Cascade and semi-cascade bonsai are excellent styles for Shohin bonsai displays. cascade and semi-cascade add the possibility to elevate trees within the display area adding tension and balance.

Both coniferous, deciduous, and even flowering species are all suitable for these styles but also have to be balanced for their natural expression.

In the live stream at 8 PM (UTC +2, Copenhagen time), we look at styling, pruning, aesthetics, and displaying different semi-cascade and cascade trees for the Shohin display.

Azalea flower mutation

Flowering plants with cross-breaded flowers sometimes shift back to the original color. This is because the genetics are stronger than the developed flower. It also can happen to leaves. This year the semi-cascade Satsuki Azalea has developed one clean-colored flower and a few white flowers with a colored stripe. These flowers are meant to be white but have decided to go more or less backward.

It is a choice if one wants to keep them this way or not. It is often fancied to have multicolored flowers on a tree, and to keep them like this it is important not to prune these branches back, because then the genetics may be lost. Therefore I mark these branches with a ring of wire so I remember where to prune and not after the flowering ends. The only way to keep the colored flowers is avoid pruning the branch away because the genetics are stored there. There is no guarantee they will stay like this forever because genetics might mutate again.

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Shohin Bonsai School