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cant find azalea
http://weetrees.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13579		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Antony McDonagh [ 02 Jun 2015, 15:53 ]
Post subject:  cant find azalea
Hi all

im trying to find this type of azalea but can't if seeds or cuttings end were hope you guys can help
Author:  Deano [ 02 Jun 2015, 16:24 ]
Post subject:  Re: cant find azalea
Ask Kit, he loves 'em
Author:  Antony McDonagh [ 03 Jun 2015, 19:46 ]
Post subject:  Re: cant find azalea
Thanks I can't even seem to find seeds it's crazy lol
Author:  Harunobu [ 03 Jun 2015, 21:18 ]
Post subject:  Re: cant find azalea
I think you mean 'Can't find these types of azalea'.

Plant a hill filled with sporting azaleas, then walk to a hill oppositee and observe how the landscape on the other side looks. The individual flowers will be washed out and the mix of coloured and white flower will look an odd pink.
Add to this that these azaleas are less hardy and more slowly growing, and they aren't interesting for landscaping.
In fact, take a sporting azalea, walk a few meters away, and it already lost it's charm. I have never seen a picture of a huge satsuki plant with sporting flowers. They might not exist even in Japan. And each year I watch the HD videos of temple gardens on youtube. Also never saw them depicted in Japanese satsuki magazines (though I have only a handful).

Flower patterns are very important. They are caused by transposons. As such DNA will 'jump' and turn white flowers into coloured. But only very rarely they will go the other way. So without paying attention to flower pattern when propagating, a nursery will eventually be left with only solid coloured clones.
This of course means that grown cuttings need to be evalutated if they sport correctly and discarded if they don't, adding to the cost.

This is also why for those satsuki-type cultivar that you can find, most are solid coloured and some clone lines lost the sporting of the original cultivar.

European commercial azalea growers never went to Japan to buy satsuki azalea and sell them in Europe or hybridize them. Accounts of American nurserymen that did do exist. Europe has a rich palette of natively bred kaempferi/kurume hybrids and of course the decideous azalea. So no incentive at all for them to stop growing their current cultivar and start testing out new ones.

As such, most of these cultivar that are here are bonsai or cuttings from bonsai. So what people should be doing is root cuttings if you have a special cultivar and plant them in your garden, give them away to friends or botanical gardens, etc.

To get one nice new cultivar you need 1000 to 10,000 seeds, a big garden and a few years of patience. If you don't care for flowers at all, way less should suffice. All you need is a parent plant with the right genes.

I have grown quite a few from seeds and some of my first seedlings are flowering this year. But as I live in student housing now all my plants are in my father's garden, so I think I have to curb the hybridizing until I finish my degrees, earn an academic reputation, somehow find a permantent position, then start saving up money to buy a house with a garden of my own.

People who have specific satsuki cultivar can actually send the stuff they cut off through mail and they can be rooted on arrival. In fact, you can send them around the world. Even days after they have been cut off, they can be rooted. You just need to be sure they don't get too wet or too dry and add some padding to protect against postage conveyor belt rollers.

Those nurseries that had sporting satsuki-type azaleas I know off for sale no longer sell them.

But if you are interested in bonsai, common evergreen azaleas can be adapted to bonsai just as well. It is just that in Japan growing satsuki azalea is like growing orchids or roses, but with bonsai-crossover.
Author:  Deano [ 03 Jun 2015, 21:53 ]
Post subject:  Re: cant find azalea
:hatoff: Fascinating post, thank you. Please post more often
Author:  Antony McDonagh [ 03 Jun 2015, 22:14 ]
Post subject:  Re: cant find azalea
Thanks you for the info
Author:  Antony McDonagh [ 04 Jun 2015, 19:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: cant find azalea
has anyone got any other colour types seedings or cuttings
Author:  Harunobu [ 06 Jun 2015, 20:53 ]
Post subject:  Re: cant find azalea
If you really want to try to grow from seed, message me in November.

I wish I had the skill, time, satsuki and garden to grow lot's of azalea cuttings, but right now I don't.
Author:  Antony McDonagh [ 06 Jun 2015, 22:10 ]
Post subject:  Re: cant find azalea
Okay I will add you as a friend mate
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