Satsuki and Other Trees in Mack's Garden 82

Renewal Ist December 2024


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Recently a lot of great natural disasters robbed a lot of people of their lives and properties in the world. Though earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are caused by the earth’s activities, I think a lot of great floods and landslides were caused by the global warming which people are making. It is because it rained in the rainfall that people had never experienced before. And the very hot weather continued to give a lot of kinds of vegetable a lot of great damages.

The very serious problem is that the ice of the north and south poles is melting. And the rise in seawater temperature continues to change all things on the lands and in the seas and airs. A lot of farmers in some districts of Japan didn’t harvest less than half of some fruits last autumn. Though the farmers in Hokkaido didn’t harvest any good rice 30 years ago, they produce good rice now. Though a lot of fishermen cannot catch less than half of some kinds of fish, they can catch other some kinds of fish that they couldn’t catch.

We had the maximum temperature of 23 degrees C on 17th of November in Ise city which I haven’t experienced in my life. It is said that spring and autumn will disappear in the near future. I didn’t see the change of the colour of leaves of satsuki trees except that of the very weak trees on 17th of November when I sprayed 2 kinds of insecticides. Though I think this spray of agrichemicals is last, I may have to do so on 2nd of December. But it was cold on 18h. The maximum temperature was 13 degrees C and the minimum temperature was 7 degrees C. It was because the cold north winds blew though it was very fine.




　The flower buds of my satsuki trees


Recently, I have a serious problem about the flower buds of my satsuki trees. It is because several satsuki trees in the garden don’t have any flower buds though all satsuki trees had a lot of flower buds by the start of September 40 year ago. I could see a lot of beautiful flowers of satsuki trees in the gardens for a while since I had bult the house in 2001 but the number of their flowers continued to decrease gradually. And a lot of them had less than one third of flowers in 2013.

Now four fifths of the satsuki trees on the shelves have a lot of flowers but the other trees don’t have a lot of them. Especially, the trees of weak varieties don’t have a lot of flowers. I think that they are given the great damages by the very high temperature and moisture in summer and September. They don’t have the very strong sunlight directly while I spread the black nets over them between 8 and 16 o’clock. Therefore, I think that the very high moisture gives them great damages when we don’t have any winds. It is because I can endure the heat when I am under the black nets even if the temperature was 35 degrees C. But when it is 37 degrees C, since I cannot do anything in the garden, this temperature may give them great damages.

Section 1. The flower buds of the saplings of satsuki

A lot of saplings didn’t have any flower buds except those of Kogetsu, Komei and Kakuo though they didn’t have a lot of flower buds at the end of September. Therefore, I was worried that a considerable number of them wouldn’t have a lot of flower buds. And when I took the photos of them on 28th October, a lot of them had a small number of flower buds. But, fortunately, almost all of them have a lot of flower buds when I took the photos of them on 24th November. Though I was very happy to see them, since I could see a lot of young flower buds which are not fully ripe, I was worried that they would change from the flower buds to the leave buds. And I hoped that it would continue to be warm and fine till the end of November.

Part 1. Komei A and B

This variety of Komei always has a lot of flower buds by the end of September on the shelves. It has so many flowers that a lot of flowers have to be removed if a good bonsai will be exhibited at a flower show. When I took the left and second photos of these saplings on 28th October, they had already a lot of good flower buds. Therefore, when I took the third and right photos of them on 24th November, their seeds were fully ripe.



Part 2. Kogetsu A and B

Though this variety of Kogetsu always has a lot of flower buds, too, some trees have some shoots which don’t have any flower buds. But, when I took the left and second photos of these trees on 28th October, the flower buds are not fully ripe. And you can see the good flower buds on the third and right photos which were taken on 24th November.



Part 3. Yama-no-hikari A and B

This variety of Yama-no-hikari isn’t very strong. And suddenly, one of good saplings died in September. I don’t know the reason why it died. When I took the left and second photos of these trees on 28th October, they began to make their flower buds. And I cut several long shoots short to make it have good flower buds. Since they have the good flower buds on the third and right photos which were taken on 24th November, I thought I was very lucky because I had been afraid that they might not have good flower buds at the end of October.



Part 4. Hibai A and B

More than half of shoots of these Hibai A and B have flower buds on the left and second photos which were taken on 28th November but other ones don’t though they have long shoots whose tops have very young leaves. Therefore, I was worried that they would not have flower buds. But they had a lot of them on the third and right photos which were taken on 24th November. It is very strange that the variety of Hibai made flower buds in November.



Part 5. Byakuren A, B, C and D

More than half of shoots of these Byakuren A and B have the immature flower buds on the left and second photos which were taken on 28th November. Byakuren A is one of 20 saplings whose cuttings were taken in 2021. But I put other trees into the compost box in 2023 though some cuttings died. It was because they didn’t have any flowers as the variety of Byakuren.

Byakuren B is one of 20 saplings whose cuttings were taken in 2022. Though it didn’t have good flowers, since it was large, I planted it in a terracotta pot in June 2024. And I planted 5 small saplings in terracotta pots in June 2024 though they didn’t have a good colour arrangement of flowers as the variety of Byakuren. And I put other small saplings into the compost box. Therefore, I would like to hope that they will have good flowers because Byakuren C and B have a lot of the flower buds on the third and right photos which were taken on 24th November though they didn’t have a lot of flower buds when I took a lot of photos of other saplings on 28th October.



Part 6. Kakuo A, B and C

These trees already have the complete flower buds on the left, middle and right photos which were taken on 28th October.　Since this variety of Kakuo is a hybrid between Niko and Miyamakirishima which is a variety of Japanese azalea, it has a lot of flower buds which are made much earlier than other varieties of satsuki. Since I sold all trees of this variety which had been planted in the pots, I have grown 5 saplings from the cuttings.



Section 2. The flower buds of the satsuki trees in the garden

When I bult our new house in 2001, I made 4 small gardens before and behind the house and on the right and left sides of the house. And I planted a lot of satsuki trees on the edges of them, which I had grown in terracotta pots. And all of them had a lot of flowers in 2002. But the number of their flowers continued to decrease gradually. And a lot of them had less than one third of flowers in 2013. And they have only less than one fifth of them except some trees which don’t have any flowers now.

Someone asked me why satsuki trees in the garden didn’t have a lot of flowers recently several years ago. Though we have a small park near our house where a lot of satsuki trees have been planted. Though the variety of them is the strongest Osakazuki, a considerable number of shoots don’t have flower buds. I think it is because they aren’t watered through a year. But I give a lot of water to the satsuki trees in the garden once a week in summer though I did once per two days 20 years ago. But if they often were given a lot of water, since they have a lot of long new shoots, I have to trim them in December to keep their shapes good.

Part 1. Satsuki trees in the west garden

This west garden is narrow and long between the house and garage. Since I planted the large Ume and Boxwood, a lot of satsuki trees cannot have a lot of the sunlight. But these trees have a lot of the sunlight because they were planted in the front of this garden. And sometime I give them a lot of water. You can see a small number of flowers on the left photo which was taken in 2017. And they had much less than flowers in 2019 on the second photo than those in 2017.

Therefore, I removed a lot of thick branches from these trees and often gave water to them. And you can see more flowers in 2023 on the third photo than those in 2019. But some flower buds can be seen on the right photo which was taken on 28th October 2024.



Part 2. Satsuki trees on the left side of the gate

Though this place is a part of the back garden, some trees can receive enough sunlight. Therefore, the trees of Nikko have a lot of flowers on the left photo which was taken in 2017 but other trees have only a small number of flowers. This situation didn’t change in 2019 and 2023 on the second and third photos. And the tree of Nikko has a lot of flower buds but the tree of Byakuren doesn’t have any one on the right photo which was taken on 28th October 2024. We can understand that the number of flower buds of satsuki under the bad conditions depends on the varieties.



Part 3. Satsuki trees in the garden before and behind the house

These satsuki trees in the small garden before the house always have so much strong sunlight in summer that they don’t have a lot of flowers on the left and second photos which were taken in 2017.

On the contrary, since these trees have been planted in the very narrow place under the tall oak trees and behind the house, they cannot have enough sunlight. Therefore, recently they have only a small number of flowers or nothing. But since they had a considerable number of flowers in 2017, I toot the third and right photos of them. Judging from these conditions, flowering of satsuki depends on the summer climate, too.



Part 4. Satsuki trees in the east garden

Since I planted the very large trees of Ume, Holly and Crape myrtle and 2 large Yew plum pines in this garden on the right side of the house when I made it, a lot of satsuki trees in the south part of the garden have shadows in the morning. Though the satsuki trees in the north part of this garden have a lot of sunlight in the morning, it has shadows of the house after 14:00. Therefore, they are under the bad conditions but all of them have the sunlight of more than 4 hours. It is said that they can make a lot of flower buds if they can have the sunlight of 3 hours in a day.

Though these trees in the north part of garden can have a lot of the sunlight in the morning on the left photo which was taken in 2017, they already have less than half of flowers. And they have only a very small number of flowers on the second photo which was taken in 2019. But they have more flowers in 2020 on the third photo than in 2019. Though I hoped that they would have a considerable number of flower buds, I can see a very small number of flower buds on the right photo which was taken on 28th October 2024.

You can see the flowers of the large trees of Nikko, Komei, Shiroebisu and Namichidori on the third photo though the large tree of Daigokuden doesn’t have any flowers yet. When I made this garden 21 years ago, I planted a very large maple tree but it died 18 years ago. And I planted several satsuki trees. Though some strong satsuki trees have survived the hard summer, the number of flowers has been decreasing every year. Since other ones died, I planted some trees again and again. And a few trees are dying now.



Section 3. The flower buds of young satsuki trees on the shelves



A lot of young satsuki trees on the shelves had a lot of good flower buds at the end of November 2024. But it is too late. And a considerable number of young trees didn’t have a lot of flower buds. The trees of a few varieties didn’t do so from several years ago.

Part 1. The flower buds of Kogetsu C, D, E and F

Suddenly one of 8 young Kogetsu died in the middle of October. I cannot understand why it died because I thought that all of them had survived the severe and harsh summer at the start of September. I may have given more fertilisers to it than to other trees. Bu I am sure that I didn’t make such an error.

When I took the photos of 7 trees of young Kogetsu on 28 October, some of them turned the colours of a small number of leaves. But Kogetsu E has the dark green leaves on the third photo.


Though Kogetsu C, D and F have several coloured leaves on the left, second and fourth photos which I took on 24th November, Kogetsu E has still the dark green on the third photo. I think this is a dangerous situation. If this young tree had a thick frost on the leaves in the middle of December, the spring leaves will wither and fall from the branches without changing the colours of leaves. It means that it has a lot of water in the trunk, branches and roots, that is, it isn't ready for winter.


If the trunks of young satsuki were frozen by the thick frost and the very cold winds, their trunks may be cleft. Therefore, we mustn’t give a lot of fertilisers to satsuki trees to make them grow large soon until late. I have such a bitter experience several times in my life. Now I have the tree of Komei which is 50 years old. It cleft the bottom of trunk into two parts about at the age of 12. I applied the medicine to the wounds. After I removed the rotten parts several years later, I filled the underwater bond between the cleft trunks. Though it has the good shape and a lot of flowers, it isn’t a bonsai.


Part 2. Young Nikko A, B, C and D

Though I have 6 young trees of Nikko, their leaves are smaller than those of their parent. The variety of Nikko has a lot of flower buds but these trees haven’t had a lot of flowers since the saplings. They may be very sensitive to the very high temperatures and humidity. Nikko A, B and D don’t have a lot of flower buds on the left, second and right photos which I took on 28th October but Nikko C already has a lot of them on the third photo. Strictly speaking, since this tree has only white flowers, it isn’t Nikko.


I trimmed these trees before I took the photo of them. Nikko A, B and D have a lot of flower buds on the left, second and right photos which was taken on 24th November though a considerable number of shoots don’t have them. And these flower buds aren’t mature yet, but Nikko C has a lot of complete flower buds on the third photo.



Part 3. Nikko E and F, Hikorin and Shuho-no-hikari

Nikko E has a lot of unmature flower buds on the left photo which I took on 28 October but Nikko F has a lot of good ones on the second photo. Hikorin doesn’t have a lot of flower buds on the third photo. And Shuho-no-hikari has a lot of unmature flower buds on the right photo.　Though the family of Korin make flower buds late, since this Hikorin had a lot of leaf buds, I was afraid that a lot of unmature flower buds would change into leaf buds. But I hoped that it would have a lot of good flower buds because it was very strong and had the very dark leaves.


I trimmed these trees before I took the photo of them. Though Nikko E has a lot of flower buds on the left photo which was taken on 24th November, a considerable number of shoots have leaf buds. But almost all shoots of Nikko F have good flower buds on the second photo. These differences of making flower buds among 6 Nikko trees may mean that they depend on the colour arrangements of flowers. I would like to see the flowering of these trees carefully next year.

I was happy to see a lot of good flower buds of Hikorin on the third photo. At the same time, I was surprised that it had completed the flower buds in a month. I thought that it has an ability to respond to the very abnormal weather. Almost all shoots of Shuho-no-hikari have good flower buds on the right photo. This variety always makes every shoot have a lot of good flower buds.






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