Kiwi’s azaleas - future bonsai

KiwiPlantGuy

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Hi all,
I thought I would start a thread to document the azaleas I have bought. I am unsure whether many or just a few of them will be good bonsai trees in the future. The large majority of the cultivars are Kurume, with a small number of Satsuki, and a few with Kurume parentage but not strictly that.
I will see how many thumbnails I can upload, but this initial start to the thread might be a few posts long. Where I can I will add a name if not obvious from the photo, and as it is starting Fall/Autumn here and pouring with rain I thought it would be nice 👍.
Lastly you will notice that I have these in colanders. Yes, they don’t need to be in colanders, but I was having trouble with my preferred mix getting wet and cold, so instead of changing my mix, I changed the pots and am pleased with the baby plants growth.
91ACF63D-48E5-472C-9EAF-1CED7241994B.jpeg660C66EE-F80C-43FF-9239-819D22082492.jpegPax
EC3BF3EB-8697-4816-A096-E8D252E3CD40.jpeg659D0E8A-F549-4BDE-AE21-695D61A06710.jpegPurple Glitters0CE9FDAF-A99E-4734-A314-2ABF93E91E6D.jpeg47830B95-8BC6-40FC-80C8-239FB0431BB5.jpeg
7EDCB8A8-B2E1-4B93-A210-5CF4F9181807.jpeg2423DFF8-2BFC-45F3-BC6A-D3D9CC25057E.jpeg9A6949C7-19AE-40CE-AA10-831D3CE5EFCD.jpegRed Glitters3641471A-864A-4A31-A9B6-2D4C1EE42266.jpegSherwood Red
 

KiwiPlantGuy

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More - D0A46824-8BC4-4E5A-A3A4-E3FB0B4ED383.jpeg01CF0EA5-859B-4965-95CE-A5D669E0E4B9.jpegleft Komo Kulshan and Cherry Delight
74796F43-A0D3-4E7B-990B-6BA69B142259.jpeg7B98CC90-902C-4B56-A570-A1261C132AFA.jpegShow Girl and Ho-O
This last Kurume flowers 6 weeks after the first one with is nice for a longer season.
Next is a few Satsuki -
2A562DBC-3252-41F0-9280-D0B706C934C6.jpeg60A8CA7D-26E1-4F46-BAD9-D249198038B6.jpegPink Gumpo and White Gumpo
F819E154-F5EB-4DB3-97F9-AAD3CC0738CE.jpeg3BFAFB5D-6DD6-4062-B549-C01EC9A2896D.jpegBetty Ann Voss and Chinzan
12F3C5F0-5F3A-49FB-A7D1-97111A030370.jpeg374D2804-361B-44A7-9D45-2B698EDB0C21.jpegNancy of Robin Hill and Nuccios Wild Cherry.
Although Chinzan and the Gumpo’s are strictly the only Satsukis - The Robin Hill hybrids are from Satsuki parentage and flower subsequently later than the Kurumes.
Lastly my excitement for Satsukis took a great turn this last Spring as a member of my bonsai club has a huge interest in Satsuki over the last 25 years and she took me to a local public gardens where they planted all types of azaleas including lots of Satsuki. With that I have propagated hopefully about 20-25 cultivars - yet to be labelled in their pots but she has assured me that she has an extensive word doc created by a previous gardener there who had them all named.
More photos to come over the next year or three 👍😁👌.
Edit- I have just seen that in the thumbnails you can read the labels. I will try and edit but if not I can write a list on another post from the top down.
Charles
 
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KiwiPlantGuy

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Page 4.D472C84E-ED8F-4CC2-AD6B-2EF85AEF498F.jpegStarburst
E024A902-4EF0-4F78-80FD-539E7A19F45D.jpegAsawa
90DDB65C-5C8D-49E8-80B2-7C5402DD56BF.jpegPrincess MaudC115FAC0-7798-496F-8E13-93DFF512821A.jpegScarlet Prince


So, a list from the photos for those interested. As you can see I tried to edit and got the last page done.
Page 1.
Kocho-no-mai
Pax
Hino-de-giri
Purple Glitters
Kirin
Myagino
Extrante
Amoena
Red Glitters
Sherwood Red

Page 2.
Peach Kirin
Clarissa
Paradise Radiance
Jewel Box
Paradise Bit O Sunshine
Blauws Pink
High Sierra
Paradise Elfin
Wards Ruby
Addy Wery

Page 3.
Yep, got that page labelled. And page 4, go me.

Oh, sh#t, I have got Clarissa and Show Girl round the wrong way, as Clarissa flowers about 7-10 days after Show girl.

It seems like an importer here in NZ visited Nuccio’s nursery in CA, as I have found quite a few of mine listed there

Also, like always, some were shy and didn’t flower, so I wait til next Spring and show some more.
Charles
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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I really like 'Elfin' it will make really sweet bonsai. The fairly small flowers will be in better scale with medium to small bonsai than some of the larger flowered Satsuki.

All are beautiful.
But you are in Chile, this should be your autumn? Why are they all in bloom now? Or were they just imported and not had time to adjust their internal clocks to "south of the equator time".
 

KiwiPlantGuy

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I really like 'Elfin' it will make really sweet bonsai. The fairly small flowers will be in better scale with medium to small bonsai than some of the larger flowered Satsuki.

All are beautiful.
But you are in Chile, this should be your autumn? Why are they all in bloom now? Or were they just imported and not had time to adjust their internal clocks to "south of the equator time".

Hi Leo,
Am in NZ, and yep Autumn here.
Sorry to confuse you but I took these photos back in Oct/Nov, and sourced locally. I was going to start a thread then but Spring got in the way, and so on.
I talked with you a while back about my soil mix of Pumice, Zeolite, and Pine Bark chunks. This seems to be going really well and I am enjoying their flowers and growth for 1-3 year olds. Also learning how this basal dominance works as I am chicken at pruning too much off, then I get even more growth down low!!
Hope all is well with the virus and life,
Charles
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Thanks Charles,
I understand, so the photos are several months old. That makes sense. I do remember our conversation. Glad it is working for you. Beautiful flowers. What I love about azalea is every year they get better. Initially the flower show is the "pay off". As they age, the tree becomes better and better.
 

KiwiPlantGuy

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Just thought I would add a few Satsuki flowers from my garden expedition this time last year. I removed the flower buds on most of them when potting on, but these few have slipped through which is a nice surprise.
6E91E81E-A062-40F7-9495-40024DBCCA2F.jpeg560F4E2E-BF53-457F-9A0B-A979D0F38637.jpeg
5D43E07A-EA2C-4FE7-A70A-6FD3FE89107A.jpeg
I am thinking they might all be from the same plant I took the cuttings from. But over 300 cuttings and numerous plastic bags I don’t know. All fun to add to my azalea bonsai journey.
Charles
 

Glaucus

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Hmm, I am wondering if it is time to wire the branches in place more stylistically, and focus on developing foliage pads. These kurume do not like to bud on the trunk without a hard prune.
So I think on most you probably want to go for a thin elegant trunk design. Some of them have the branches in the right place and some curves to them.

Or maybe you like to keep them more low mantainance and casual the way they are right now. Just letting them grow the way they do right now, slowly maturing over the years, and throwing flowers every spring, that seems like a fine state for them to be in as well. The one in the wooden crate looks pretty fine without any stylized work.
 

KiwiPlantGuy

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Hmm, I am wondering if it is time to wire the branches in place more stylistically, and focus on developing foliage pads. These kurume do not like to bud on the trunk without a hard prune.
So I think on most you probably want to go for a thin elegant trunk design. Some of them have the branches in the right place and some curves to them.

Or maybe you like to keep them more low mantainance and casual the way they are right now. Just letting them grow the way they do right now, slowly maturing over the years, and throwing flowers every spring, that seems like a fine state for them to be in as well. The one in the wooden crate looks pretty fine without any stylized work.
Hi,
Thank you for your comments re styling/stylising. Yeah I do battle the time to put into bonsai and probably need to almost restart some of these with better branch placement etc. And about 10 of these I need to wire and train more full on as bonsai as most of these have crappy growing habit.
I kind of use these azaleas as my reward as all my other bonsai/prebonsai are years off being any good. Also I have learned the hard way that Kurume are not as flexible as Satsuki, well my wiring skills need improving also. So maybe a more grow/clip/grow kind of deal at this stage.
Charles.
 

Glaucus

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Ah satsuki! So you do have a few now. Are you struggling a bit with petal blight? Or is it just the weather?
 

KiwiPlantGuy

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Hi,
Not sure what you mean. There are a few tatty old flowers I didn’t remove before the photos I took. These are at work as I kind of got a few. Probably too many -
D83DE2C9-88EF-4B8C-AD76-885BD59DBCB7.jpeg
Also the overhead irrigation is going most nights.
Charles
 
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