Encore Azalea

[dlayton]

Any one ever tried this as bonsai? If so, which variety is best. Multiple blooms a year have to to be gorgeous!

 

[Pitoon]

Any one ever tried this as bonsai? If so, which variety is best. Multiple blooms a year have to to be gorgeous!

The leaves and flowers are pretty large. You can train them as bonsai, but they would need to be on the bigger side to look proportional.

Also legally you cannot propagate them until their patent expires which is 20yrs from when the patent was applied for that specific cultivar.

 

[dlayton]

The leaves and flowers are pretty large. You can train them as bonsai, but they would need to be on the bigger side to look proportional.

Also legally you cannot propagate them until their patent expires which is 20yrs from when the patent was applied for that specific cultivar.

A friend of mine owns a large wholesale nursery and he has every different color and kind imaginable. I was just wondering if anyone every tried it.

not worried about propagation. My skills ain’t there yet!

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Good leaves wise and good compact habit that gets it in the realm of many Satsukis from the get go, I’d recommend Autumn Belle. I’d avoid Autumn Twist. See below
Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Jzack605]

LOL at the propagation police

 

[dlayton]

LOL at the propagation police

Hehe

 

[JonW]

I have a Dauntless in my landscaping. The "reblooming" thing got me interested, but they aren't covered in flowers all year like (reblooming) hydrangeas or the first flush that typical rhodies get - they have a main flush that might not be quite as full as other azaleas and a smaller fall flush, then a few flowers through the summer. It has bigger leaves than some other commercially available landscaping plants, such as Hino Crimson. As far as landscape plants, I tend to prefer Purple Gem and Ramapo rhodies over azaleas, but both are really nice. Regardless, I'm sure you'll enjoy the extra flowers you get from one of the Encore series.

 

[Srt8madness]

Bit of a necrobump here but...

I recently got a "large" satsuki (two in one pot actually), and I wasn't really impressed with the leaf size. I picked up two dwarf Encore varieties after, who's leaves are already smaller than the satsuki. Have a random one I got at a grocery store with small leaves and nice small blooms as well.

As flowering takes a lot of the energy, what if I were to pinch the buds for all of the blooms except once per year? Would that be sufficient to keep the stress of multiple blooms off the plant, if done quickly as the buds are formed?

I'm planning on cutting all back, Satsuki and Encore, after Spring bloom to encourage back buds and more compact growth.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Hello and welcome aboard BonsaiNut!

Please enter your location and USDA zone equivalent by double tapping your icon and entering this data. This way we can tailor our advice to your location. Better still, you might connent with another bonsai person in your vicinity.

Encores rebloom, most satsuki’s don’t, so cutting after blooming for the satsukis is standard practice. There are many variations on after flowering pruning depending on the age, stage and one‘s goals. This is beyond this reply, but there are plenty of resources Bonsai Focus 3.2016 has an article on this topic.

If you remove the buds totally in early spring for two years and then let these bloom the third you could follow the basic Japanese method =

Full Bloom 1st year -
Prune -
Repot -
repeat cycle.

The grocery azalea is likely something else unless it’s labeled as such. However treat it like a satsuki and see what happens.

Encores rebloom. Pruning after first bloom, which is the heaviest bloom will divert the energy to growth for the rest of the year. I’ve done this procedure to our Encores (7) and got a hefty, lanky, grow out and pruned the growth back in Mid July and each Encore pushed solid growth again.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[TN_Jim]

you also have to keep them in an Encore pot

 

[Srt8madness]

LOL! Is that right up there with the ban on propagation?

 

[Srt8madness]

Hello and welcome aboard BonsaiNut!

Please enter your location and USDA zone equivalent by double tapping your icon and entering this data. This way we can tailor our advice to your location. Better still, you might connent with another bonsai person in your vicinity.

Encores rebloom, most satsuki’s don’t, so cutting after blooming for the satsukis is standard practice. There are many variations on after flowering pruning depending on the age, stage and one‘s goals. This is beyond this reply, but there are plenty of resources Bonsai Focus 3.2016 has an article on this topic.

If you remove the buds totally in early spring for two years and then let these bloom the third you could follow the basic Japanese method =

Full Bloom 1st year -
Prune -
Repot -
repeat cycle.

The grocery azalea is likely something else unless it’s labeled as such. However treat it like a satsuki and see what happens.

Encores rebloom. Pruning after first bloom, which is the heaviest bloom will divert the energy to growth for the rest of the year. I’ve done this procedure to our Encores (7) and got a hefty, lanky, grow out and pruned the growth back in Mid July and each Encore pushed solid growth again.

cheers
DSD sends

Wow, much more thorough reply than I was expecting, thanks! Looking up that bonsai focus now. Will add some pics cause well, it's no fun without them.

 

[Srt8madness]

Encore pink. Biggest leaves .5"wide

 

[Srt8madness]

Encore white and scraggly grocery find with small blooms.

 

[Srt8madness]

Satsuki. Not sure if I should A. Cut back in Spring or B. Separate into 2 plants in spring and cut back 2023.
Biggest Satsuki leaves are .75"wide x 1.5" long. Larger than the encores. Got the plant in the pot about 10 days ago from online retailer.