Azalea restyle

[nealweb]

G'day All

the crown died on one of my first ever trees and so it needs a restyle now. It was a really nice, ramified crown, I should have taken a pic before cutting it back but didn't. Its now chopped just leaving the potential for a jin, something you don't usually see with azalea but still a possibility. Its a fairly robust grower and the branches can move but are quite stiff so nothing too crazy. It has one long cascading branch which i will probably pull a little closer in to the trunk. Some extra trunks down low that could go or stay. The nebari is better from the original front but acceptable from all angles.
its hard too see a tree from pics but I've taken a few angles and would love some suggestions and/or verts for a revamp of this tree.

Cheers!

neal.

[kcpoole]

I like the "Trunk Forward" pic
Needs some negative space created to separate the individual branches as foliage pads

what variety is it?

Ken

[Jarrod]

I like the original back personally, but it is hard to wok out the trunk flow forward to back, it may not work this way around.

[nealweb]

G'day Ken - yes that angle is actually nicer than the pic appears. Its a white mrs Kint, very common azalea, kurume I think.

G'day Jarod, the back angle is good. Its certainly the simplest solution, to just turn it around, cut all the dead stuff off the top and redo it from there. The original front is not good for a normal informal upright of the same height because the trunk does slope backwards near the top and the last surviving branch goes straight back so its too hard to make a new crown angling forwards toward the viewer, but from the back i just need to bend that top most branch up again and make it into a new crown.

I could also try something completely different though, like cutting off everything but the main trunk and the long hanging branch and putting it in a nice round literati type pot... I dunno ... infinite possibilities

cheers

n.

[cuwire]

Neal
As someone new to bonsai I really appreciate the idea of "plant in a tray" (or something like that) -- so IMO you have a plant in a tray - not a tree ---- (and of course that is what you are saying) -- but

It looks terrific -- to bring this into the house for a few days when in flower must be something special.

The top looks good as is but I am looking at a photo - cannot see a jin suiting.

I would just let it do it's own thing for a year or two - if the bottom left branch gives you something --if not you still have something special.

There should be another category - "Plants in a tray that look bloody good"

cheers David

[Tony Bebb]

Hi Neal

Shame when part of a tree is lost. Seeing as though the options are now open, have you considered giving the trunk a hard chop? The base is quite nice, but there is not a lot of taper above that, and indeed the top is as thick as the just above the base. You would need to grow all new branches, but you would have a nice little tree if you cut just above the kick to the left on the original front.

Tony

[nealweb]

Hi Neal

Shame when part of a tree is lost. Seeing as though the options are now open, have you considered giving the trunk a hard chop? The base is quite nice, but there is not a lot of taper above that, and indeed the top is as thick as the just above the base. You would need to grow all new branches, but you would have a nice little tree if you cut just above the kick to the left on the original front.

Tony

G'day Tony, thanks for the input! You are absolutely correct, the trunk has no taper whatsoever and I hadn't even thought of chopping it right down. Its sort of tall and feminine and looks quite eye catching when it has enough flowers on it...and i'm not sure if I could hack her down...but if I did maybe i could sneak her in under 25cm !!!!

I just had a go at redoing it with the back as the front, as Jarrod liked and I'll put those pics up and then I'll get my bags out again and try your idea

cheers - neal.

[nealweb]

Tony's idea. Could work! First branch is already there (maybe), a stub to start the second and build up from there but with taper. Too many choices !!!

[nealweb]

Neal
As someone new to bonsai I really appreciate the idea of "plant in a tray" (or something like that) -- so IMO you have a plant in a tray - not a tree ---- (and of course that is what you are saying) -- but

It looks terrific -- to bring this into the house for a few days when in flower must be something special.

The top looks good as is but I am looking at a photo - cannot see a jin suiting.

I would just let it do it's own thing for a year or two - if the bottom left branch gives you something --if not you still have something special.

There should be another category - "Plants in a tray that look bloody good"

cheers David

Sorry David, missed replying to you before mate. Azaleas are awesome in flower (check out some of the japanese ones online!!!) and make a fine bonsai out of flower too and you are right, when in doubt, its often good to give them a trim all over, to encourage more budding and just leave them for a bit and see what developes
Cheers!
n.