Wakaebisu azalea
- Thread starter Steve Kudela
- Start date
JudyB
Queen of the Nuts
Beautiful image. I agree with most about the shallow pot, I think it would enhance the tree to have a deeper pot.
Vin
Imperial Masterpiece
It also appears as though most of them are unglazed.
Steve Kudela
Shohin
Hey Don, it indeed has been in deeper pots in the past, and will indeed be in one again. One was a drum ,3 inches deep and before that a 4 inch deep rectangle. Thanks a million for your input! By the way , within the last several weeks, I saw one of yours.............would love to own that one! Don't recall the cultivar, I think it was nearly 4 feet in height.
Steve Kudela
Shohin
Hey Adair, thanks so much for taking the time to comment and the great info. Indeed many years ago this tree was one of 25 or 30 whips trained and developed by my great friend Duane Clayburn. It was around 10 years old at the time. Some shorter with more curves, tall with more pronounced curves, good variety overall. I wanted one with more upright form and gentle curves. Duane was a top flight propagator with a serious bent towards bonsai, all sorts of stuff. Very wide variety. Thinking back, I wish I'd have purchased more. There are a number of Satsuki's that I bought from him untrained and made my own whips. I may show one or two of those later. I took a break from working on one my Kogetsu to do these responses. Between Duane and a few other sources, I had collected 26 cultivars. I'm down to 9 now, with 7 for bonsai. Also ended up with 2 imports, Nikko and Kinsai, that several years later died. I HATED losing those two. They take a long time to develop. The Kogetsu I'm working on now is still in a grow container. Concerning the Wakaebisu, the plan is to allow the pads to get a little thicker from branch bottom to top of foliage, still want to maintain space though. I've always seen it that way. So I think we agree if I'm hearing you correctly. Just wish the trunk was an inch or so thicker. Will keep height and width the same, just thicken those pads a little more. With a number of places where the branches conceal parts of the trunk. In fact, if you notice, it's already happening. A nicely rounded top should finish it off. And a deeper pot! I've seen that large one that you posted, I dare say that it's an old garden tree that was lifted a put through the process. I've seen many of those over the years.........what an impact !! Even without blossoms. Thanks again Sir for your input!!!
Steve Kudela
Shohin
Thank you so much Miss Judy. I think we all agree, a deeper pot it is! It actually has been in deeper pots in the past.
Steve Kudela
Shohin
Steve Kudela
Shohin
What happened to my paragraphs?
Shima
Omono
True, but that being said, this one sure has lots of appeal, for me at least.
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
I find this to be true for most kinds of azalea and rhododendron. I interpret the reason to be that they don't cope well with the saturation zone at the bottom of a pot (i.e., a deeper pot gives a deeper unsaturated zone of substrate). If so, this would mean they need to be drier (i.e., use a coarser substrate, the shallower the pot). This might be because oxygen adsorption in the azalea/rhodo root matt is inherently 'difficult'.
M. Frary
Bonsai Godzilla
I'm in this camp. I have hawthorns. They are supposed to flower too. I could care less if a bloom ever shows itself. I would promptly pull it off for the health of the tree. Would worry it would suck too much energy setting my tree back.
The picture Adair showed and others Ive seen of the flowering mounds of azalea always reminds me of the Kentucky Derby for some odd reason.
That being said I applaud the people that work so hard on these trees and worry about the flower power. And like Adair pointed out even in Japan some don't grow these for flowers but the tree. @Don Blackmond has a couple of these very azaleas on his website I think.
Don Blackmond
Omono
Definitely not drier. Its the need for cooler, moist roots.
You can grow them in shallow pots. I do too. Most of the show trees in shallow pots are in shallow pots just for the show and not for daily living.
Don Blackmond
Omono
I can't think of too many situations where intolerance is fashionable.
Steve Kudela
Shohin
I've heard that in the past. One of the reasons I've heard is that they are too easy. I haven't found that to be the case. I don't know how things are currently as I'm fairly far removed from mainstream bonsai, but I think that purism is limiting. I personally don't care what it is as long as it is a well executed design. I think that for American bonsai to prosper and come into it's own, that sort of thinking will have to go out the door. I don't know, just my thoughts about it. Not to make a big deal of it.
Oh, I'm not suggesting that we need to segregate ourselves bonsai on one side vs satsuki on the other. No, I just mention it because they do seem to do so in Japan.
Here's a bit of a story:
In January 2015, I had the good fortune to spend two weeks at Boon's. I did the Winter 3 Intensive (Advanced Potting) one week, and Winter 4 (Show Prep and Display) the next. Over the weekend I did some Boon workshops, and an azalea workshop with Rick Garcia. He only does azalea. Rick has spent considerable time with azalea experts and studied azalea in Japan. Anyway, I got a private lesson. And got to keep the tree, which I took back to Boon's.
Diasaku Nomoto, Boon's Senior, visits Boon during January to help with show prep. I walked in with the tree, and Diasaku saw it ( a trunk with sticks for branches after the hard cutbacks) and said, "Ah, azalea!" So I asked him if I had done a good job on the tree? He said he didn't know, he doesn't do azalea! Boon laughed and said, yes, Daisaku doesn't know azalea cultivation, but he, Boon, does. It was an imported tree, and still had the Japanese label on it. Daisaku saw that, read it, goes over to his briefcase, and whipped out a little satsuki handbook that lists and has pictures of all the varieties! In Japanese, of course! Diasaku brings it with him when he visits because many of Boon's clients have azalea. But, seriously, he never works on them in Japan. And he's a Kokufu-ten winning Master!
Daisaku is also on the Biard of Directirs of the Nippon Shohin Association. Really knows how to display shohin. He says it's nice, if you can, to have a flowering tree inside the box stand, if you can. So, I asked, "like azalea?" Daisaku looked shocked and and said, "No! No azalea! Anything but azalea!"
So, there you have it! That's Japan. Not saying we have to do it that way, but that's the way it is there.
Harunobu
Chumono
It is an independent tradition that has become intertwined with bonsai.
Steve Kudela
Shohin
Oh it's absolutely fine if they do it that way. All I'm really saying is that if you like it, grow it. Don't neglect something because someone else has told you not to like it. But, I do understand about tradition and would only say that it's perfectly O.K. with me! Best.....SK
Cadillactaste
Neagari Gal
Egads! They are grown for their blooms...$6,000 cuttings are worthless if one desecrated the mother tree. I guess...I'm a premature grandma...azalea when in bloom are lovely...a rare special treat on one's bench. Thus why they do showings of only azaleas as well is my thinking.
Cadillactaste
Neagari Gal
Curious if it's because of the rules being bent to a degree to to allow a tanky tree to showcase the blooms.
