Satsuki and Other Trees in Mack's Garden 76

Renewal Ist October 2023


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Suddenly it was cool on 23rd September. Since it continued to be very hot till the day, a lot of satsuki trees in the garden didn’t grow new sprouts and don’t have a lot of flower buds now. And they will have a lot of new long shoots because they continue to have good sunlight. Therefore, they won’t have a lot of flower buds except those that they already had. Of course, some satsuki trees on the shelf doesn’t have a lot of flower buds, neither. But since I haven’t spread the black nets over them all day since 23rd, they have had a lot of good sunlight.

The maximum temperature was 28 degrees C and the minimum was 22 degrees C on 25th. If we can continue to have this good condition of weather, I can hope that a lot of satsuki bonsai will have much more flower buds.

Now I think that I have to prune the satsuki trees in the garden immediately after they finish blooming, that is, by about 10th of June next year. If I prune them at the start of July, since it continues to be very hot, the ends of the shoots are so hard by the very strong sunlight that it takes them a lot of time to have new sprouts because I prune them drastically. I wouldn’t like to make them large lest they should die in summer because of lack of water. It is fact that the top of Hibai whose trunk is very thick died beside the gate because I forget to water it sometimes.


The process of growth of the cuttings


Since I sold a lot of satsuki bonsai, there are large spaces on the shelves. I put a lot of pots of fringed orchids and several plastic planters and several pots of strawberry there now. But I still have a lot of spaces where I can put a lot of terracotta post in which a lot of satsuki saplings were planted though I planted a lot of saplings in terracotta pots after pruning and wiring them last June. Now I would like to introduce the saplings which are 3 years old.

Section 1. Kogetsu

Since I could have confirmed the colour-arrangement of flowers of two cuttings in June 2022, I planted them in terracotta pots after wiring them. But other 6 cuttings were so small that I didn’t plant them in terracotta pots. Since I confirmed the colours of flowers of them last June, I planted them in terracotta pots after wiring them.

Part 1. Kogetsu A and B

The colour-arrangements of flowers of Kogetsu A and B are very good on the left and second photos though they don’t have any red ones. Since they have some red-striped flowers, it is sure that they will have red one in the future. Though other trees aren’t high, it is very strange under the same condition that the height of Kogetsu A is 48cm.

Last year I wired them when I planted them in the pots after blooming. Though I had wired them again when I had pruned them after blooming last June, I unwired them when I gave them ball fertilisers at the start of September. The styles of Kogetsu A and B are good on the third and right photos which were taken on 26th September 2023 since the trunk of the main trunk of Kogetsu B was cut short.



Part 2. Kogetsu C and D

Since Kogetsu C has 3 red flowers on the left photo, I removed the shoot which had them and planted it in a terracotta pot after wiring it. Though Kogetsu D doesn’t have any white flowers on the second one, since the colour-arrangement of flower is good, I planted it in a terracotta pot after pruning and wiring it.

I unwired them when I gave them ball fertilisers at the start of September. The styles of Kogetsu C and D are good on the third and right photos which were taken on 26th September 2023. Though their styles are good now, I think I have to restyle them to make them better when I will repot them.



Part 3. Kogetsu E and F

These colour arrangement of flowers of Kogetsu E and F on the left and second photos is good though both of them don’t have any red flowers. Since they have some red-striped flowers, I am sure that they will have red flowers in the future.

I unwired them when I gave them ball fertilisers at the start of September. The styles of Kogetsu E and F aren’t good on the third and right photos which were taken on 26th September 2023. Therefore, after confirming the colours of flowers I have to restyle them by wiring and pruning them.



Part 4. Kogetsu G and H

The colour-arrangement of flowers of Kogetsu G and H on the left and second photos is good though Kogetsu H had two red flowers and one flower bud. When I pruned it, I removed two shoots which had them.

When I pruned them after blooming, I styled them by wiring. I unwired Kogetsu G when I gave ball fertilisers to it at the start of September. The style of this tree isn’t good on the third photo. Therefore, I have to restyle it when repotting it next time. But Kogetsu H died at the middle of September on the right photo. The variety of Kogetsu is so weak that we mustn’t give too much water and a lot of fertilisers to it in summer. Two cuttings of this variety already died last year.



Section 2. Yama-no-hikari

Since the variety of Yama-no-hikari has very large flowers, if the sapling is small and short, it often cannot sustain them. But when the trunk is thick, the tree can do so though it doesn’t have a lot of flowers. Since the shoots are a little bit thin, we mustn’t give a lot of fertilisers to it lest we should make the shoots long. Besides, since this variety is weak, we have to take very good care of repotting and watering.

Last year I planted 8 cuttings in terracotta pots after pruning and wiring in June. If the cuttings are healthy, we had better to unwire them when giving them fertilisers in September lest the wires should dig into the trunk.

Part 1. Yama-no-hikari A and B

The flower-arrangement of these saplings is very good on the left and second photos though Yamano-hikari B doesn’t have any white flowers. It is sure that any saplings of this variety will have white flowers in the future. Therefore, we have to get rid of cuttings or saplings which have only white flowers or a lot of them.
　
Though I unwired them when I gave them ball fertilisers at the start of September, since the trunks are much thicker on the third and right photos, they will be able to sustain the flowers next year.



Part 2. Yama-no-hikari C and D

These flowers are good and beautiful on the left and second photos. If they had had some red flowers, the colour-arrangement of flowers would have been much better. I only hope they will have them.

Since some young new shoots of Yama-no-hikari C were very long, I cut them short to make it have some sprout on the middle part of the trunk on the third photo when I unwired it and gave fertilisers to it at the start of September. But the right photo is the whole figure of Yama-o-hikari D which is a little bit weak.



Part 3. Yama-no-hikari E and F

Though these flowers are beautiful, the colour-arrangement isn’t very good on the left and second photos. Since they are short, they cannot have a lot of flowers. Strictly speaking, since this variety has very large flowers, if the tree is very short, it can have only a small number of flowers. We cannot make it have all colours that it has to have.

Though you can see the styles of these trees on the third and right photos, when it has flowers, you cannot judge whether it has a good style or not. We may have to give up growing a small tree of this type of variety.



Part 4. Yama-no-hikari G and H

When you can see these flowers on the left and second photos, you may laugh at the figures. These trees couldn’t sustain the weight of flowers. Though Yama-no-hikari G has a red flower, the colour-arrangement of Yama-no-hikari H isn’t very good.

When I unwired it and gave fertilisers to it at the start of September, they have good styles on the third and right photos. Since they have much thicker trunks, they will sustain a lot of flowers next year.



Section 3. Komei

I think that Komei is a weak variety. If a lot of fertilisers and water were given the cuttings, they cannot grow healthy or sometimes may die. Though I have two trees which are 50 years old, some of their small branches already died and are dying.

Part 1. Komei A and B

I planted Komei A in a terracotta pot after pruning and wring it in June 2022, which was the largest cutting. After pruning and wiring Komei B in June 2023, I planted it in a terracotta pot. Though these trees don’t any pink flowers on the left and second photos, they have beautiful flowers. And I can hope that they will have some pink flowers.

These styles of both trees are good on the third and right photos. But since Komei B doesn’t have a necessary branch, I have to prune it drastically after blooming again and again till I can find a good sprout.



Part 2. Komei C and D

Since Komei C has a pink flower on the left photo, the colour-arrangement is very good. Though Komei D doesn’t have any pink flowers on the second one, it has beautiful flowers. The styles of two-trunked trees ae not bad on the third and right ones. If you would like to get the two-trunked tree, you had better make the angle between two trunks acute.



Part 3. Komei E

Since Komei E has a pink flower, the colour-arrangement is very good on the left photo. But the style isn’t very good on the right photo. Therefore, I have to restyle it in the future.



Part 4. Cuttings

Since these cuttings were small, I didn’t plant them in terracotta pots. And the colour-arrangement of them is not very good. Since this variety isn’t one of my favourite varieties, I might not plant them in pots.



Section 4. Hibai

It is very difficult to make a lot of good saplings of Hibai. This variety has to have two colours of red and pink in the flowers. Now I have only one good tree of Hibai which I have grown from a cutting. Though I made a lot of saplings about 23 years ago, perhaps I sold them except one at our flower show. Though I took 20 new shoots beside the red and pink flowers 3 years ago, strictly speaking, I didn’t know how to get a lot of good saplings of this variety correctly. Therefore, more than two thirds of these cuttings had red or pink flowers.

Part 1. Hibai A and B

Hibai A has only red flowers and red flower buds on the left photo but Hibai B has only pink flowers and pink flower buds on the second one. Knowing this fact, I planted them in terracotta pots after blooming last year.

I unwired the former because I had wired it in June 2022 but wired the latter when I planted them after blooming. And I unwired the latter at the start of September when giving fertilisers to it. Therefore, they have the basic style now but I have to wire them after blooming next year.



Part 2. Hibai C, D and E

I had only two saplings which have bicolored (red and pink) flowers. But the colour-arrangement of flowers of Hibai C isn’t good on the left photo. Since Hibai D has three flowers and several flower buds on the second one, judging them, I cannot hope that this tree will have the good colour-arrangement of flowers in the future. Comparing them and other saplings with Hibai E on the right one, I thought that the genetic traits of the parent of the cuttings might not be good or I couldn’t have chosen good new shoots.



Part 3. Flowers of cuttings of Hibai

These saplings don’t have any bicoloured flowers. Though I can hope that they will have them in the future, 6 trees have only red flowers and 2 flowers have only pink flowers.



Part 4. The styles of saplings in September-A

Though I could not identify these cuttings, I planted them in terracotta pots after pruning and wiring them. When giving them fertiliser at the start of September, I unwired them. Though these saplings have the basic styles, I have to wire them after blooming next year.



Part 5. The styles of saplings in September-B

Since the styles of these saplings aren’t good, I have to prune and wire them after blooming next year.



Section 5. Byakuren

I think this variety is weak. Though I took more than 20 new shoots 3years ago, I could plant only one tree in a terracotta pot after blooming in 2022. And I couldn’t plant any trees in terracotta pots after blooming in 2023.

Part 1. Byakuren A, B and C

All flowers of this Byakuren A have the round tops on the left photo. But the flowers of the variety of Byakuren are kenben (sword-shaped). Therefore, strictly speaking, this tree isn’t Byakuren. But I took the new shoot from Byakuren. I planted it in a terracotta pot after pruning and wiring it in June last year. I unwired it when I gave fertilisers to it at the start of September. Therefore, it has the basic style on the second photo.

Byakuren is a bud sport of Karenko and Karenko is a bud sport of Juko. I often removed a lot of very long shoots which had the flowers of Juko from 4 trees of Karenko in the nursery. And I removed a small number of very long shoots which had the flowers of Juko from two trees of Byakuren in the nursery. Though I took more than 20 new shoots beside the red-striped flowers, I think some of them had the genetic traits of Juko.

Though the flowers of Byakuren B are good on the third photo, since it was small, I didn’t plant it in a terracotta pot. And the flowers of Byakuren C aren't those of the variety of Byakuren. They are the flowers of Juko.



Part 2. Byakuren D, E and F

Though I could confirm that the flowers of Byakuren D, E and F were those of the variety of Byakuren on the left, second and third photos, since they were small, I didn’t plant them in terracotta pots after blooming. But Byakuren G has only pink flowers which are those of Juko on the right one though I chose all the cuttings of these varieties when they had had flowers last year. Therefore, I gave up growing it and threw it into the garbage can.



Section 6. Kakuo

Though I have two large Kakuo in the garden, some branches of them died. And there isn’t any tree of the variety on the shelf because I sold some small threes. Therefore, I made these saplings. I planted them in terracotta pots after pruning and wiring them last June. I unwired them when giving them fertilisers at the start of September. Since each tree has the basic style, I have to make good branches.






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