Windswept Azalea

[Erndogy]

I just re-potted my windswept azalea this week. Unfortunately I only got a couple of very bad looking phone camera(with a cracked lens) shots of it when it was in flower in April. I had left the watering to someone who shall remain nameless--- my mother in law. And she skipped a couple days during our first mini heatwave. So the flowers took a hit.




Here it is right before the re-pot.



I acquired it last year after it had flowered and didn't even know what color flowers it put out because the nursery man couldn't remember. I put it in a bonsai pot in July of last year and used a lava, pumice, turface and 50% palm potting soil mix. The roots got so dense since then that unless I soaked it wouldn't get watered very well because the water would take a long time to penetrate the soil. So I guess it wasn't all my mother in laws fault...




When I put it in a bonsai pot last year I cut a lot of roots and the trunk went down pretty deep. I cut more than 3" of trunk/tap root. The new roots grew in so good that I couldn't even see where I had cut it last year.

 

[Erndogy]

I ended up cleaning up some of the original soil it still had from when I got it. I was too afraid to mess any further with the roots after realizing how much I had already taken off.




I decided to pot it up in a wider pot with 100% kanuma after seeing Brians azalea post. I had to drill a bigger hole in the pot as well as 4 new small holes for the wires.





Here it is in the pot.

 

[Erndogy]

My little helpers were eager to help me fill and tamp down the new soil





All I did was clean up the trunk and remove a couple unwanted branches and remove the old flowers.





I'm sorry for the bad photography.

I'm still not sure whether I want to remove the lower branch. It touches the top one so for now I have it wired down. I put a lot of wire on that branch also to keep branches from crossing each other.


Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

Ernie

 

[Victrinia Ridgeway]

Your kids are crazy cute!

The visual point where the two sub-trunks meet is not ideal, but I like the tree overall very much. I find myself hoping you'll get some back budding in the first third of the lower sub-trunk so you can have a more angular transition that won't visually run into the higher sub-trunk. Plus the development of a new branch structure would likely come in with a harder angle to mimic the other. I'd also treat it more like penjing... As inspiration for Lingnan style I found this image on the internet.



Note the repetitive nature of the movement, as well as the spacing of the structure. It has an evenness that is pleasing to the eye that is both intentional and yet not overtly so. Lingnan favors an angular feeling that is well suited to any attempt at wind swept design.

Thanks for sharing your process and your children.

Kindly,

Victrinia

 

[Erndogy]

Your kids are crazy cute!

I'm a little biased but I think they are too and had to post them. Thank you....

The visual point where the two sub-trunks meet is not ideal, but I like the tree overall very much. I find myself hoping you'll get some back budding in the first third of the lower sub-trunk so you can have a more angular transition that won't visually run into the higher sub-trunk. Plus the development of a new branch structure would likely come in with a harder angle to mimic the other. I'd also treat it more like penjing... As inspiration for Lingnan style I found this image on the internet.

View attachment 36893

Note the repetitive nature of the movement, as well as the spacing of the structure. It has an evenness that is pleasing to the eye that is both intentional and yet not overtly so. Lingnan favors an angular feeling that is well suited to any attempt at wind swept design.

Thanks for sharing your process and your children.

Kindly,

Victrinia

I agree that it is not ideal. I see what you mean about back budding on the first third of the lower sub-trunk. Maybe I should have put more thought into developing the one branch I did get there instead of cutting it off. That's exactly what it needs is a harder angular form.

I read somewhere, maybe in one of my books, that in order to encourage back budding on azalea, new growth would have to be removed and sacrifice next seasons blooms. I did some of that when I last re-potted it but I did not get very much back budding. I did get some suckers and buds on the main trunk but I also didn't fertilize it on a regular basis and watering was problem. I am planning on some heavy fertilizing this time around and with the new soil hopefully less watering issues.

Thank you for taking the time to provide the visual and the explanation. It gives me a better understanding of what I need to do to improve it.

Ernie