Satsuki and Other Trees in Mack's Garden 75

Renewal Ist August 2023


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We have the very strange weather in these several years. A lot of people lost their houses due to debris flows and floods in several districts in Japan in the middle of July. They had the very heavy rain in some places, which they had not had for more than 50 years. The linear rain belt stayed for a long time. These words were made several years ago.

And the maximum temperature was over 35 degrees C in Ise city on 17th May. It is my first experience. Since it was very warm in April and hot in May, a lot of satsuki trees began to have flowers much earlier than usually. Therefore, the very strong sunlight gave the serious damages to a lot of satsuki flowers. Since I didn’t prepare the black nets over the shelves yet, a lot of flowers were burnt by the sunlight.

But it was cool from the evening to the morning. Therefore, it took a lot of satsuki trees a longer time to be in full bloom, so that a considerable number of satsuki trees didn’t look beautiful because a considerable number of flowers had fallen already when they were in full bloom. At last, I prepared the black nets in the afternoon of 22nd but it rained at night. And we have had the average temperature since then.

I repotted several young trees on 9th and 10th. And I pruned all saplings, wired a lot of them and repotted them on 11th and 12th. Since the variety of Daigokuden began to flower very late, I finished pruning all satsuki trees in the pots on 26th June and all satsuki trees in the garden on 6th July.


Satsuki flowers in 2023


I would like to show you the flowers of all satsuki trees that I could photograph. Since I could not carry the heavy pots from the shelve, in which large satsuki trees were planted, their photos on the shelves were not very good. And a lot of trees don’t have very good photos because they didn’t have a lot of flowers even when they were in full bloom. They began to flower much earlier than usually and had the flowers for a long while. Though I could enjoy them for a long period, those photos aren’t very good.

Section 1. Flowers of large trees

You cannot see a lot of flowers of good large satsuki bonsai on my web site because I already sold a lot of them. Therefore, I had to photograph a lot of flowers which the damaged trees had because I couldn’t photograph a lot of trees which hadn’t had a lot of good flowers. I think they will die with me.

Part 1. Kozan A and B and Sangosai A

The left photo is the whole figure of Kozan A. Since the trunk is very thick, it looks very good. But it has a very large hollow part from the middle to the bottom in the trunk. Therefore, it seems to live on the thin barks. The middle photo is Kozan B which was planted in the very large wooden pot 5 years ago because it still had a small scar on the trunk though I had cut the large trunk to make it have a good taper in 1991. Though it is in full bloom, since I already removed a lot of flowers, it doesn’t have a lot of flowers. You can see several flowers on the top, which were damaged by the strong sunlight.

The right photo is Sangosai A which was planted in the very large wooden pot in 2019 after having been dug from the nursery. It doesn’t have any flowers on the left first branch though it is very strong. Though I don’t know the reason, it is sure that I have some problems in summer because a lot of satsuki trees in the garden neither have a lot of flowers nor some varieties of satsuki bonsai on the shelves have a lot of them.

Part 2. Takasago, Daigokuden and Juko

Though these trees had been grown in the nursery since 1993, I dug them out from there and planted them in the large pots. Since Takasago on the left photo has a large hole in the bottom of the trunk, you can see something through it. Though it is in full bloom, the number of flowers is much less than usual. Since the variety of Daigokuden has the late flowers, it didn’t have any damages by the strong sunlight. But it doesn’t have a lot of flowers on the middle photo though it is in full bloom. The right photo is Juko whose colour arrangement of flowers is good, but the top has only pink flowers. Therefore, it isn’t contained in the group of good satsuki bonsai. Though it isn’t in full bloom, the number of flowers and flower buds is less than usual.


Part 3. Shintaiyo, Reiyo and Ukigumo-no-tsuki

These trees have been grown in the pots from the cuttings since about 50 years ago. And all of them have some defects and are very week or dying. Though the left photo is the flowers of Shintaiyo, since a lot of small branches died and a few thick branches did, too, I think this is our last chance to see beautiful flowers. Since I think it will die within 5 years, I don’t repot it. The middle is the flowers of Reiyo whose necessary thick branch already died. Though this may be the last chance to see the beautiful flowers, I will repot it next Match.
Since the parent of Ukigumo-no-tsuki is Kogetsu, this variety has multicolored flowers, too. When this tree was young, it had them. But now it has a lot of white flowers on the right photo. Since it had the rotten parts in the lower part of trunk about 30 years ago, I removed them completely and painted the medicine on the scar. But recently it is weaker whenever I repot it.


Part 4. Komei, Shinkigen and Sakurakagami

Though Komei and Shinkigen have been grown in the pot from the cuttings since about 50 years ago, I bought Sakurakagami for 6,000 yen in 1988 whose height was 66 cm and whose trunk girth was 10 cm. Though it past 35 years since then, the runk didn’t grow thick.
These flowers of Komei on the left photo and Shinkigen on the middle one are beautiful, the former has the large scar on the bottom of trunk and the latter’s style isn’t good. Though the scar of Komei was larger than that of Ukigumo-no-tsuki about 30 years ago, I am surprised to see these beautiful flowers every year. Though the thick right first branch of this Sakurakagami died near the trunk several years ago and I grafted a long shoot on it, since it is week, I haven’t completed it yet. These flowers on the right phot are beautiful.

Part 5. Asuka, Kasugano and Sangosai B.

Though I made a lot of saplings and young trees of satsuki to sell at our flower show about 25 years ago, I couldn’t sell 2 trees of Asuka. Therefore, I keep them. Now it has a lot of beautiful flowers on the left photo and a good colour-arrangement of flowers but the style isn’t very good. Since I have introduced these memorial trees of Kasugano and Sangosai B here several times, I would like to omit the details of their lives. I am surprised to see their flowers every year because they continue to live in the pots for more than 50 years though they may be more than 90 years old.

The middle photo is Kasugano whose number of flowers is less than usual. I have been unable to change the style since I planted it in the pot. And each trunk hasn’t grown thick. I was very glad to see a lot of flowers of Sangosai B on the right photo. Since some trunks of this tree died, I had the drastic operations in 2016. And I had the same operation again in 2022 because I had two dead trunks. Therefore, you can see the miserable figure of this tree on the right photo though it has beautiful flowers.


Section 2. Flowers of small bonsai

Since I sold a lot of small bonsai, though I don’t have a lot of them, I would like to introduce the photos which I could take.

Part 1. Kogetsu A, B, C and D

I like the flowers of Kogetsu A, B and C on the left, second and third photos. But I was very sad to see the miserable figure of Kogetsu D on the right photo. The main trunk broke when the May storm blew it down from shelf on the ground. This was my error. But I am happy to see the new long shoot which will be a good trunk.



Part 2. Kogetsu E, F, G and H

How stupid am I! I continue to have the same error. Though you cannot see any good sprouts on the left, I could see 2 new good ones on 25th July. Though these trees of Kogetsu were blown by the May storm, all threes except two were all right. These flowers of Kogetsu F, G and H on the second, third and right photos are beautiful but the number of them is less than usual.



Part 3. Nikko A and B and Kozan

I could not repot these trees in March because of my errors. I introduced the details of them in the previous web site. Since they were very weak, I couldn’t give them a lot of fertilisers. Therefore, these flowers of Nikko A and B are smaller than usual and don’t have any luster and tension on the left and middle photos but Kozan has the same good flowers on the right photo as it had had last year though it had stronger damages than Nikko A and B at the end of March.


Part4. Nikko C and D and Hibai You cannot see any red flowers on the left photo. Though this Nikko C has smaller leaves and these flowers are beautiful, since the colour-arrangement isn’t good, it isn’t one of my favorites. This Nikko D had the good style and the good taper of the trunk but the colour-arrangement isn’t good on the middle photo. The right one is Hibai which has the perfect colour-arrangement and is very beautiful. Since it is very difficult to make some good saplings of Hibai, I think I happened to make it. Though I made about 30 cuttings of this variety now, how may good saplings will I find out? I will report the details of sorting them in the next web site.



Part 5. Jukokan A, B and C

I made these Jukokan as the materials to make some roots of the trees in the nursery several years ago. These are the rest of grafting. Though any red-striped flowers are not found on the left photo, these flowers are beautiful. Though any red-striped flowers are not found on the middle and right photos, since Jukokan B and C have some red petals of flowers, I hope they will have good colour-arrangements.



Part 6. Jukokan D, Banri-no-kagayaki A and B

This Jukokan D doesn’t have any red-striped flowers nor any red petals of flowers. But since it may have them within several years and these flowers are beautiful on the left photo, I would like to keep it. I made these Banri-no-kagayaki as the materials to make some roots of the trees in the nursery several years ago. These are the rest of grafting. Since this variety has only a few red flowers, it is very difficult to make a lot of good saplings. Since these Banri-no-kagayaki have some re-striped flowers on the middle and right phots, I hope that they will have some red flowers.



Part 7. Yama-no-hikari, Korin and Kozan B

Though you can see two red flowers on the left photo, this Yama-no-hikari had several red flowers. This variety seems to lessen the number of red flowers gradually. Therefore, we have to keep the shoots which have red flowers carefully when we prune it after blooming. I made this Korin as a connected roots style on the middle photo. But since some trunks are crossing each other, I have to restyle it when I will repot it next time. Since I sold a lot of satsuki trees of cascade style, I have only three trees now. This Kozan B is one of them which I would like to complete as a bonsai. Though it doesn’t have a lot of flowers, they are large and good on the right photo.


Section 3. Flowers of satsuki trees in terracotta pots

Satsuki trees in terracotta pots are young or have some reason why they have to be planted in the pots.

Part 1. Kegon A and B, Nikko E and F

Since this variety of Kegon is weak, though Kegon A is about 15 years old, the trunk isn’t thick. But since it has the good colour-arrangement and style on the left phot, I will repot it in a bonsai pot next time. Though any white flowers aren’t seen on the second one, the style isn’t bad, I will repot this Kegon B in a bonsai pot next time, too.
A five-trunked Nikko lost the main trunk several years ago. And I separated it into two parts. This Nikko E is one of them. But since the colour-arrangement is bad on the third one, I didn’t plant it in a bonsai pot. This Nikko F doesn’t have any red flowers on the right one, neither. But it may have some red-striped flowers in the near future.



Part 2. Ai-no-tsuki, Hakurin, Fujizakura and Jukokan E

Though this Ai-no-tsuki is about 15 years old, since the trunk isn’t thick, I repotted it in the terracotta pot to grow it thicker. Since it doesn’t have any purple flowers on the left photo though it had only one good flower several years ago, the colour-arrangement of flowers isn’t good. Since this Hakurin has several purple flowers on the top on the second photo, I have to remove some shoots of purple flowers whenever I prune it after blooming. But these flowers are beautiful.
These flowers of Fujizakura are very good on the third photo. Therefore, I would like to repot it in a bonsai pot next time. These flowers of Jukokan E are very beautiful on the right photo but the colour-arrangement of flowers isn’t good.



Part 3. Banri-no-kagayaki C, D, E and F

This variety of Banri-no-kagayaki doesn’t have a lot of red flowers. Therefore, we have to keep the shoots which have red flowers. Though Banri-no-kagayaki C has a shoot of four red flowers on the left photo and Banri-no-kagayaki D has only one red flowers on the second one, Banri-no-kagayaki E and F have some red-striped flowers on the third and right ones.



Part 4. Namichidori, Wakaebisu, Kurofune A and B

I made a lot of cuttings of a lot of varieties in 1973. Some of them were Namichidori. One of them continues to live in the garden though it is very weak. And when other one in the pot was very weak about ten years ago, I took 3 cuttings and have grown them. Since the flowers of this variety are very beautiful and gorgeous, I wanted to keep them on the shelves. But ii doesn’t have a good style on the left photo though it has a lot of beautiful flowers. I made three cuttings of Wakaebisu to graft one of them on the bottom of the trunk of the large tree in the nursery about ten years ago. Therefore, I didn’t style it with wires. Since the style is clumsy on the second photo now, I will make it inti two-trunked tree.
These Kurofune A and B aren’t satsuki but one variety of Japanese azalea. When their parent was given me by a friend of mine who had a lot of satsuki bonsai, he told me the name. Therefore, I am not sure whether the name is right or not. Since it begins to flower at the end of April or the start of May and continues to flower for a longer time, the flowers tell me that the season of satsuki flowers will come soon.


Section 4. Flowers of the trees which were repotted

Since I already had sold a lot of satsuki trees, I thought I would enjoy the flowers of the tree which I repotted in March. If the soil in the pots were hard, I have to remove the soil, prune the tree drastically, wash the roots completely and planted it in a pot. But when the soil in the pot isn’t hard, I can remove only the dirty soil, prune the tree lightly, remove a lot of flower buds. wash the root ball and plant it in a pot. If I make it have a lot of flower buds, since it will be weak, I always make it have one fourth of one fifth of flower buds.

Part 1. Benigasa A, B, C. and Eikan

Since I had sold 5 trees of Benigasa, I wanted to see the flowers of Benigasa A, B and C when I repotted them. And since the soil in the pots wasn’t hard, I decide to make them have flowers. I have two young trees of Eikan. Since the soil was hard in the pot where one of them had been planted. I repotted it after removing the soil completely, washing the roots and removing all flower buds. This Eikan is another one of them and shows my error of cutting. But I keep it because it has a lot of good flowers on the right photo.



Part 2. Asuka, Nikko E, Hikorin and Hakurei-no-hikari

When putting this tree of Asuka out of the pot, since the soil wasn’t hard, I decided to make it have one fourth of flower buds. And I was happy to see these large beautiful flowers though it doesn’t have a good style on the left photo. Though the soil of the next three trees wasn’t hard, I didn’t want them to have a lot of flowers to make their trunks grow thicker but they had. The right photo is Hakurei-no-hikari, but it has two red flowers. Since it is the bud sport of Hakurei, the variety of Hakurei-no-hikari doesn’t have any red flowers.


Section 5. Satsuki flowers in the gardens

I have a lot of satsuki trees in the garden. Though they had had a lot of flowers for several years since I made the gardens in 2002, they continue to lessen the number of flowers except some trees since then. I don’t know the sure reasons but can guess some reasons.
The temperature in summer is terribly hot in Ise city. Though it seldom rains, I didn’t give them enough water. Though they grew large, I didn’t lessen the number of trunks and branches drastically. Since they grow thick every year, I haven’t given them any fertilisers since several years ago. And about half of them don’t have enough sunlight, especially in winter.

But under the same condition, some varieties have a lot of flowers and others have only small number of flowers. These four photos prove the situation in my gardens. The left photo is the small garden in front of the front door. You can see the tree which doesn’t any flowers. The second photo is the small garden beside the front door. Since the large tree is Daigokuden, it doesn’t have any flowers yet. All trees don’t have a lot of flowers though they have at least 3 hours of the sunlight in summer.

These four trees on the third photo have the sunlight for more than 6 hours every day. But all of them don’t have a lot of flowers though I removed a lot of branches after blooming last year. Yama-no-hikari on the right photo lessens the number of flowers every year though it has the sunlight for more than 8 hours every day. And it may lose the red flowers in the future. And you can see some flowers in the bottom right corner of the photo, this tree is Hibai which doesn’t have a lot of flowers.






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