Sanyaso in spring is most beautiful in a year with the colorful flowers. For Yoseue, you can enjoy the combination of flowers. Yusuke Hashimoto, the 2nd generation of Hashimoto Seikoen bonsai garden in Takamatsu’s Kokubunji town, shows us Yoseue in spring.

Choose Popular Flower

The attraction of Yoseue is to be able to choose a tree and flower freely. Yamaajisai (mountain hydrangea) and Tessen (Asian virginsbower) is popular recently and sometimes used as a main tree in Yoseue in spring.

Basically, the odd number of trees are planted in Yoseue. For beginners, it is easy to put three kinds of trees. Today he chooses Yamaajisai as the main, Sakuraso (primrose), and Hoshizaki Attsuzakura (rose grass having flower like star).

First, he decides the tall Yamaajisai to plant in the back. Then he considers the positions of Sakuraso and Attsuzakura to be good balance. After that, Akadama soil including fertilizers are put in a pot to fix them. The key is to fill the soil not to make a space between the trees and it. If the well drained soil are used, trees never be dead with too much water. The good soil is a little bit expensive, but it is not necessary to transplant many times. So, as a result, it is cheaper.

For Next Year Joy

Most Sanyaso are perennial plants. If you water them carefully in summer, they can be enjoyed for about three years. Moreover they get the natural taste by the growth in the second year, compared with the first year when it is arranged to Yoseue.

Yamaajisai grows vigorously. So, after the flower season in May, cut the tree by summer for the next flower buds. It is good to cut the branches at third or fourth joint from the bottom. The directions of new buds show us those of the branches. So imagine the shape in the next year when you cut it.

Yoseue can’t grow as long as than Shohaku bonsai. But Hashimoto taught us the professional contrivance, “After the three years’ growth in a pot, you can enjoy the tree to change a pot to a water basin.”

(By Shigeo Hano)