Satsuki azalea

[Si Van Nguyen]

Hello my Australian friends!
Just want to share with you my Satsuki azalea that's blooming right now. It is an imported tree from Korea to the USA from around 5 years ago. It spent 2 years in quarantine! in which many of the branches and half of the apex died back. I had it for about 3 years now. It recovered very well, once I got it out of the old soil. I just potted it in February 2009 for the first time. It took about 3 years to get the pads developed to what you see here, still not full enough though. This is the first year I am allowing it to bloom for a few weeks just for this picture. I will remove all the flowers soon, in order for the foliage pads to grow stronger. It is about 55 cm tall. The pot is actually a very nice and cheap mass produced Chinese pot that sells for around $25 US. dollars here.
Any comment or critique would be appreciated. Enjoy!
Have a great day!
Si

[stymie]

That tree has a nice attitude and nebari Si. I am always appreciative of the different coloured blooms on the same tree. Do you have the name of the particular cultivar? It weathered the rigours of quarantine and you've revived it well. I'm hoping that my 'Goyoten' will soon be showing colour.

[Steven]

Simply Stunning Satsuki Si!

Elegant, balanced, great basal flare, lovely show of colour and naturalistic shape. I love it! Thanks so much for sharing its history and first blooms.

I was viewing a private collection today and the centre piece was a magnificent Azalea. Originally pink, half the branches had been grafted with a white variety. The bonsai was in the early stages of flower bud and I am definitely going back in a week to get a picture or 2 of it in flower. I'll be sure to post them here

Regards,
Steven

[ketutg]

a top notch photograph of a beautiful tree!

[anttal63]

just beautiful si, good to see it survived! the bottom left hand branch im not sure about but will obviously look different as you you further develope this tree.

[EdwardH]

Great tree Si. I love the trunk and roots. Impressive work in three years.

[Mojo Moyogi]

Si, how lovely it is to see a Satsuki with a sizeable trunk and a beautifiul nebari. You should be very proud of what is a very nice tree.

Jase

[Scott Roxburgh]

Excellent tree, good to see it survived! The flower placement is quite good too. Congrats!

[kcpoole]

Extraordinary Si

Congratulations

[Liam Taylor]

Hello Si. This is a very pleasing bonsai and one that I would be very proud to display [if I was fortunate to own it].
Do you have any additional pictures of the progression once you collected it from quarantine? Better still what about submitting it for one of the austbonsai 360 degree animations? Liam

[Si Van Nguyen]

Hi everybody, thank you Don, Steven, Ketutg, Antonio, EdwardH, Jase,Scott, kpoole,Liam,and all for your kind comments. Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I was swamped this week with disasters at work.

To Don, I don't know for sure the name of this cultivar. The nursery I got it from did not keep any record. But a bonsai teacher in my area saw this tree recently and said that may be it is a Kirinohikari cultivar, which is a cross of takarakagami and taihei. As soon as I find out for sure I will update its name here for you.

Steven, yes, please post those pictures. I'd love to see them too.

Antonio, that first (bottom left ) branch is actually spectacular. Wait until you see it without the flowers. It is a bit too strong as compared to the apex though, so I do need to trim it back more often.

Edward, I really didn't do any styling on this tree at all, except for some minor pruning of errant shoots. The one thing I did right was to get it out of the old kanuma soil which is deadly to azaleas here in Southern California somehow. I don't know why kanuma is bad, maybe because it breaks down too easily with our bad city water here in my area. This tree did not start to show vigor until I replaced the soil with a mixture of akadama, lava rocks and Turface, and a little bit of coarse kanuma and some organic fertilisers.

Hi Liam, I do have some previous pictures from 1-2 years ago. I could post them too I guess, but they are not so good to look at. Steven did ask me to post it in 360 also and I promised I will do it soon, maybe this weekend.

Good day everybody!
Si

[Marc]

wonderful tree - jealous city!!!!

[Gary Bee]

Phenomenal Si! A really impressive tree.
I too look forward to your 360 Degree post.
It is definitely a well travelled star,eh?
Please forgive me if this is a rude question, but what sort of costs are involved in purchase, transport, quarantine/care, before you can take your tree home, Si?
Did you get the opportunity to visit your tree/care for your tree etc during quarantine?

[Si Van Nguyen]

Hi Tmaster, no it is not a rude question at all! But I did not actually imported this tree. It was imported by a bonsai nursery where I bought it from. They have been in business for 14-15 years now and are quite good at importing trees, but mainly from Korea and China. Japanese trees are still too expensive. It is very expensive to import trees in general. The agricultural import laws of the USA and California are quite strict, as are your Australian laws I am sure. The people who do it legally have to pay a big price for it. Once the trees get here, the government put them all in quarantine for 2 years, at the cost of the owners who have to pay for their maintenance and keeping, and if the trees are found to have pests, then they are destroyed, also at the cost of the owner. Needless to say, many trees died during this process. And the profit margin for the nursery owner is very low if any at all for these big trees. It is not worth it to go into the business of importing trees, unless you have nothing better to do with your time and money.
Have a great day!
Si

[daiviet_nguyen]

Hi anh Si,

What a beautiful tree you have there. There are beautiful azalea in Melbourne too. But of this size, I must say I have not seen an equivalent.

Do you have any plan to move it to another pot of a better grade?

Cheers and best regards.