Deciduous Azalea Assistance - Case Study

[FreshAirSunshine]

Hello All,

I’m new to the bonsai world and have decided to start my journey focusing in on a single type - Azaleas. I wanted to be able to tailor my supply purchases and reading to basics and a single application. Of course, I then decided to get both deciduous and evergreen varietals instead of the standard evergreen. I’ve gone through several posts on the topic but wanted a post focused on a deciduous azalea I felt I wanted to work with:



varietal: Golden Lights

Pot: training (14” x 10.5”) - too small but biggest I had and beneath the yamagoke there’s actually a fair bit of thicker exposed root I could bare later.

soil: 30/70 yamagoke moss/kanuma (calibonsai - fine). Top: layer of 1-3 mm kanuma (tiny roots) then yamagoke.

Zone: 5B

Removed a few large branches and coated with cut paste - no additional defoliation. No root thinning save what occurred trying to remove nursery soil and get into kanuma.

likes: trunk/nabari/bare root potential.

concerns: large leaves and long internodes of deciduous azalea.

Plan: maybe two-trunk tree? It looks like the trunk was formed by fusion of two plants and I can see two central branch clusters that might be able to be grown into trunks

Any advice for the next couple years work or knowledge of how to miniaturize the leaves (when regrowing in spring defoliate 1-2 times maybe?) would be particularly appreciated!

 

[Ugo]

Hi!

Just wondering where you're located as Im also from Zone 5b.

I dont have much knowledge about Northen lights azalea but I know they are winter hardy and can tolerate full sun.

For the leaves there's not much you can do..
More branches on the tree egal more leaves so the tree spend more energy building the canopy so it can produce smaller leaves but that work to a certain extend, so yes the leaves can become smaller but dont expect to see the size of satsuki azalea for example.

For the initial styling maybe a clump style would do? I suggest you have a clear idea of the future design before touching anything. Maybe try to draw your final result with different styles and choose from there?

 

[FreshAirSunshine]

I’m in eastern MA in the US. Yeah I figure if I can halve the leave length I’d be quite happy with that. It’s not a satsuki or even evergreen at all so I have no plans to try to imitate one - it’d just be a poor imitation and sort of an insult to the actual plant. The sketch idea isn’t a bad one - I’ll give that a go. I have all fall and winter to consider any new directions for spring. Thanks!

 

[Paradox]

I’m in eastern MA in the US. Yeah I figure if I can halve the leave length I’d be quite happy with that. It’s not a satsuki or even evergreen at all so I have no plans to try to imitate one - it’d just be a poor imitation and sort of an insult to the actual plant. The sketch idea isn’t a bad one - I’ll give that a go. I have all fall and winter to consider any new directions for spring. Thanks!

Please put your location on your profile so we dont have to repeatedly ask you hwere in the world you are.
These guys are pretty knowledgeable about azalea and probably could give you good advice
@Deep Sea Diver
@Pitoon

 

[FreshAirSunshine]

Ah I didn’t realize that was an option - I’ll update.

Should be listed now.