As Dr. Creech says in his introduction, "Ito's purpose was to provide an illustrated description of the azaleas in cultivation and to correct some of the confusion caused by name duplication. Of the 332 azaleas he described, 171 belong to the tsutsuji group and 161 to the satsuki group, encompassing fifteen species, as best we can reckon from these early Japanese descriptions, of course."
Ito Satsuki
After an introduction in which he establishes classifications according to flowering season, size of flowers and flower patterns, Ito divides his work into 5 volumes, 3 describing tsutsuji azaleas and 2 the satsuki azaleas, closing with a few notes on culture. Dr. Creech points out that the tsutsuji, the Japanese word for azalea, are more familiar to American gardeners because of their early flowering, brilliant colors and ease of cultivation, and includes two main groups, those derived from R. kaempferi , R. kiusianum and R. sataense , as in the Kurume azaleas, and those based on R. macrosepalum , R. x Mucronatum and R. scabrum . The tsutsuji volumes include all the species then grown in Japan except R. indicum , considered one of the parents of the satsuki azaleas. Dr. Creech considers the satsuki azaleas "Japan's most precious gardening offer to the West." Satsuki actually means "fifth month," corresponding to our June, when most of the satsuki flower, one month later than the May-flowering tsutsuji. The typical satsuki have heavy, evergreen foliage, often turning purple in winter, and large, thick-textured flowers. The Japanese value them as show flowers, with some bonsai plants said to be over 400 years old, and consider their habit of sporting a virtue, unlike those Western nurserymen who prefer consistency in their plants. Although most of the satsuki are grown as pot plants, Dr. Creech tempts one by mentioning landscape selections now being grown at the National Arboretum and by providing a photograph of the sheared plants used as hedging in Japan, extraordinary rounded mounds undulating along a path. 2ff7e9595c
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