Andrew Robson
Shohin
This is my small literati/mother daughter satsuki azalea. I purchased this from Dave Kreutz as a 3-year-old imported whip in 2008. The whip came in a small 4x4x8 inch plastic pot. I knew I wanted to make a literati/mother daughter design at the time because Dave was showing me Japanese satsuki show books, and there were lots of trees in this style.
So I wired some movement in my whip so it wasn't growing straight up, and cut all the lower branches except for one to be the daughter. In spring of 2009 I potted this into a big plastic pot with 100% large sized kanuma and a small layer of yamagoki moss on top. I let the tree grow for several years, letting it grow out and cutting back when needed. In fall of 2011 I did some wiring to set the main branches of the mother tree, and put movement into the daughter tree. I repotted it in Spring of 2012 into a tokonome training pot, since I was starting to get satisfied with the thickness of the trunk.
When I got the tree as a whip, the trunk size was smaller than the thickness of a pencil. After growing it in 100% large-sized kanuma (with a layer of yamagoki) in a grow pot, and by not letting it flower, the trunk got to be as thick as my ring finger in the 3 years it had been developing it.
The earliest photo I have from this tree is the first time I let it flower in my training, which was 2013. Photos 1 and 2 were taken in May 2013 while the tree flowered for the first time in my care. Photo 3 was taken the same day after I removed all the flowers. Photo 4 was taken in the fall of 2013, before fall work was done.
The tree grew a couple more years, and some more wiring was done. In March of 2015 (this year), the tree was repotted into a Sonny Boggs pot, shown in photo 5. I was very happy with how the tree was progressing, and wanted to get it into a beautiful looking pot so I can start getting it ready to show in a couple years. The pot that its in isn't the show pot, its too deep for a show pot, but its the right sized diameter of a pot that I'm looking for to show it in.
I should add, the tree is now about as thick as my thumb at the base.
So I wired some movement in my whip so it wasn't growing straight up, and cut all the lower branches except for one to be the daughter. In spring of 2009 I potted this into a big plastic pot with 100% large sized kanuma and a small layer of yamagoki moss on top. I let the tree grow for several years, letting it grow out and cutting back when needed. In fall of 2011 I did some wiring to set the main branches of the mother tree, and put movement into the daughter tree. I repotted it in Spring of 2012 into a tokonome training pot, since I was starting to get satisfied with the thickness of the trunk.
When I got the tree as a whip, the trunk size was smaller than the thickness of a pencil. After growing it in 100% large-sized kanuma (with a layer of yamagoki) in a grow pot, and by not letting it flower, the trunk got to be as thick as my ring finger in the 3 years it had been developing it.
The earliest photo I have from this tree is the first time I let it flower in my training, which was 2013. Photos 1 and 2 were taken in May 2013 while the tree flowered for the first time in my care. Photo 3 was taken the same day after I removed all the flowers. Photo 4 was taken in the fall of 2013, before fall work was done.
The tree grew a couple more years, and some more wiring was done. In March of 2015 (this year), the tree was repotted into a Sonny Boggs pot, shown in photo 5. I was very happy with how the tree was progressing, and wanted to get it into a beautiful looking pot so I can start getting it ready to show in a couple years. The pot that its in isn't the show pot, its too deep for a show pot, but its the right sized diameter of a pot that I'm looking for to show it in.
I should add, the tree is now about as thick as my thumb at the base.
