I would like to show you three photos of the flowers of satsuki trees in 2019, which I have grown from the cuttings. The left photo is Yama no hikari which is about 15 years old. The flowers of combination colour and red are very beautiful without white flowers. At first I had this variety which had only red flowers. But it had a flower whose half was red and other half was white after about ten years. And at last it had some white flowers. But I gave this tree to one of my friends.
The middle photo is the flowers of Asuka. Though the colour-arrangement of flowers is very good, the style isn’t good. Since the lower part of trunk is a little bit vertical and the trunk is thick now, I cannot restyle it. Though it is about 15 years old, I only enjoy the beautiful flowers.
The right photo is the flowers of Jukokan which is about 13 years old. Though this tree have only one red-striped flower, the flowers of sokojiro (white throat) and combination colour are very beautiful. Though I have 6 large trees of this variety in the nursery and some other small trees in the pots, all of them don’t have a lot of red-striped flowers. And I cannot see any red-striped flowers on the photo in the Large Satsuki Dictionary. Therefore I think that the gene of red colour is weak in this variety.
The changes of multicoloured patterns of satsuki flowers
Since I introduced the relations between the coloured leaves in autumn and the multicoloured patterns of flowers in my young Kogetsu in the last web site, I would like to introduce the changes of multicoloured patterns of flowers in my young satsuki trees which have multicoloured flowers.
Though almost all old satsuki trees don’t have the large change of multicoloured patterns of flowers, a lot of young ones have it because the genes of colours are not fixed in them. But it is a fact that some of them have only very minor changes. Therefore satsuki enthusiasts often are very glad or sad to see the multicoloured patterns of flowers in their young trees which have multicoloured flowers after they bought them. At the same time this point is very interesting to them.
But since I didn’t take any photos of saplings or very young trees when they had flowers, unfortunately I cannot show them. But I have taken the photos of the changes of the multicoloured patterns of flowers in each satsuki tree since 2011. And you can see a lot of photos and read the articles about some of following trees in the archive of my web site whose date is December 22nd, 2017.
A. The cascade of Nikko
Since I had found out the branch which had had smaller leaves than other branches of Nikko, I took a lot of cuttings and inserted them in Kanuma soil in 2006. This tree is one of them. And since it had a long shoot near the bottom of the trunk, I made it into a cascade in about 2010. When I took the left photo of the flowers in 2012, it didn’t have any red-striped and red flowers. After I pruned it after blooming I planted it in a deep terracotta pot. The second photo is the tree after pruning in June 2014. And the third one is the front side of this tree and the right one is taken from above. We cannot see any red-striped and red flowers.
The left photo is the front side of this tree. And the second one is the back side. These photos were taken on May 29th, 2017. Though they don’t have any red-striped and red flowers, we can distinguish the difference of combination colours, so that we can hope that it will have red-striped flowers in the near future. And I repotted it in a very deep bonsai pot after pruning in June. The third photo was taken on July 30th and the right one was taken on December 17th.
The left photo of the flowers is the front side of this tree. And the second one is the back side. Though you may not see any small red-striped flowers on these photos, you can see some of them on the third photo which was taken from above. These photos were taken on May 29th, 2018.
Though you cannot see any red-striped and red flowers on the left photo, you can see a large red-striped flower on the second photo which was taken June 1st, 2019. And you can see other small and large red-striped flowers on the third photo because I took the photo of a group of flowers. At last this tree had two red flowers at the top on the right photo which I took on June 6th. And I was much satisfied in this result because I was sure that it would have red flowers in the near future.
B. The three-trunked Nikko
Each trunk of the three-trunked Nikko has a red flower on the left photo which was taken in June 2012. Therefore the colour-arrangement of flowers is very good. And the whole figure as a bonsai already looks beautiful because it had been planted in the bonsai pot since 2005.
But you cannot see any red flowers on the second photo which was taken on June 3rd, 2013. And I repotted it in a larger bonsai pot in June 2014. You can see a red flower and a red flower bud on the third photo of the front side of this tree, and a red flower bud on the right photo of the back side. These photos were taken on May 26th, 2016.
Though you can see some small red-striped flowers, you cannot see any red one on the left photo of the front side of this tree. But you can see only one red flower on the photo of the back side. These photos were taken on May 31st, 2017. And I repotted it in a larger rectangular bonsai pot after pruning in June. The third photo is the front side of it and the right one is the back side. You cannot see any red ones on these photos which were taken on June 4th, 2019. Since some small red-striped flowers can be seen there, can I hope that it will have some red flowers?
C. The small single-trunked Goko
The left photo is the front side of this tree. Judging from the flowers of the photo which was taken in June 2012, you may recognise that it is Nikko. Though any red flowers are not seen, you can distinguish the difference of combination colours. Perhaps it was 11 years old because it already had been planted in the bonsai pot.
Judging from the flowers on the second photo which was taken on June 3rd, 2013, since the combination colour is near red, this tree is Goko. But the colour-arrangement of flowers isn’t good. You can see only one white flower or a flower of Kozan on the third photo of the front side of this tree and several flowers of Kozan on the right photo of the back side. If it had had some white flowers, the colour-arrangement of flowers would have been very good. These photos were taken on May 26th, 2016.
The left photo is the front side of this tree and the second one is the back side. The colour-arrangement of flowers is good. These photos were taken on July 3rd, 2016. And the third one is the front side and the right one is the back side. You can see some white-striped and a few red-striped flowers and some flowers of Kozan. The colour-arrangement of flowers is much better than before. These photos were taken on June 4th, 2019.
D. The cascade of Togenkyo
The left photo is Togenkyo, which was taken on July 4th, 2014. After pruning I planted it in a very deep bonsai pot. The second one is the whole figure after trimming on December 4th. The third one is the front side of this tree and the right one is the back side. The colour-arrangement of flowers is good. These two photos were taken on May 26th, 2017.
The left photo is the front side of this tree and the second one is the back side. And the third one was taken from above. The colour-arrangement of flowers is very good. These photos were taken on May 31st, 2017. But since the right one was taken on June 3rd, the colour-arrangement of flowers is much better.
The left photo is the front side of this tree and the second one was taken above. It has a lot of flowers of pale pink. These photos were taken on May 20th, 2018. The third photo is the front side of it and the right one is back side. It doesn’t have a lot of flowers of pale pink but a lot of red flowers. Why? It is sure that I had given it a lot of fertilisers and water till when it had flowers. But I always give my satsuki trees in the pots a lot of water and fertilisers.
E. The two-trunked Togenkyo A
The left photo is the front side of this tree and the second one is the back side. The colour-arrangement of flowers is good on these photos which were taken on May 26th, 2016. I pruned and repotted it after blooming. The third one is the whole figure of the front side and the right one is the back side. Though it doesn’t have a very good style, it looks beautiful.
The left and second photos are the front and back sides of this tree. Since it has a lot of red flowers, the colour-arrangement of flowers isn’t very good. Those photos were taken on June 2nd, 2017. The third one is the front side and the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on May 25th, 2018. Since it has a lot of flowers, the whole figure is beautiful. And the colour-arrangement is better than that in 2017.
But the colour-arrangement of this tree is worse than that in 2018. It has a lot of red flowers on the left and second photos of the front and back sides of it, which were taken on June 4th, 2019. Now this tree isn’t Togenkyo but Kinsai. Since I had pruned it drastically after blooming in 2018, I think it might have a lot of red flowers in 2019. Therefore I pruned it drastically after blooming again. This is my trial. The third and right photos were taken on June 9th, 2019.
F. The two-trunked Togenkyo B
The left photo is the front side of this tree and the second one is the back side. Since the bonsai pot looks a little bit larger, the whole figure isn’t good. But the colour-arrangement of flowers isn’t bad. These photos were taken on May 25th, 2016. The third one is the front side and the right one is the back side. The colour-arrangement of flowers is better than that in 2016. These photos were taken July 2nd, 2017
The left photo is the front side of this tree and the second one is the back side. These photos were taken on May 25th, 2018. Comparing these photos with those in 2017 I was very glad to recognise that the colour-arrangement of flowers was much better than that in 2017. But to my misery this tree doesn’t have a lot of flowers of pale pink but a lot of red flowers on the third and right photos of the front and back sides, which were taken on June 4th, 2019. I cannot believe in this change of the multicoloured pattern of flowers. But I may have to understand that the gene of red colour in the variety of Togenkyo is extremely strong. Judging from the fact that other young trees of Togenkyo had a lot of red flowers, if they continue to have them, I will have to give up growing the variety of Togenkyo.
G. Hakurin
When I took the left photo of this tree on May 30th, 2011, it has a pale pink flower and some pink-striped flowers. And you can see two purple flowers and some purple-striped flowers on the second photo which was taken on July 3rd, 2012. But any purple flowers aren’t seen except some purple-striped flowers on the third photo which was taken on June 3rd, 2013. And you can see a pale pink flower and some purple-striped flowers on the right photo which was taken on May 26th, 2016.
The left photo is the front side of this tree and the second one is the back side. Only one purple flower and some purple-striped flowers are seen on the photos of both sides, which were taken on June 3rd, 2017. Though this multicoloured pattern of flowers is not gorgeous, it is neat and pretty. But you cannot see any purple flowers on the photos of the front and back sides, which were taken on June 4th, 2019. It is well known that the variety of Hakurin doesn’t have a lot of purple flowers, that is, the gene of purple colour in it is weak. But, if it didn’t have any purple flowers, the colour-arrangement of flowers would give us a clean feeling and at the same time make us feel unsatisfactory because it has only some purple-striped flowers.
The summation about the colour-arrangement of satsuki flowers
If our young satsuki trees had multicoloured flowers, the colour-arrangements of flowers make us feel glad and sad every year. Especially it is because it is thought that the genes of each colour in the young trees are not fixed strongly. Sometimes satsuki trees have a bud sport. Even if a satsuki tree continued to have monochromatic flowers for a long time, suddenly it may have a shoot which has flowers of other colour, or which has other shapes of flowers or leaves. Therefore we cannot hope that our satsuki trees will have the same colour-arrangement of flowers every year.
But if we know the natures of the trees which have multicoloured flowers, we often can get the good results every year. For example, if you have a young tree of Nikko (or Shin-nikko) which has white and red flowers, you have to think how may shoots of red and white flowers you keep when you prune it after blooming. A good colour-arrangement of flowers depends on your skill.
Especially if the top of your Nikko had all red or white flowers, you have to remove it after grafting a good shoot. And if a branch had all red or white flowers, you had better graft some good shoots to it. If you cannot get some long shoots by yourself, you had better buy them.
But if your Nikko had a few red or white flowers, you have to keep them after blooming. And since the gene of purple in Hakurin is weak, you have to keep the branches or shoots which had purple flowers. Since it is said that the variety of Hakurin will have some purple flowers when it will grow old, if your young Hakurin had some purple flowers, it is sure that the colour-arrangement of flowers will be very beautiful in 10 years.
I bought two saplings of Togenkyo in 2005. And I inserted a lot of cuttings into the Kanuma soil in the seedling in 2008. Therefore I didn’t have a long experience about it. In other words, I am groping in the sea of Togenkyo. Since the variety of Togenkyo had been registered in 2001, we haven’t been given a lot of knowledge about it yet. But I know that if I cut the very thick branches or trunks of Kinsai which is the parent of Togenkyo it will have a lot of shoots which will have the normal flowers.
Goko is the bud sport of Nikko and the combination colour is near red. And sometimes it has white flowers. Therefore it shows the same changes of colour-arrangement of flowers as Nikko does. Though the flowers are gorgeous when the tree has a lot of flowers of the combination colour near deep red, some people feel them gaudy and loud. And when we gave it a lot of fertilisers, the combination colour is so strong that it is almost red and besides it has red flowers.
The archives
The archaives are the back nukmbers of my web site. If you are interested in them, please read them. I am sure that it is very useful for you to grow satsuki trees and to make them into good bonsai.
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