were taken on November 29th.



The style of this tree is good except the top now. The left photo is the front side of this tree after pruning on December 2nd. And the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on December 2nd.



The style of this tree and the taper of the trunk are good after removing unnecessary branches and shoots on December 3rd. If I can make the top completely, it will look well for a while. The height is 19 cm. The left photo is the front side of this tree. And the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on December 4th.



Nikko C

This tree of Nikko C has white flowers. The variety of Shironikko is not registered in the lists of Japan Satsuki Association and other two societies. But since Shirokozan has been registered in them, it may be said that I had better not include this tree in the variety of Nikko. Shirokozan comes from Kozan and Nikko does, too.

The whole style of Nikko C is not good and bad on the left photo which was taken on July 5th, 2018. It had a lot of long new shoots in summer. The middle photo is the front side and the right one is the back side. They were taken on November 29th.



When pruning this tree, I had a question about making the top. Therefore I kept a long shoot which extended from the top. Since it was planted in the 6th terracotta pot (18cm), the trunk is not as thick as those of other trees which were planted in the 7th one (21 cm). And though the bottom of the trunk looks thick, the taper of the trunk is not good. The left photo is the front side of this tree after pruning. And the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on December 2nd.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree after removing a long shoot and unnecessary shoots and wiring it on 3rd. To make the taper of the trunk better, I cut the trunk shorter. The left photo is the front side. And the middle one is the back side. And the right one is the whole figure after I changed the angle of planting. The style and the taper of the trunk are much better than before. The height is 17 cm. These photos were taken on December 4th.



Nikko D

The style of this tree is not good on the left photo which was taken on July 5th, 2018. And since it was planted in the 6th terracotta pot (18 cm), the trunk is not as thick as those of other trees which were planted in the 7th one (21 cm). But it had a lot of long new shoots in summer. The middle photo is the front side and the right one is the back side. They were taken on November 29th.



The whole figure is not good after pruning. Especially the upper part of this tree is leaning deeply. The left photo is the front side. And the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on December 2nd.



Though I wired this tree after removing unnecessary branches and shoots, I could not improve the style so much. The left photo is the front side and the middle one is the back side. And when I changed the angle of planting, it looks better on the right photo. The height is 20 cm. These photos were taken on December 4th.



Nikko E

The whole figure of this tree is not bad on the left photo which was taken on July 5th. And since it was planted in the 7th terracotta pot, it has a lot of longer new shoots than those that were planted in the 6th one. The middle photo is the front side and the right one is the back side. They were taken on November 29th.



But this tree after pruning is not a material for a satsuki bonsai. Though the taper of the trunk is a little bit good, the style is out of question. The left photo is the front side and the middle one is the back side. Especially the top is bad. Perhaps the core of top was broken when it was blown from the bonsai shelf by the strong wind. The right photo is the top. These photos were taken on December 2nd.



I have to improve the style of this tree. Therefore I cut the branches short drastically to make it have a lot of new shoots. It is because I can hope that it will have necessary shoots. The left photo is the front side and the middle one is the back side. And when I tried to change the angle of planting, the taper of the trunk is not bad on the right photo. If a good new shoot will not come from the top within 3 years, I have to graft a long shoot to the top of trunk. The height is 13 cm. These photos were taken on December 4th.



Nikko F

The whole figure of this tree is very good on the left photo which was taken on July 5th. Since I gave these trees a lot of water and fertilisers, it had a lot of long new shoots in summer. The middle photo is the front side and the right one is the back side. They were taken on November 29th.



After pruning the style of this tree and the taper of the trunk are very good as a material to make a small satsuki bonsai. Therefore I do not have to style it now. The height is 17 cm. The left photo is the front side. And the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on December 2nd.



Hikorin

Though the scar of the top of the trunk cannot be recognised from the left photo which was taken on July 5th, this tree lost the top when it was blown from the bonsai shelf by the strong wind some years ago. And it has not had any good shoots since then. But it has a lot of long new shoots in summer though it was planted in the 6th terracotta pot. The middle photo is the front side and the right one is the back side. They were taken on November 29th.



But since it has a long new shoot on the horizontal branch of the top of the trunk, I kept it to make it the core of the top. The left photo is the front side of this tree. And the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on December 2nd.



Though I wired this tree after pruning it drastically, the style is not good. Since it does not have any necessary branches, I cut all branches very short to make it have necessary new shoots. The left photo is the front side. And the middle one is the back side. And if you can see the angle of planting on the right photo, you can understand that I will be able to make the style much better because the taper of the trunk is not bad. The height is 21 cm. These photos were taken on December 4th.



Shuho no hikari

Judging from the left photo which was taken on July 5th, the taper of the trunk is very good. Being planted in the 7th terracotta pot and given a lot of water and fertilisers, it had a lot of long new shoots in summer. The middle photo is the front side and the right one is the back side. They were taken on November 29th.



When I pruned this tree on December 2nd, since I could not decide which shoot I should make the core of the top, I kept a long shoot. The left photo is the front side. And the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on December 2nd.



After I removed unnecessary branches and shoots drastically, the style of this tree and the taper of the trunk are so good that I will complete it into a good bonsai in 5 years. But if the trunk and branches will be very thick in 20 years, perhaps it will not be a very good bonsai. It is because the distance (space) between two branches will be very narrow. If it will be so, it may be ugly. Therefore I think I must not give a lot of fertilisers to these trees after completing them. At the same time I have to keep them in much smaller bonsai pots than now. The height is 16 cm. These photos were taken on December 4th.





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