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Hello friends,

I recently dug up a chunk of azalea from the hedge that has great roots and trunk thickness for bonsai, but I am not a very creative person when initiating the structure of bonsai so I need help in this step. I believe I have found the front because the roots are so nice, but I don’t yet know what to do with the branches or planning of the location of the foliage. Should I cut off the bigger branch where the tree splits off into a Y to make the smaller trunk the new leader? (pics attached) could I leave the two branches? This is a typical hedge azalea with larger foliage than common bonsai azaleas and I believe this should be taken into account.

Thanks in advance,
Michael.

That is really a question of taste and guess. Just let it recover a few years and sed what options you have. No rush to take a desition.

Set it outside, water it, let the sun shine on it, and for the next year at least look at pictures of azaleas on bonsai sites.

Ask yourself on each picture:

Do I like this?

Could I make mine look like that?

Why or why not?

How?

In two years or so you will look at your azalea and know what you want. Don't cut off anything until you are sure it should be gone. Once cut off you can't cut on.

first things first, which i s recovery. You show a plant that has been potted too shallow. Did you cover the roots with soil after you took the picture? Uncovering the nebari is not a geat idea when the plant is recovering.

Thank you guys for the help. The nebari have been covered and I have the tree out in the sun.

A question I have though: Is it common to use regular azaleas (like encore or reBLOOM azaleas) for bonsai as opposed to satsuki? because I’m pretty sure this is just a common azalea as it was from the hedge. Would it be foolish to use such material or does it not matter? Is this worse than satsuki?

If you want something that looks like a satsuki then the only thing to get is a satsuki.

But, you can make a perfectly good bonsai with another species, so why not? I have a 50 year old azalea that I dug up last year. It has a trunk about 8 inches/20 cm thick. Where do you get a satsuki that thick? The leaves are a little large right now, but it is going be a great bonsai.

You don't need to restrict yourself to just trees grown in Japan.