Five Shohin Bonsai Plus One

A sweet little Firethorn (Pyracantha) in full flower. Yesterday we showed one with a few berries and if you scroll down you’ll see one with a lot more than a few. Thought we’d continue yesterday’s Shohin theme with a few more photos. I’ll spare you too much commentary. The photo above is from Bonsai Mike. Continued below… NEW SALE 25% off All Bonsai Books Choose from 50 different titles additional 10% off orders 100.00+ FREE Shipping on U.S. orders 50.00+ be sure to select Free Shipping when you check out It’s not everyday you see a shohin Buttonwood (Conocarpus … Continue reading Five Shohin Bonsai Plus One

Shohin Bonsai – An Art Unto Itself

This muscular little pine is a great example of well done Shohin bonsai. You might notice the lack of secondary and tertiary branching and thus the limited foliage. There is only so much you can do on such a small canvass. This results in an overall look and feel that is quite different than larger trees. Almost like an art unto itself. It’s Shohin day today. Little bonsai with big advantages. A few of these advantages are: shohin tend to be less expensive than larger trees, they take up a lot less space, they are easy to lift and move, … Continue reading Shohin Bonsai – An Art Unto Itself

What Do Shohin Bonsai & Suiseki Have in Common?

The 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition Finest Shohin Bonsai Display by Melvyn Goldstein. The varieties are: Japanese Five-Needle Pine, Dwarf Hinoki Cypress, Trident Maple, Zelkova and Sargent Juniper. Unfortunately given that some of the individual trees were less well lit than others, the photo isn’t as good we’d like (Oscar worked with what he had). You can expect a better shot when the album comes out. One answer to the question above – What Do Shohin Bonsai & Suiseki Have in Common? – is they were both on display at the 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition and a prize winner … Continue reading What Do Shohin Bonsai & Suiseki Have in Common?

Taming & Redirecting Growth on a Shohin Japanese Black Pine

After styling. The tree is a Cork bark Japanese black pine. The hand belongs to the Ben Gliffin. If you compare this photo with the before photo just below, you can see some real progress with needle thinning and reduction. You might also notice how Ben has left the needles on the far left longer than the needles on top. This will encourage vigor in the direction of the longer needles. The sweet little tree featured here is a Shohin Cork bark Japanese black pine that belongs to Ben Gliffin. If you know Japanese black pines you also know that … Continue reading Taming & Redirecting Growth on a Shohin Japanese Black Pine

Bonsai Shohin Passion

Shohin Japanese maple in early spring. Among other things that make this an outstanding bonsai is the way the shallow pot accentuates the trunk’s impressive girth. The photo is from Roland Schatzer’s new book, Bonsai Shohin Passion, as are all the photos in this post. A while back we got an email from Bill Valavanis recommending we take a look at Roland Schatzer’s new book, Bonsai Shohin Passion. Soon after that Bill sent an introductory email to Roland and to us. The rest, as they say, is history. Just in case you are new to bonsai, Shohin is ‘small thing’ … Continue reading Bonsai Shohin Passion

Revisiting a Great Shohin Display & More

This Shohin display is from Suthin Sukosolvisit’s Bonsai Gallery. Every National Bonsai Exhibition has featured at least one these by Suthin. This year I challenged myself to pick out Suthin’s display as I walked into the Shohin section of the Exhibition. It was easy. Taking nothing away from some other wonderful displays, still, Suthin’s caught my attention from across the room. Leaving for short vacation today and pressed for time so we’ll dip back into our archives. This one originally appeared just over a year ago, right after the 4th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. Before any winners were announced. Though … Continue reading Revisiting a Great Shohin Display & More

Masterpiece Shohin & Mame Bonsai

There are few things more delicate and beautiful than fresh spring Maple leaves (Trident maple in this case). This exquisite tree and exquisite pot are perfect expressions of the artistry of Haruyoshi. Still out of the office (working at my unpaid job through the weekend) so we’ll continue borrowing from our illustrious past. This one is from April of last year. I won’t bore you, except to say that Haruyosi does a couple things that set him apart. First, he puts up a very large number of masterpiece shohin and mame bonsai and pots; and second, he puts up a … Continue reading Masterpiece Shohin & Mame Bonsai

One Ficus, Two Taiwanese Junipers, One Literati Japanese Black Pine & One Shohin Bonsai Display

Great tree. Great pot. Great photo too (the uncropped original is below). I’m guessing the tree is a Taiwanese juniper. Here’s the translation: This and the other photos in this post are from 2014, with Chinese-style bonsai Exhibition prize categories: bronze medal for species: Cypress bonsai collection: Lin Minghui All the photos in this post are from one person’s facebook feed. I can’t say who the person is (can’t read Chinese), but I know he’s Taiwanese and his photo does look familiar. Fortunately the trees have captions with translations that include the artist’s names. Feel free to do your own … Continue reading One Ficus, Two Taiwanese Junipers, One Literati Japanese Black Pine & One Shohin Bonsai Display

Weekly Wire, Bonsai Comic, Shohin Maffia & A Colorful Bonsai Celebration

Look familiar? You may have seen this most excellent Mario Komsta pine before. In fact, it’s possible that we’ve already featured it right here, though I can’t find when or where. Anyway, if we did already show it; it was good then and it’s still good now. Do you recognize this tree? If so, It’s not too late to enter our Bonsai Detectives $250 Mystery Contest. Shohin Maffia? I guess you know what shohin means and you probably have a pretty good grasp of maffia too (even with the double f). Now you can see what happens when … Continue reading Weekly Wire, Bonsai Comic, Shohin Maffia & A Colorful Bonsai Celebration

Much More Than Just Shohin

I picked up this slightly faded photo off BonsaiCafé’s photo album on facebook. No criticism of BonsaiCafé intended. Especially given that high quality photos of Suthin Sukosolvisit’s bonsai are hard to come by. And anyway, a slightly faded photo of Suthin’s trees is much better than no photo of Suthin’s trees. One of our most accomplished I have long been a fan of Suthin Sukosolvisit’s bonsai, and though I try not to get into the personality end of things on this blog, I must admit that I find Suthin, in addition to being one of our most accomplished bonsai artists, … Continue reading Much More Than Just Shohin