You wouldn’t think Japanese Black Pine and Satsuki Azalea are similar in any way. And yet the common techniques for Black Pine and Satsuki are mirrors.

In spring we trim the new growth. In fall we simplify the robust summer regrowth. 

Both strong plants, under normal care and reasonably happy Black Pine and Satsuki will predictably regrow from the spring trim. And for both plants the spring trim has similar goals: 

• Create greater ramification
• Create short internodes
• Reduce leaf / needle size

In the case of Azalea there is another goal, to produce more flowers, which grow at the end of each summer shoot. Then in fall we reduce the shoots and organize the flowers so each has a space to open. 

A Satsuki in fall colors. 

First remove the large yellowing leaves. These leaves grew in the spring. The summer growth has smaller leaves (like smaller needles on Black pine), which in this photo are dark green. Although not a 100% rule, most azaleas have hairy leaves while rhododendrons have smooth leaves.

Any long shoot should be cut off if not wired. They can sap energy from the shorter, finer growth created over the summer.

Here’s a before and after of one branch. 

After the removal of large and yellowing leaves and the dense areas with too many shoots reduced. Now every flower has space to open and each shoot has its space, ready for spring. The large yellow-green buds are the flower buds. Established Satsuki hold their branch set from past wiring for several years, and those with plenty of shoot options often only need scissors for this fall task.

Completed Azalea with dense areas attended to and all areas thinned for uniformity throughout the bonsai. This azalea hasn’t had a wiring reset for a few years, and now the crown is getting too broad. It’s close to needing a significant spring prune back which for a Satsuki is every 10 years on average, after it has ballooned past its ideal canopy size. But at least this bonsai is ready for next spring. 

Find next year’s Satsuki steps here: Satsuki Azalea Early Summer Work: Fishtail.

A reader asked for an explanation of this sentence from a previous post: 

“With any tree, thick trunk or thin, follow the taper of the trunk and where the two lines of the sides meet, that’s roughly where your tree should end.“

I admit that wasn’t easy to follow. I often say something like that while teaching, in front of a tree, where it might make more sense. Hopefully the following images will explain this rough guideline.

This elm is by Michael Roberts. It’s a great example of the utility of the guideline. If you take the taper of the lower trunk and follow that up, where the two lines meet is about where we should find the top of the bonsai. 

Another pretty clear example, a Red Maple by Anne Spencer. 

Here’s a multiple trunked Japanese Maple. With any of the trunks here, the lines from the lower trunk taper should still meet at the canopy periphery. Note that nebari flare is ignored in this guideline.

The lines of this Satsuki intersect lower than the current crown, so this tree would benefit by being a few inches shorter. Which the last few snips should do.

Let’s end with a couple trees where this guideline is nonsensical. The number of reverse tapers on this tree can make you dizzy, and yet it won a Prime Minister’s Award for my teacher Mr. Suzuki. The lines from the lower trunk widen—the opposite of assumed bonsai design—and then contract again near the foliage. 

Another tree where the guideline is silly, a tree with no taper whatsoever. It was topped off at 14” which was based more on the desire for compaction and available branches to frame the shari. An example of how a guideline can in real world situations be limited to the point of being useless. Though with other trees, particularly those that fit inside the traditional framework, this guideline can have modest utility.