Satsuki and Other Trees in Mack's Garden 49

Renewal February 26th, 2019

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I would like to introduce three photos of accent plants which were chosen from the collection of photos of plants in our garden. The curious things which you can see on the left and middle photo are the groomrape which is a kind of parasitic plant and not flowers. And the both plants are a kind of small pampas grass on which it lives. If you do not give any fertilisers to it but put the pots between the large pots where satsuki or other trees are being planted, you can grow it. The right photo is Princess Hosta.




After pruning the satsuki trees in the nursery


Now I am 76 years old. And I think that I will have to give up growing all satsuki trees in the pots and the nursery in 10 years. Therefore I would like to make the trees in the nursery have the good shapes as soon as possible. When I was a professor at Kogakkan University, I intended to teach my students how to live as good men and women in the near future through the literature. And I have intended to grow good materials of satsuki trees in the nursery which will be completed as good bonsai by a lot of satsuki enthusiasts who will get some of them. At the same time I have intended to study a lot of techniques about satsuki trees by myself since I began to plant a lot of satsuki trees in the nursery about 28 years ago.

Since I do not have any good ideas of topics now, I would like to introduce a lot of the trees in the nursery which have some stories because I would like to show you good examples and experiences which I have had about growing the satsuki trees in the nursery.

My nursery consists of the satsuki trees which I bought when they were young and have grown from the cutting by myself. And about several years after I planted them there, about half of them died because I sprayed the strong herbicide around their bottoms of trunks. And I planted a lot of young trees there again. Therefore I have the trees which have very thick and thick trunks there.

Section 1. After pruning the trees which I bought


When some members of Ise satsuki society went to the satsuki bonsai shop in Sakai city, Osaka prefecture on January 15th 1997, I bought these 6 small satsuki trees which had considerably thick trunks. The price of each tree was 15,000 yen.

A. Hakurin A

Since this tree did not have any large scars and had a good shape, I dug it out on March 21st, 2014 and planted it in the bonsai pot. The height was 37 cm. The trunk girth was 38 cm. And now the former is 38 cm. The latter is 40cm.


B. Hakurin B, C and D

Though Hakurin B has some large scars, the style on the left photo is very good. The height is 41 cm. and the trunk girth is 45 cm. Though Hakurin C cannot be said to have a very good style on the middle photo, the nebari is good. The height is 37 cm. The trunk girth is 46 cm. Judging from the right photo of Hakurin D, we can see the tree taller than above trees are. But, the height is 32 cm and the trunk girth is 45cm.


C. Hakurin E and Korin A

The nebari of Hakurin E is bad. Therefore I planted a small sapling by the front bottom of trunk last year to make a root on the left photo. The middle photo ia a close-up of the bottom of this tree. The height is 35 cm and the trunk girth is 47 cm. Korin A on the right photo does not have a very good taper though it had very short height. And the branches are very thick. Therefore the style is not very good. The height is 41 cm and the trunk girth is 45 cm.

Judging from these measures, it is a clear fact that the trunk girt of Hakurin A is much less than other Hakurin. We can understand that it is the great damage to dig out a satsuki tree from the nursery, remove the soil, cut the roots short, wash the roots and plant a bonsai pot.


These are four of a lot of trees which I bought to plant them in the nursery at Takahashi engei in Kanuma in October 1990 and March 1991. Fortunately they continue to live though I sprayed the strong herbicide around their bottoms about 20 years ago.

D. Nikko A and B

When I bought Nikko A for 40,000 yen, the height was 30 cm and the trunk girth was 19 cm. Since I had not pruned it yet, I took some photos before and after I did it (the left photo and the middle photo). It has a good taper of trunk and does not have a lot of large scars. Therefore I would like to dig it up from the nursery and plant it in one of very large wooden pots in March. I think that this is one of the best satsuki trees in the nursery. The height is 48 cm and the trunk girth is 52 cm.

When I bought Nikko B for 40,000 yen, the height was 44 cm and the trunk girth was 19 cm. But since the part of top of this tree is not very good on the right photo, it does not seem that it has a very good taper. And I must not restyle it now and in the near future because I do not have a long time enough to succeed in doing it. But it may have a good taper of trunk in several years because the trunk will grow thicker than now. The height is 45 cm and the trunk girth is 54 cm.

E. Nikko C and D

Nikko C of the left photo has a small scare above the bottom of the right first branch. I bought it for ４0,000 yen and planted it in a very large terracotta pot in March,1991. The height was 30 cm and the trunk girth was 19 cm. Unfortunately I found the faeces of insect. And when I chipped a large hole with a small chisel, I found out a big worm in January1993.

Though I gave up growing it, I cut the trunk short, packed the large hole with Purashiru and repotted it in a wooden pot in January 1994. But since it grew thickly, I planted it in the nursery in December 1994. The height was 15 cm and the trunk girth was 20 cm. Since then I continued to cut the top short. Though the scar was very large, it is very small now and will disappear in two years. The height is 40 cm and the trunk girth is 54 cm.

Nikko D belongs to the large class of satsuki bonsai. Though the style and the taper of the trunk are very good on the right photo, the part of top is weak. Though this tree is not one of those that have the thickest trunks, I would like to dig it up from the nursery and plant it in one of very large wooden pots in March. If I do so, I will be able to look after it well. The height is 61 cm and the trunk girth is 46 cm.




When I went to a satsuki bonsai shop in Sakai city, Osaka prefecture with some members of Ise satsuki society in 1996, 1997 and 1998, I bought these small satsuki trees.

F. Hikari-no-tsukasa A, Kozan A and Sachi-no-hana A

When I bought this Hikari no tsukasa A for 25,000 yen in January 1996, the height was 28 cm and the trunk girth was 24 cm. Having planted it in a large terracotta pot, I planted it in the nursery in February 1998. Besides it had a large scar because the trunk had been cut short. And it has still a small scar which I think will disappear in two years. Therefore I have made it have a lot of branches so that it may be healed as soon as possible. But the style and the taper of the trunk are good on the left photo.

Though I bought this Kozan A for 10,000 yen, I do not have any records of the measures. Now the taper is very good but the style is not very good on the middle photo. And the nebari is not very good, neither. The height is 45 cm and the trunk girth is 50 cm.

When I bought this Sachi no hana A for 20,000 yen, the height was 20 cm and the trunk girth was 25 cm. Judging from the right photo, the style looks a little bit clumsy. It is because the right and left first branches are extremely thick and the bottom of trunk is lesser than a size which I would like to make it have. The height is 29 cm and the trunk girth is 53 cm.

G. Kozan-no-hikari

When I went to a satsuki bonsai shop in Osaka city on December 15th 1993, I bought this Kozan no hikari for 28,000. Though the height was more than 65 cm, the middle part of trunk did not have any necessary branches. Therefore I cut it very short and planted it in a large terracotta pot. The height was 18cm and the trunk girth 24 cm. Now the scar has been heeled perfectly. Though the nebari, taper and style are very good, some branches are extremely thick. The height is 33 cm and the trunk girth is 48 cm.

H. Kaho and Wakaebisu

Though I bought a lot of satsuki trees to plant them in the nursery in 1990, unfortunately all of Kaho and Wakaebisu died because I had sprayed the strong herbicide around their bottoms. Therefore I bought them in 1995 again. Now the style of Kaho is very good on the left photo. The height is 76 cm and the trunk girth is 44 cm.

Though the style of Wakaebisu is rather good, the left first branch is extremely low on the right photo. Since I was very busy in January and February about 20 years ago, I could not have any time to remove it from the trunk. Retiring from my university, I could not remove it from the trunk because it was extremely thick. The height is 74 cm and the trunk girth is 56 cm.


Section 2. After pruning the trees which I have grown from the cuttings

A. Korin B

After we had moved from Kobe city to Ise city 41 years ago, I broke a lot of saplings which I had grown from the cuttings when I wired them. And I sold them at the satsuki flower show after restyling them. But since I could not sell a considerable number of them, I grew them in the pots. I planted one of them in the nursery in 1990. It was Korin B. Though it had a few large scars, it had a good shape. Therefore I dug it out on March 21st, 2014 and planted it in the bonsai pot (the left and middle photos). The height was 52 cm and the trunk girth was 42 cm. Now the style is so good that I would like to complete it as bonsai in the near future. The height is 53 cm and the trunk girth 45 cm. And since this tree has the thickest trunk of the trees that I have grown from the cuttings, it is one of my favourites.

B. Nikko E, F, G and Nyohozan

We had to grow a lot of saplings to sell a lot of satsuki trees at the flower show which Ise satsuki society held. But since I could not sell a considerable number of them, I grew them in the pots. And I planted a considerable number of them which had good style in the nursery when I rebuilt it 18 years ago. But some of them are good and some of them are not good.. These trees of Nikko E, F and G, and Nyohozan have a good style now. But other several small trees are not the good materials as bonsai because some of them have large scars and the parts which are rotten in the trunks and do not have good tapers.

The height of Nikko E is 43 cm and the trunk girth is 36 cm (the left photo). The height of Nikko F is 33 cm and the trunk girth is 35 cm (the second photo). The height of Nikko G is 32 cm and the trunk girth is 40 cm (the third photo). The height of Nyohozan is 38 cm and the trunk girth is 36 cm. Since the distance between them is so narrow that I think that I have to dig them up as sooon as possible.



Section 3. In the progress of grafting


I have made a lot of cores of tops, branches and roots by grafting since about 30 years ago. Especially I have done so in the nursery since I retired from our university. Though I have more than two thirds of good results, sometimes I failed in doing so. Sometimes a crow broke the core of top. Sometimes the cores of tops which I had grafted had red flowers or did not have good colour arrangement. Sometimes I broke it. Sometimes the grafts died. But this case is one tenths.

A. Koun A and B

Since this tree of Koun A did not have any necessary branches on the right first branch, I grafted a long shoot on it two years ago. But when I pruned it (the left photo), since they did not unite completely, I painted the medicine on it and covered it with Cutpaster (the second photo). The height is 50cm and the trunk girth is 39 cm.

Since Korin B did not have the good roots on the front bottom of the trunk, I planted two saplings there about 5 years ago. Since I succeeded in grafting one of them, I cut the unnecessary part two years ago. But since I failed in grafting other, I planted the small one and another one (the third photo). The right photo is its close- up. The height is 61 cm and the trunk girth is 39 cm.

B. Shinnikko A and B

Though the top of Shinnikko A had not been large and had had only a small number of white flowers several years ago, two years later it had a lot of white flowers. Therefore I grafted some long shoots on the trunk to make a core of top and branches. And I succeeded in doing so. And now they grew thick. But though one of them grew thick, it did not unite the trunk last year. Therefore I tried to do so by cutting the scar thinly in the small chisel. And I grafted two long shoots on two branches to make the new branches which will not have any white flowers. And now I am keeping three long new shoots to make branches. And after seeing their flowers, I will try to do so. One of three long shoots is a security for my error. The left photo is the whole figure of this tree after pruning. The second one is the close-up. The height is 56 cm and the trunk girth is 44 cm.

The top of Shinnikko B does not have good colour arrangement. Pruning it, I saw a good branch there. If its flowers will have good colours, I would like to change the core of top for it. Therefore I am keeping it. The third photo is the whole figure of this tree after pruning. The right one is the close-up. The height is 57 cm and the trunk girth is 44 cm.


Section 4. Successful examples of grafting


Though I have a lot of successful examples of grafting, I would like to show only two specific ones of them.

A. Korin C

I had a plan to make a root of Korin C and heal the large scar which I had made by removing the rotten parts by some chisels and covering the carved parts with the underwater bond in 2008. But though the distance between the both sides of the scar was narrower than when I had made it, I was not sure that I would succeed in it perfectly. Therefore I planted the sapling in front of the bottom of the tree and grafted it on the trunk in March 2009 (the left photo). I showed the details of this grafting in my web site whose date was March 25th, 2017. And cutting the graft drastically in March 2017, the large parts of it united the trunk (the second photo).

The style is good after pruning in January 2019 (the third photo) and I thought that I succeeded in grafting after removing the unnecessary part of the graft (the fourth close-up photo). I am sure that it will be a perfect root in 3 years. But since it has a very large scar at the bottom of the trunk, now I do not think that it will grow very large as a good material for bonsai. The height is 64 cm and the trunk girth is 42 cm.


B. Hikari-no-tsukasa B

This Hikari no tsukasa B is one of the trees which I had grown from the cuttings to sell them at the flower show which Ise satsuki society held about 30 years ago. Since I could not sell it, I grew it in the pot. And I planted it which had good style in the nursery when I rebuilt it 18 years ago.

But since it did not have any necessary branches on the right first branch, I grafted two long shoots on it about 12 years ago. After they had united the branch completely, I grafted two long shoots on it again about 8 years ago because the small branches had died. Therefore you can see four parts of inarching on the left photo which was taken on March 5th, 2017. The surfaces of two of them are not smooth. I think it is because the cuts which I had made had not been deep or the grafts grew very thick.

Now the style of this tree is not bad after pruning in January on the middle photo. The height is 51 cm and the trunk girth is 36 cm. But when you see the right close- up photo, the trunk of the right first branch looks clumsy because all four parts of inarching have rather large bosses. If I would like to make them smooth, I have to chip the bosses away with a sharp knife or chisel. If this tree had continued to be planted in a pot, I think all of them might have been smooth though it is a problem whether it had any long shoots which were suitable for inarching or not.

C. Sachi-no-hana B and Nissho-no-hikari

Now I think I succeeded in making each branch of these trees by binding long shoots together. When pruning this Sachi no hana B in the nursery in 2008, fortunately I saw a long shoot coming from the bottom of other thin branch, and bound them by a wire. Since the wire had cut into the branches deeply, I removed it and bound them with a thicker wire again in February 2009. But seeing the left photo which was taken on March 24th, 2009, you can recognise that they do not finish uniting together.

Now the style of this tree, the arrangement of the branches and the taper of the trunk look well on the middle photo after pruning in January. The height is 56 cm and the trunk girth is 37 cm. When a lot of trees in the nursery died, I bought a lot of trees to plant them in the nursery again. This Sachi no hana B was one of them which were cheap. Therefore they do not have thicker trunk girth than 40 cm. And you can see a very thick branch which I made by binding two shoots together on the right close-up photo. It will be completed in two years.


When pruning this Nissho no hikari in the nursery in February 2014, fortunately I saw some shoots coming from the place where I had wanted a new shoot to come. And I chose four shoots which were suitable for making a branch by binding them by a wire and removed others. But since this wire was thin, you can see it cutting into them deeply on the left photo which was taken on February 7th, 2015.

This tree was given each of the members of Ise satsuki society so that we might show the flowers at the flower show about 25 years ago. Therefore we had to plant it in a terracotta pot. When I rebuilt the nursery 18 years ago, I planted it there. Though the style is good now, the trunk did not grow very thick on the middle photo which was taken after pruning in February. The height is 41 cm and the trunk girth is 30 cm.

But seeing the right close-up photo, you can recognise that they finished uniting together though the branch has not been completed yet. When a young satsuki trees has to grow very large, if it was planted in a pot for a long time, we cannot expect that it will grow very large even if it were planted in the nursery after having been planted in a pot for a long time. If you can understand this condition, you had better plant your young satsuki trees in the nursery or big wooden pots to make them large as soon as possible.





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