The more I read about Satsuki azalea, the more interesting it tends to become. I already was aware that, due to its different requirements in care taking, Satsuki is a very different branch in the bonsai growers industry, with its own rules and depth in quality appreciation.
Satsuki with its approx. 5000 variants is only one of the many cultivars of Azalea, 20 of which you can find in the azalea database by Mark Nijland.
To emphasize their beautiful bloom, rather than developing a more interesting bonsai shape, Satsuki tend to be grown into so called "flower towers".
My favourites though are in fact those well shaped -mostly as moyogi (informal upright) styled- ones, for their magestic foliage and bark colour combination, where the flowers come as a plus. After all, it only takes 30 years to style one.
Peter Warren, a reknowned UK based Satsuki bonsai specialist, stresses to choose well, for the flower tower variaties are not at all suited to be shaped into a "classical" bonsai style.
The idea of this article is that it grows, while sharing my research findings and insights in handling Japanese black pines (kuromatsu).
This article is focused on providing additional value, more details on deciduous bonsai care and reminding us of important details as provided in Bjorn Bjorholm's very instructional video.
This is by far the best tutorial you could find about repotting bonsai trees, "covering a lot of ground" on a range of use cases you might have to tackle when repotting.
One to watch. And if you think you know a thing or two on the subject, watch it still and let me know if it was worth your time.
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