Name the variety

[Damian Bee]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It's time again for that irritating and compelling challenge, irritating for those who aren't all that interested in Azalea and compelling for those who are.

IT'S TIME FOR "NAME THAT VARIETY EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

Some hints,

Yes it is a Satsuki
Yes it does throw occasional selfs and firecrackers
It is a medium in growth rate
The flower is on 50-60mm average in size
The leaf is on 25-30mm x 10-12mm average in size

Your time starts............NOW

[nealweb]

wouldn't have a clue. Izayoi???

[Damian Bee]

Starts with a G........

[Gerard]

Gumpo?

[Pup]

Gyoten

[akaruhi]

Hello everyone,

Frequently the nurseries call any large flowered Satsuki, that they have lost the label for, Gunpo ( sometimes Gumpo ).

Gunpo has medium sized flowers with very frilly edges to the petals but small leaves - that can help in trying to establish something in the way of a name.

This one is a bit like Gyokushin and if you have found one somewhere then you are lucky as I haven't seen it anywhere in Australia so far.
Godaishu has a simpler medium flower and is a little less purplish in the pink.

Another factor that affects the flower variation is which branch the cuttings have been taken from. Often the branch with flowers like the other Gunpo shown in this flowering section from Aussie4bonsai are the ones that limit the variation possible with a variety. Yes it gets very complicated. The one shown doesn't look like a normal Gunpo although it looks nice enough.

So I am afraid you have no guarantees on the naming of a variety in Australia at all. Where I know that I have an important variety and can not name it accurately I go back to friends in Japan and ask them.. That way I get closer to the truth.
But even then there are pitfalls.

Akaruhi

PS I'll put some of my Satsuki up soon for you to have a look at.

[Damian Bee]

In the theme of Millionare hotseat, Ok Arthur, are we sticking with option A, B or C?

Ok enough of the irritating stuff, on good authority that the variety is indeed Gyo Kushin (nodding jewel)

Congrats Arthur

[nealweb]

Haha, well done Arthur ( do we have a smarta--- emoticon yet )

I've been waiting to see the outcome of this fun little competition because I have something very similar. Its another that I got recently with no name tag and I thought it was the same but it actaully looks just a shade pinker. It did open very white but seems to have deepened in colour a little. Its very similar though. I think the camera might make some of the close ups look a touch pinker than they are. If you see this can you look at these pics too Arthur.
Thankyou...

[akaruhi]

Hello,
I think you have Takasago Neal. Commonly referred to as "light purple Satsuki". ( Again they loose labels and come up with ANYTHING )
We mostly see it as a fairly plain flower but it does in fact do exactly what yours has done and throws a variety of colours and patterns. As you know I have several young ones but I have another older one " out the back" which has exactly what your pictures show.

After all, apart from strong growth, that's what we love about Satsuki!!

Arthur

[nealweb]

Thanks Arthur.

I pulled all the buds off my takasago's this year so I didn't have anything to compare with. I thought they might be darker. My little ones are all completely plain flowered but its great to know that with age they can also start to make some patterns
Looking forward to your pics...

neal.

[Damian Bee]

IT'S TIME FOR "NAME THAT VARIETY EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

Yes it is a Satsuki
Yes it does throw occasional selfs and sectors
It is a slow to medium in growth rate
The flower is on 50-60mm average in size
Takes the heat quite well

Satsuki 2.JPG

Satski 1.JPG

[akaruhi]

G'day,

By the shape of the leaf, growth habit and the colours present in the flower I would say it is most likely that it is Tsuga no Haru.
Similar to Issho no Haru which has a pink base to the colouring whereas this has a white base. A detail I found out on my last visit to Japan as I could not see the difference in pictures from books and they were able to show me both in flower.

Akaruhi

PS All my Satsuki are just about over their flowering period - just a couple that I have bred are very late flowering varieties.
Is your season always later than ours or is it just the very different weather you are experiencing?

[Damian Bee]

That is interesting, It was purchased from the once great Camelia Lodge as Issu no haru, it is actually one of my favorite varieties (or Isso no haru depending on which text you read). Flowering season here has just about finished. The one pictured most recently has been late along the Nakaharai varieties and hybrids, Macrantha, and Koryu, not forgetting the so called Gumpo varieties, (I would love to decipher that one).
Weather here has been a roller coaster with temps and humidity climbing up to 32ºc and then rain for a few days followed by a repeat. At present we are in a low temp and about to climb up again.
Macrantha was amazing, it had tiny flower buds and with two warm weeks it had pushed out flowers.

How long did it take your seed varieties to flower?

[akaruhi]

Hello,

Just seen your last post.

It takes anything from 2-5 years or more for the seedlings to flower ( one of my best was one of the last to flower out of a batch of 600 and it took 7 years!! ). And then you usually only get one in 500 that is any good.
I now have some 6-8 that are more than 'Just another Seedling" and a couple of them are of interest to the Japanese growers.

That has taken me about 10 years to get to that, mind you when you get something good it is very exciting!!

Issho no Haru it will be and that is the way it is correctly spelt ( according to 'the dictionary'). Camellia Lodge were mostly pretty accurate on their naming of varieties.