Other Bonsai from Mr. Cheng Cheng Kung

Shohin premna serratifolia, from a collected tree. This bonsai was used in Mr. Cheng's book as an example of how to improove the quality of good stock by performing bud grafting.

Paper Bark Tree (Melaleuca) Still in Training.

A Huge Eleagnus Formosana. Very beautiful indeed!!!

An overiew of several Chuhin and Shohin trees. Among them, juniperus chinensis, var. formosana, Celtis chinensis (Mao Pu), Taiwan White pine (Song Tzu), Morus Alba, largestroemia indica and Gardenia radicans. Note the huge Celtis Sinensis on the upper left hand corner.

Absolutely *amazing* collection! Thank you so much for posting more images of his shohin-sized trees!

Kindest~
-d

Dave,

Mrs. Chen Yueh Chu, Mr. Cheng's wife is the expert in Shohin.

For shohin and larger sized trees, it is important to really be meticulous in species selection. Only that way we can achieve pleasant results.

Kind regards,
Jose

View of the material to be worked on; exquisite!! (Pemphis Acidula and cultivated Black pines,

jrodriguez wrote:Dave,

Mrs. Chen Yueh Chu, Mr. Cheng's wife is the expert in Shohin.

For shohin and larger sized trees, it is important to really be meticulous in species selection. Only that way we can achieve pleasant results.

Kind regards,
Jose

I think this applies to all bonsai, actually. The carefully understanding and selection of species with characteristics appropriate for the target size of the bonsai makes achieving a design goal much easier. Some species can work across a broad spectrum of sizes while others only work well at one end or the other. That's not to say they *can't* be made to work at the opposite end, just that it's significantly more of a challenge to do so. For example, a Korean Maple (Acer pseudosieboldianum), with it's very large leaves and fairly coarse growth, can make for a nice larger bonsai. It can be reduced to shohin size, but not without significant effort and time. Plenty of examples exist in the other direction. :-) Once we start talking about mini bonsai (anything smaller than shohin), the selection becomes absolutely critical since many species simply won't play well in such tight confines.

Kindest~
-d

These trees are wonderful! thank you very much for posting the photos.