Pest battle with Azalea Bonsai — and how I won

I had a serious problem with spider mite and scale in stressful growing conditions on my Azalea Bonsai earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate deeply personal relationship between artist and tree, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a Japanese-inspired garden display with gravel and stone and improved my attention to watering daily in summer as bonsai pots dry out fast. repotting temperate species in early spring before buds break was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.