Satsuki, bonsai ou pas bonsai ?

Toche

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Climate:

The climate is an important thing.
Knowing the climatic conditions of the species you want to grow is a major key to success.
To help you, here is a comparison from north to south between 3 Japanese cities and 3 cities of our country (France-Belgium)
These readings are averages.


Rainfall:

1pluvio.jpg


Temperatures :

2températures.jpg


Basically, we can say that it rains more in Japan than in Liège, but that it is warmer than in Marseille.

Now, the same averages on Yakushima island in the extreme South of Japan.


a-Yakushima.jpg

Isn't it amazing?



An average temperature of 5° more than in Marseille.
To give you an idea, the temperature difference is higher between Yakushima and Marseille than between Brussels and Marseille.



And what about the rainfall ?
It rains 5 times more in Yakushima than in Brussels.
4000 liters per square meter per year, it's huge.

A search for pictures of this island shows us some images that tell us a lot about the humidity that reigns on this region.


yakushima 1.jpg


yakushima 2.JPG


yakushima 3.jpg


Forgive me if I was a bit long, but it's important to understand this climate, it will help to better understand the needs of satsuki.



The rest is coming. ;)
 

Toche

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- How many varieties have we counted?
- Are they all suitable for bonsai?
- Which ones are the most appropriate ... and why?

There are currently about 3400 varieties of satsuki and each year there are between 20 and 40 new varieties

All Japanese azaleas can be worked in bonsai, but none of them will be able to compete with satsuki, because these azaleas have a great advantage for us bonsaika, it is to form an impressive nebari and to react wonderfully well to the size by branching much more easily than any other variety.
So, why complicate your life? Let's work on the satsuki and keep the others for garden or home decoration.

What about the Japanese azaleas found in garden centers called "Azaleae japonica/Rhododendron indicum"?
Many people think that Rhododendron indicum and Azalea Indica are the same plant, but this is a mistake.
Rhododendron indicum and the Indian Azalea (or Azalea Indica) have nothing to do with each other, they are two different plants.
The Azalea Indica (Indian Azalea) which is also called Belgian Azalea is in fact the Rhododendron simsii and not indicum,
R. simsii is an azalea of the Tsutsusi section that has been used as a parent to produce the "popular pot". It grows mainly in Burma, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Laos, Thailand and the southern part of Japan.

''Information of Rhododendron Handbook 1998 by R.H.S. ''

R. indicum also belongs to the Tsutsusi section. It is an azalea native to Japan where it is widely cultivated. Rhododendron Handbook 1998 by R.H.S.

In his book "The encyclopedia of Rhododendron Species" Cox writes that R. simsii has been called R. indicum var. formosanum and var. ignescens. Perhaps this is where the confusion comes from?
He adds that R. simsii is best known as the main parent of the common azalea or "Indica".
He even specifies in brackets "misnomer".
As for R. indicum it is one of the parents of the Satsuki hybrids.
He underlines that this species should not be confused with the "Indica" azaleas commonly sold as houseplants. .

End :D
 

Glaucus

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Hmm, somehow I never saw this thread.

Tsutsuji.

Those are all meika satsuki. Not tsutsuji.

Not sure if your maruba/R.tamurae/R.eriocarpum picture is correct. I believe I have seen this picture as well. But this is a correct one for sure:
1706643893671.jpeg
1706643879059.png



SA which means five and TSUKI which means moon.

The Sa 皐 does not mean 'five'. There are two names for this month in the Japanese calender. The traditional name is 皐月. The newer more common name is 五月. 五 does mean 5. But it is more commonly pronounced as gogatsu. The new name literally means 'fifth month'. The old name is the 'fifth month' but it doesn't mean this. Even though they are both pronounced 'satsuki'. The 'sa' comes from the older name of this month, namely 'rice-planting month'. That is the literal meaning. And sa comes from Sanaetsuki (早苗月) where 早苗 is early rice seedling. Somehow this was bastardized into 皐. Probably because it has the same sound. But the meaning of the kanji 皐 (swamp/shore) has really no connection to any of this.
 
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Juanmi

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On the japanese Wikipedia page for Satsuki サツキ (皐月) it says that it's also called Satsuki Tsutsuji サツキツツジ(皐月躑躅)
So I guess this makes things even more confusing..... 🤣
 

Glaucus

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Ooh, it is more confusing than that.


Ericales is ツツジ目 in Japanese
Ericaceae is ツツジ科
Rhododendron is ツツジ属

Then all species in the genus of rhododendron are called some sort of ツツジ. They are all tsutsuji. Except for a few large-leaf rhododendron. Those are called Shakunage / シャクナゲ. All azaleas and dwarf rhody's are all tsutsuji.
 

Juanmi

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Ooh, it is more confusing than that.


Ericales is ツツジ目 in Japanese
Ericaceae is ツツジ科
Rhododendron is ツツジ属

Then all species in the genus of rhododendron are called some sort of ツツジ. They are all tsutsuji. Except for a few large-leaf rhododendron. Those are called Shakunage / シャクナゲ. All azaleas and dwarf rhody's are all tsutsuji.
Goddammit.... LoL

If I'm not wrong for the Rhododendron Simsii they went simple, just アザレア... oh, but I see they also call it ツツジ something....

ツツジ科 or ツツジ属 as you said

(Edit : sorry, those are the species, they also call it 西洋ツツジ or オランダツツジ  so Western Rhododendron or Holland Rhododendron)

(I have a list of the japanese names of all the species I own because I'd like to make japanese tags in the future.)
 
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Glaucus

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アザレア is literally 'azalea' and it means the Belgian Indica cultivar specifically. It means 'western azalea' in a way. Some Japanese will naturally use アザレア for any western-origin azalea cultivar. Belgian indica are often referred to as Rhododendron simsii. In the same way as satsuki are often referred to as Rhododendron indicum. But Belgian indica are much much different from wild-type Rhododendron simsii. Belgian indica look nothing like the brick red R.simsii. And there's way more different genetics in Belgian indica. It is much more complicated than satsuki, to be honest.
 
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