I show you three photos of satsuki flowers in 2019. I repot a lot of complete satsuki bonsai in March every three or four years. And before repotting them I prune them drastically, remove the soil and wash the roots. Since it gives them some damages, I would not like to make them have a lot of flowers in the next flower season. Therefore you can see a lot of flowers on these photos because I have to repot these trees in March 2020.
The left satsuki tree is Nyohozan which I bought for 90,000 yen in 1997. Since the height was 43 cm and the trunk girth was 27 cm, it was very cheap at that time. I planted it in the very large wooden pot to make the trunk grow very thick as soon as possible. And since the pot rotted, I planted it in the very large terracotta pot in 2007. The height was 50 cm and the trunk girth was 39 cm. Since it had a good style and the trunk girth was very thick, I repotted it in the bonsai pot in 2012.
But I was surprised to know that the height was 54 cm and the trunk girth was 40cm. Though it had passed 5 years, the trunk did not grow thick. Therefore I was afraid that it had the rotten part in the trunk. And when I repotted it in the a little bit larger bonsai pot in April 2017, the height was 57 cm and the trunk girth was 42 cm. Judging from these records, this tree is not very strong. Therefore I may not repot it in March 2020 if the water should sink down easily in the pot.
The middle tree is Kinsai which I bought for 350,000 yen in February 1997. Though it was very expensive, it had the very good style and I wanted to get a large tree of this variety. The height was 57 cm and the trunk girth was 26 cm. I planted it in the very large terracotta pot to make it into bonsai as soon as possible. Therefore I restyled the apex in November. When I repotted it in May 2002, the height was 51 cm and trunk girth was 28 cm. When I repotted it in the bonsai pot in April 2007, the height was 54 cm and the trunk girth was 30 cm. I had repotted it in 2010 and 2013, and when I repotted it in April 2017, the height was 58 cm and the trunk girth was 34 cm. Judging from these records, the trunk of this tree has not grown thickly for these 22 years. And though you cannot see any formal flowers on the photo, I had removed a lot of them before I took this photo.
You can see a lot of beautiful flowers of Nikko on the right photo. And the colour arrangement of flowers is not good because it does not have any red flowers. But since I could see only one red flower in 2017 and it has the flowers of strong and pale pink, I hope that it will have a considerable number of red flowers.
I bought the right tree of Nikko for 10,000 yen in Kanuma city in 1989. The height was 53 cm and the trunk girth was 12 cm. And I planted it in the nursery in 1992 and dug it out from there in 2008. I planted it in the large terracotta pot after removing the soil and washing the roots. The height was 54 cm and the trunk girth was 36 cm. When I repotted it in April 2013, the height was 59 cm and the trunk girth was 40cm. Since some large satsuki bonsai had died, I repotted it in the bonsai pot in 2016. The height was 54 cm and the trunk girth was 41 cm. Judging from these records, if any large completed satsuki bonsai were repotted every 3 years after the roots being washed, the trunk does not grow thick for 3 years.
The Colour Arrangement of Multi-coloured Flowers of Satsuki
Though it is very easy to make satsuki trees which have single-coloured flowers have a lot of flowers, it is very difficult to make those which have multi-coloured flowers have a good colour arrangement of flowers. It is a fact that we never see each tree of a variety having the same colour arrangement. And we often see a tree have different colour arrangement of flowers from that which it had in the previous year. The flowers of a variety which have multi-coloured flowers depend on the genes of the variety. Therefore a new shoot never has the flower of same colour as the old shoot had in the previous year if the flower is not red or white.
Therefore we cannot produce a lot of saplings of a variety by sowing the seeds. We have to insert the cuttings of a variety into the soil and grow them. But we must not take the cuttings by the red, white, very large-striped, and colour-ring type flowers if the variety has multi-coloured flowers. Since the gene of red is so strong that a lot of saplings will have red flowers, we have to root up them from the seed bed.
Judging from these conditions, I have grown 8 young Kogetsu since the cuttings. And they have their own colour arrangements of flowers now, which are good, better and the best. I tried and tried to make them have better colour arrangements of flowers by removing the red shoots and the shoots which had red flowers when pruning it after blooming. Since the red shoot means that it will have a colour-ring type flower, we can remove it when we can see it, but since the new shoot which will have red flower is green, we cannot distinguish it from other shoots which will have multi-coloured flowers. If we do not remove these shoots from the young trees of Kogetsu which have the multi-coloured flowers, the number of red and colour-ring type flowers will increase year by year.
Section 1. The changes of the colour arrangement in young Kogetsu
I introduced 8 young trees of Kogetsu in my web site whose date is July 8th, 2018. The title was Repotting of young Kogetsu in March. I repotted 6 trees of them after pruning them in March and made them have flowers, but did not repot 2 of them in March because they had been repotted after blooming in 2017. And I introduced these trees on June 14th, 2013 – The title was How to grow the saplings and young trees of Kogetsu: on July 15th, 2016 – The title was How to prune the young trees of Kogetsu after blooming: on November 7th, 2016 – The title was To prune young trees in midsummer again or not: on September 10th, 2017 – The title was The results of pruning of young Kogetsu in the midsummer. If you did read these articles, you would understand how to grow Kogetsu from the cuttings.
Therefore I would like to introduce how to make the good colour-arrangements of flowers in Kogetsu though sometimes I explained about it. Since 8 trees of these young Kogetsu have the best styles that I can make them have now and I do not intend to restyle them drastically in the future, I will introduce them here in several years when they will be completed as bonsai. It is because perhaps I will not have any interesting tales about them for a while. Though I like a lot of varieties of satsuki trees which have multi-coloured flowers, if they have a lot of red flowers and colour-ring type flowers (fukurin), I do not like them. And if you do not remove the shoots which had red flowers and lessen the number of fukurin every year, they will increase the number of them yearly.
A. Kogetsu A
Though this Kogetsu A is the oldest, it is about 15 years old. When I made it into the two-trunked tree in 2010, it had a good colour-arrangement of flowers. Miserably, when it was blown down from the bonsai shelf by the very strong May storm in 2017, the trunk was broken. And though it had a lot of flowers on the left photo, I was happy to know that it had only one fukurin without red flowers.
But when I saw a small new shoot at the top of the broken trunk about 10 days later, I was very glad to think that I would be able to grow it longer than the other trunk. The second photo is the whole figure of this tree immediately after pruning on June 21st. Since the shoot is long and is wired, the style is good. And since the soil in the pot was a little bit hard, I repotted it after removing red shoots and trimming it on March 18th, 2018.
The third photo is the flowers in 2018. Since I removed the shoot which had two colour-ring type flowers when I pruned it, the colour-arrangement of flowers in 2019 is very good on the right photo because you can see some flower buds of fukurin. And it is sure that this tree will have some red flowers when I will complete it as bonsai. Therefore I would like to complete the top of main trunk as soon as possible.
B. Kogetsu B
The left photo is the flowers of Kogetsu B in 2017. Since it has only several flowers of fukurin without red ones, it means that my intention was achieved. Since this tree was repotted after blooming in 2017, you can see the whole figure on the second photo which was taken on July 30th. The style is good though I have to consider the angle of main trunk when I will repot it next time.
The third photo is the flowers in 2018. Though it does not have a lot of flowers, you cannot see any red flowers. The right photo is the flowers in 2019. The colour-arrangement of flowers is very good though it does not have any red flowers. It is because I have continued to remove the shoots which had red flowers whenever it had them and lessen the number of flowers of fukurin. When you see these photos, you can understand the change of the number of fukurin.
C. Kogetsu C
The left photo is the flowers of Kogetsu C in 2017. Since I did not wire this tree when repotting it after blooming in 2016, the style is not good though the flowers are good. Since I wired it when pruning it after blooming in 2017, the style is good and the colour arrangement of flowers is very good though it has a lot of the red-striped flowers.
The third photo is the flowers of the front side of this three in 2019. And the right one is the back side. The colour-arrangement of flowers is very good, and these flowers are very good, but large because I gave it a lot of fertilisers and water. If I would like to show it at a flower show, I have to lessen the number of flowers. And if you give a lot of fertilisers and water to these trees, though they have good and strong flowers, they are very vulnerable to rain, diseases and strong sunlight. Therefore if you had better bring these trees into the rooms or shelters, you can enjoy them for only three days. You must not stay them there for more than 4 days lest you should make them die or be very weak.
D. Kogetsu D
The left photo is the flowers of Kogetsu D in 2017. Though this tree is not in full bloom, you can understand that it has the good colour-arrangement of flowers. Since the soil in a terracotta pot was a little bit hard, I repotted it in a bonsai pot on March 18th. And since I wired it, the style is much better on the second photo. At the same time this repotting was a test of succeeding in repotting in March or not. Since it is very hot after repotting in June and extremely hot in midsummer, some young repotted trees die or very weak every year though the very young trees are all right. Therefore if I have any time enough to repot them in March, I would like to repot them and make them have a small number of flowers.
The third photo is the flowers in 2018. Though I repotted this tree in March, it has a lot of beautiful flowers and the colour-arrangement of flowers is very good. And the right photo is the flowers in 2019. Though it is not in full bloom, you can understand that it will have a lot of beautiful flowers without red flowers. But since the whole figure is not very good, I have to consider how long I have to make each branch.
E. Kogetsu E
The left photo is the flowers of Kogetsu E in 2017. The whole style is rather good and this tree already has the good colour-arrangement of flowers. Since the soil in a terracotta pot was a little bit hard, I repotted it in a bonsai pot on March 18th, 2018. Since I trimmed it before repotting, you cannot see a lot of flowers on the second photo which was taken in May. But since these flowers are smaller than those in 2017, the whole figure is good.
The third photo is the flowers of front side of this three in 2019. Though it is not in full bloom, since you can recognise the colours of these swelling flower buds, you can understand that it will have a lot of beautiful flowers and the colour-arrangement of flowers is very good. And the right photo is the back side. Though it is not be in full bloom on the third photo, it is in full bloom on the right one. This is my error that I did not turn this pot once a week before blooming. You can see a group of colour-ring type flowers on the first back branch of the main trunk. Since this branch has only this form of flowers, I could not remove it. But since the colour arrangement of flowers is very good, I would like to keep it.
F. Kogetsu F
The left photo is the flowers of Kogetsu F in 2017. These flowers are very beautiful and this tree already has the good colour-arrangement of flowers. But you can see a lot of strong red-striped flowers. It means that it will have a lot of red flowers in the future. Though you cannot see the style of this tree on the left photo because it has a lot of flowers, on the second photo you can see the whole style after repotting on March 18th, 2018. Though the style is not very good, if I consider the angle of the trunk when I repot it next time, it will be better.
The third photo is the flowers in 2018. Though these flowers are very beautiful, the colour-arrangement is not very good. Therefore I have to remove the shoots which have the strong red-striped and colour-ring type flowers. And the whole style is leaning a little bit to the right. Since the variety of Kogetsu has a lot of thin shoots which have a little bit large flowers, you must not give them a lot of fertilisers and water if you would like to make them keep the style when they have flowers. The right photo is the flowers in 2019. These flowers are very beautiful and the colour-arrangement of flowers is very good. But if it had more red flowers and fukurin in the future than now, the colour-arrangement of flowers will be much complicated. Since I do not like it, I have to prune it very carefully after blooming.
G. Kogetsu G
The left photo is the flowers of Kogetsu G in 2017. These flowers are beautiful and the colour-arrangement of flowers is very good. And the whole style seems to be good. Since the soil in a terracotta pot was a little bit hard, I repotted it in a bonsai pot on March 18th, 2018. Since the trunk already had some curves, though my bonsai technique cannot make it much better, I wired it to make the style better. Since I trimmed it before repotting, you can see the movement of the trunk though it has a lot of flowers on the second photo which was taken in May. Though the style is much better than before because I wired the trunk in the previous year, the whole style is not very good. Therefore I have to consider how long each branch is. It is very difficult to keep the good style when it has a lot of flowers because the variety of Kogetsu has thin shoots.
The third photo is the flowers of front side of this three in 2019. And the right photo is the back side. Though it is not in full bloom, since you can recognise the colours of these swelling flower buds, you can understand that it will have a lot of beautiful flowers and the colour-arrangement of flowers will be very good. If I consider the length of each branch and make them thicker, it may be a good bonsai in several years.
H. Kogetsu H
The left photo is the flowers of Kogetsu H in 2017. This tree has a lot of flowers which I intend to make it have. Since the soil in a terracotta pot was a little bit hard, I repotted it in a bonsai pot on March 18th, 2018. Though you can see the whole figure after repotting on the second photo, the style is not good. The whole figure seems to be a little bit vertical though the trunk has some curves. The defect is the vertical bottom of the trunk. I never restyle it, that is, it is my error. I had to wire it when it had been a sapling.
The third photo is the flowers in 2018. These flowers are very beautiful and the colour-arrangement of flowers is good. And the whole figure is not bad when this tree has a lot of flowers. The right photo is the flowers in 2019. Though it is not in full bloom, since you can recognise the colours of these swelling flower buds, you can understand that it will have a lot of beautiful flowers and the colour-arrangement of flowers will be very good. Judging from this photo, the whole figure does not seem to be bad. But since the style is not good, it is not one of my favourites.
My summation about the colour arrangement of flowers of young Kogetsu
Though I wrote about the changes of colours of flowers in the young Kogetsu, you cannot make a tree of Kogetsu have flowers of a colour which you would like to make it have except grafting. If a tree of Kogetsu has only red flowers or fukurin or colour-ring type flowers, you cannot make it have white flowers. It is absolutely useless. Therefore you have to buy a good sapling or tree when you would like to get a multi-coloured satsuki tree. This is the most important point. You had better buy it when it has a lot of flowers. When you buy saplings of Kogetsu, you must not buy any of them if you can see only one red flower or a fukurin or a colour-ring type flower. You had better buy any saplings that have white and red-striped flowers.
When you would like to grow them from the cuttings, you have to take them only by the weak red-striped flowers. You must not take them by the strong red-striped flowers. When you inserted them into the Kanuma soil, if you can see them have red new shoots next year, you have to remove them from the seed bed. You must not grow them. And when you knew that more than one fifths of all flowers were red flowers, fukurin and colour-ring type flowers, you have to give up growing these saplings if you would like to grow them as bonsai. Since these genes are so strong that the colours will increase year by year, this is the most important decision.
If you take a lot of cuttings by the white flowers, perhaps you will have a lot of saplings which have only white flowers. And you have to give up growing them. At the same time you may get some good saplings, too. Therefore it takes you a lot of spaces, labours and watch of them to get good saplings of Kogetsu from the cuttings. But you are very happy when you can experience these processes of growing them. You can make a lot of new lives of satsuki trees.
Section 2. Satsuki trees in the garden and nursery
The following photos which were taken in the flowering season in 2019 are the flowers of satsuki trees which were planted in the garden and nursery. I am sure that you could recognise that these trees in the gardens do not have a lot of flowers if you saw these photos. Why do they have fewer flowers than those in the pot on the shelves? I have had this question since 10 years ago. It is a fact that they had a lot of flowers for several years after I had planted them when we had built the new house though some of them did not have a lot of the sunshine in winter. And they have a lot of long new shoots in the flower season now, that is, they are very strong. Therefore I do not give them any fertilisers in spring.
I thought some possibilities about them which do not have a lot of flowers. Since a lot of satsuki trees make a lot of flower buds in August, I water them once per two days in summer because I watered them every day for several years after we had built the gardens. Since it is said in Japan that if people prune satsuki trees by Tanabata (July 7th) which is the festival of stars, they will have a lot of flowers, I always prune them at least by July 3rd.
But they did not have a lot of flowers. Therefore I thought that each tree had so many branches because I pruned them with an electric clipper for grass cutting that it did not make a lot of flower buds in August last year. But since I did not have a lot of time enough to remove a lot of branches drastically, I could not do so. And I finished pruning them on June 22nd, 2019. If they will not have a lot of flowers in 2020, I will not have any solutions to make them have a lot of flowers. Therefore I will look forward to seeing how many flowers they will have in 2020.
These photos which I took from the different angles are the flowers of satsuki trees in the small courtyard. The numbers of flowers depend on each tree that has each condition to grow. You can see a lot of flowers of Nikko in the pot on the standing table. But though it had had all good conditions to grow by blooming, it had fewer flowers than usual as well as a lot of other satsuki trees in the pots. I think it depends on the extreme heat last summer.
The flowers of Nikko which was planted in the garden are much fewer than that in the pot. Though it has a lot of shadows of the large stone and the tree of Ume (Prunus Mume) in winter, it has a lot of the sunshine in summer. And you can see a lot of flowers of Yama no hikari which was planted in the garden and a lot of new long shoots among them. But the number of them is much fewer than that of the tree in the pot on the middle photo. And besides since this young tree was repotted after pruning in June 2018, the number of flowers is fewer than usual.
Since this large tree of Yama no hikari has a lot of sunshine through the year, do I have to make a shadow over it in summer? It is true that if the thin branches became hard after pruning by the very strong sunshine, a lot of sprouts do not come from them. But we have not shadowed them in summer since the old time. The maximum temperature was 33 degrees C in my native town in my boyhood, but it was 37 degrees C in Ise last year. Recently it is 42 degrees C in some districts in Honshu (the central island).
Though you can see the flowers of Byakuren which was planted in the garden on the right photo, the number of them is very few. And it has a lot of sunshine through the year and I water it once per two days. And I pruned it drastically by removing a lot of thick branches on June 17th, 2019. Now I think it does not have any bad conditions except the very strong sunshine in August.
These photos are the flowers of the satsuki trees on the both sides of the way to the entrance of our house. Since they were planted on the north side of the house, they do not have a lot of the sunshine, especially not in winter. It is said in Japan that a lot of satsuki trees will have a lot of flowers if they have the sunshine for more than 3 hours per a day. But these trees do not have a lot of flowers except the small Nikko and Benizuru which have a lot of flowers.
And you can see two flowers of a large tree of Daigokuden on the middle photo because it has the late flowering. It had a considerable number of flowers ten days after I had taken this photo. This tree is 47 years old. Though I had grown it in the pot from the cutting as bonsai, I transplanted it there from the pot when we built this garden. Therefore the style is rather good and the trunk is very thick. And you can see small Korin and Hakurin in front of it. Since I have grown them like bonsai, though you cannot see the styles of these trees clearly, the trunks are so thick now that I can dig up them if I want to do so, and plant them in the bonsai pots.
One of these trees does not have any flowers on the right photo though it has a lot of very long new shoots. It has the same condition as the Nikko has, which was planted by it, and the Nikko has a lot of flowers. Therefore I pruned them drastically by removing a lot of thick branches after blooming in 2019. And it was on June 18th that I pruned these trees. Will they have a lot of flowers in the flowering season in 2020?
The left and middle photos are the flowers of satsuki trees which were planted on the edge of the east garden. More than half of these trees always have a lot of the sunshine, but they do not have a lot of flowers. Since I have cut them drastically with an electric clipper for grass cutting since more than 10 years ago, they had a lot of thick branches. Therefore I pruned them drastically by removing a lot of thick branches after blooming in 2019 because I had a lot of time to do so.
Judging from the number of flowers, these trees have more flowers than they had in 2018. I think it is because I removed a considerable number of thick branches which had a lot of white roots in 2018. You can see the article of the white roots and the trees in the gardens in my web site whose date is November 3rd, 2015. If I give them a lot of fertilisers and water, they will have a lot of white roots. Therefore I must not do so. And you can see a lot of weeds on the middle photo. To my shame, I could not remove them before blooming because I had been very busy.
The right photo is the flowers of the satsuki trees which were transplanted from the second nursery and those of the satsuki trees which were transplanted from the pots because they were weak. Though a large maple tree which had the very strange leaves had been planted there, it died about 20 years ago.
This large tree of Komei which was transplanted there from the second nursery several years ago is so strong that it has the same number of flowers as other trees of the variety in the pots have. If I give it a lot of fertilisers and water to make it have a thicker trunk, it will flourish so thickly that the long shoots will have a lot of white roots. This is a great problem. And if it has a lot of long shoots and they have white roots, the trunk will not grow large. Therefore I pruned it drastically after blooming and gave up making it have a thicker trunk by giving it a lot of fertilisers and water. Though you cannot see a lot of flowers of this tree on the right photo, it is because it began to finish blooming when I took this photo.
Since this large tree of Shiroebisu has a lot of very long new shoots, it is very strong. Though it has the same conditions as the above Komei has, it has much fewer flowers than the Komei has. Why? I do not know the reasons. But it is a fact that this Shiroebisu is much younger and stronger than the Komei is. It is because the latter was planted in the nursery after it had been planted in the pot for a long time. If you continue to plant a young satsuki trees in a pot for a long time, the trunk will never grow very thick.
But if I give it a lot of fertilisers and water, it will flourish so thickly that it will have a lot of white roots though I always prune it drastically. Though I planted a brother tree of this Shiroebisu in the nursery, the trunk is thicker than that which was planted in the east garden. And it does not have a lot of white roots though it has a lot of long shoots. In this respect, my nursery has good conditions to grow satsuki trees, that is, you can give a lot of fertilisers to the trees which were planted in the Kanuma soil, but do not have to give a lot of fertilisers to those that were planted in the other soil.
This Nikko which has the figure of a large ball treatment does not have a lot of flowers, too. But since it was flourishing so thickly that it had a lot of long new shoots, I removed a lot of thick branches drastically and pruned it so that I might make it grow larger than now and not make it have any white roots. Now you can see a large tree of Daigokuden which have several flowers and a lot of long new shoots. And it had a lot of flowers on June 12th. These facts mean that it is very strong. Several years ago I transplanted this tree there from the pot because it was weak.
Judging from these results it is a good method that you transplant some weak trees in the soft ground or land from the pots. Of course if you may transplant your trees in the very large wooden pots or the ground to make them repair the strength, you must have good results. And you can see the dark pink flowers of Namichidori, but this tree is still week though it was transplanted there from the pot about 3 years ago. The trunk of this tree was broken by the very strong winds of the typhoon about several years ago. Since then it has been weak.
And you can see the tree of Kakuo which was pruned after blooming. It was transplanted there from the nursery about 5 years ago because a large branch was dying. Now it still looks a little bit weak. You can see another one of an unknown variety. Though I knew the variety of this large tree when I was given it as a tree for the flower contest at our flower show by Ise Satsuki Society about 30 years ago, I cannot remember the variety and distinguish it now. I planted it in the second nursery after the flower show and transplanted it in the garden from there last March. Though it has good multi-coloured flowers, since I had not succeeded in making a branch by grafting, the scar on the trunk is large. Therefore I could not plant it in the bonsai pot.
You can see the very large satsuki trees on the shelves on the left side of the left photo, which were planted in the four very large wooden pots last March. And you can see the very large satsuki trees on the shelves on the right side of the photo, which were planted in 8 large bonsai pots last March. Since they were pruned drastically, they do not have any flowers. And since I repotted 22 large satsuki trees in March, they are occupying one fourths of the shelves for satsuki trees. Therefore you cannot see any flowers of these trees.
You can see a lot of flowers of the satsuki trees on the middle photo. But since I finished pruning a lot of satsuki trees after blooming when I took the photos, they do not have any flowers. And since I pruned a lot of young small trees at the end of last December, they have a few flowers or not. Though you cannot enjoy a lot of rose flowers because a lot of rose trees finished the first and second flowers on the right photo, you can see a lot of satsuki flowers.
These photos are the flowers of satsuki trees in my nursery. Since I had thought I had pruned all of them drastically in January and February, I was a little bit surprised to see much more flowers than I had thought. If they have a lot of flowers, I have to remove the foot stalks of them after finishing repotting a lot of small and young satsuki trees. But since a friend of mine had informed me that he and his company would come to our house to see rose and satsuki flowers on May 24th, I might not prune them very drastically. Therefore it took me 4 days to remove the foot stalks of them before giving them a lot of ball fertilisers on 4th and 5th of July.
My summation about the satsuki trees in the gardens
Judging from the above flowers of the satsuki trees in the pots, nursery and gardens, I was sure again that the number of flowers depends on the varieties of satsuki if a lot of satsuki trees were grown under the same conditions. And you never change the fact. Therefore you had better plant some satsuki trees of the varieties which are very strong and have a lot of flowers in some places in the gardens where they do not have a lot of the sunshine.
And you had better not plant any satsuki trees in the garden, which have very large flowers because they are very vulnerable to rain. Even if they were large like those of Yama no hikari which I planted in the little courtyard, they would be clumsy and dirty if it continued to rain when it has a lot of them. Therefore you had better plant any satsuki tree in the garden whose sizes of flowers are middle and small. And you have to choose strong varieties.
Generally speaking, satsuki trees have not been the main trees in the Japanese gardens from the old time. And a lot of gardeners refuse to plant satsuki trees which have multi-coloured flowers in Japan. When one of them died in the garden of their customers, it is very difficult for them to find out the tree of the same variety even if they asked them to find out the tree of the same variety and figure. But recently we can see the famous gardens where only a lot of satsuki trees were planted. I think it is because it is easy to buy some satsuki trees of a lot of varieties.
The satsuki trees in our garden have the concrete place as garden trees and take the role to make the garden beautiful. But since I planted a lot of them in the gardens which I had had, bought and been given by some friends of mine after we had built it, the colour arrangements of flowers are not very good when they have flowers. Now I have 164 trees in the gardens which are the styles of small or large ball treatment, cascade, bonsai and small bush. And several of them are like large bonsai, and several of them are small and middle bonsai. I hope that when I dig up some of them I will be able to plant them in the bonsai pots. Therefore you had better consider the natures of trees, the colours of flowers, the sizes and forms of flowers and leaves, the styles of trees and the cost of the trees when you make some plans to build a large garden. If you have a lot of snow, you must not choose any week variety. Since you need a lot of trees when you build a large garden, you had better make a lot of saplings by yourself. If you buy them, you have to pay a lot of money.
After you built the garden, you may give a lot of fertilisers and water to the satsuki trees until the sizes you want. But after then you must not do so. It may be better that you give them a small quantity of fertilisers once a year. But if the maximum temperature is more than 35 degrees C in summer, you had better give them water once per two days in summer.
It is very easy to prune the satsuki trees with an electric clipper for grass cutting. After you got the sizes of them that you wanted, if you continue to do so, they flourish so thickly that they do not have a lot of flower buds. I think that they have so many sprouts after pruning that they do not make a lot of flower buds in August and they will have a lot of long new shoot without flower buds in autumn. Therefore you have to remove a lot of thick branches so that the winds may blow through them easily. Of course if they do not have the sunshine for more 3 hours in a day in July and August, they do not have a lot of flower buds.
In June 2019, it took me more than 5 days to prune all of satsuki trees in the gardens drastically with an electric clipper for grass cutting, remove a lot of thick branches from them and prune them again. And when it rains or after it stops raining, I cannot do so because I use an electric clipper for grass cutting. For example, it rained 23 days in Ise in the rainy season (June 7th to July 26th) of 2019. Since we did not have a lot of rainy days in June, I could finish a lot of jobs. But since we had a lot of rain in July, I was very tired with rain, rain and rain. I did not water the satsuki trees in the nursery from June 23rd to July 25th, and watered the satsuki trees in the pots on the shelves only three times. The rainy season ended on July seventh last year. This date is much earlier than usual and the average date is July 21st.
When you have to prune the large complete satsuki bonsai after blooming, you had better remove a lot of thin branches from the apex every year so that the winds may pass though it easily and lest the flowers should be smaller by having a lot of flower buds than those of the first branch. But everybody would not like to take a lot of time to prune the satsuki trees in the gardens. This is a great problem. And if they flourished very thickly, they are very vulnerable to the diseases. You have to prune them drastically after blooming to prevent the diseases, too. If you do not do so, you may see the new shoots without leaves. Since the leaves of satsuki in the gardens are near the earth, they are much more vulnerable to the diseases than those of satsuki bonsai on the shelves. Dirty satsuki trees do not fit your garden. Therefore you have to spray some agrochemicals over them periodically.
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