flower

This is a shohin Satsuki Azaelea that I bought three years ago from a reputable bonsai professional who was doing a series of workshops with the NIBS. The above photo was taken in May this year when it produced its usual intense pink flowers. The next photo was taken the other day and I’ve finally got round to doing a bit of necessary work on it. I’ve never styled it in the three years I’ve had it and initially just wanted it to grow a bit so left it untouched. Last year I did a bit of pruning after it flowered and now was the time to repeat this so that new shoots have a chance to hopefully harden off before the first frosts later in the year.

I first of all used tweezers to remove the moss and uncover the nebari and found that the surface roots on the back of the tree were more appealing than the front.

This has presented me with a bit of a choice when it comes to wiring it later in the year. Do I stick with the current front (first branch flowing right) or go for the opposite side (first branch would be flowing left)? There’s a number of considerations to make but today I just pruned all junctions down to two branches and tried to leave plenty of foliage to give me buds for a decent bloom next year. I plan to wait and see what new growth is pushed before the end of the growing season and then style/wire once that’s hardened off.