Shohin On Parade

I'm in the midst of repotting lots of trees. Here's a peek at several shohin trees. Some are show ready and some are just starting out.

A Dwarf Yaupon Holly, (Ilex vomitoria Schillings nana) mini display with a small house plant foliage. The Ilex is in a Chinese Xjing pot. The accent is in a hand made Puerto Rican pot. I forgot the potters name.



And a close up of the Ilex. It's about 7 to 8 inches above the pot.



A Chinese Elm in a nice blue glazed pot by Rob Adonozzio. About 9 inches above the pot. The tree is going dormant although Chinese Elms don't always lose all their leaves in my yard over the winter.



This little Juniper features shimpaku foliage grafted to a juniper parsonii trunk which in turn is growing over a river rock from the Slate River in Virginia. I made the pot by carving a block of clay with a plastic scraper with the pattern in it. This tree has had a lot of work in it over the past 8 years. About 9 inches tall.


Frequently I pick up shohin pots with no particular tree in mind. A while ago I bought this Dale Cochoy asymmetrical pentagon shaped pot in a white glaze and pondered what tree to put in it. I finally decided that this Japanese Umagashi Oak (from an acorn that had fallen off a bush near the Gold Pavilion in Kyoto in 2000. That's right this tree is 10 years old. ) This tree has more curves than Jennifer Lopez, but like most trees with lots of movement its hard to photograph. In real life one can see that the tree has a decent pyramid canopy that doesn't show in 2D. I feel the pot shape works well with the trunk and the glaze is great with the evergreen leaves. Now all I need is for it to start making its own acorns. Its about 9 inches tall.


This pitiful thing has been on my bench for over 5 years. It's a Gingko and frankly it was in such a small pot all it would do is make a few leaves and add no girth or branches. So this week I put it in this European pot. Still not a very big pot but twice what it was in. Its either a Czech Republic potter or French potter. Can't recall but I bought it the last Gingko show - how appropriate for the tree. I keep it as curiosity more than anything else and I do like the shape of the Gingko leaves. Its only about 5 inches tall.



This might be the worlds smallest Juniper bonsai. It has been in this pot for over 8 years and I never repotted it until 2 days ago.
It is J. procumbens and for reference a golf ball is 1.6 inches in diameter. So that makes the tree right about 3 inches tall.



I call this one my "Preppy Tree". Pink pot by Rob Adonozzio and a green foliage by a Elephant Bush, Portulaccari afra. About 2 months ago I noticed it was rife with root aphids so I totally removed all the old soil with a jet of water and repotted it in this unusually glazed pot. About 5.5 inches tall.

Stunning!!

Nice Shohin, Rob.

Thought I had a contender for world's smallest Juniper but I think yours wins by a gnat's whisker. The pot of mine is just a bit more than the height of a golf ball. I do have a slightly smaller pot for it but haven't got round to repotting it in 3 years as I have been trying to thicken up the trunk a bit. It has been tidied up foliage-wise since this pic was taken and if I can ever get the greenhouse door unfrozen again, I'll take a new one!

Rob and Fiona, Thank you for showing,Beautiful shohin bonsai and nice pictures . I really enjoyed
Best regards
suthin

Hey Fiona that is a nice super mini. Is it Shimpaku?
I can alway make mine smaller by scrunching the trunk with wire. In these small pots you can expect much trunk growth. Then it wouldn't be small!

Here are a few more recently repotted.

Here is a Florida Privet I just potted up. Only two years since being a cutting and ony 3 month since first styling. A fast and prolific grower. Very nice green color to the leaves. By next year this time I predict a full canopy. The pot is a modest Chinese blue glazed pot. About 6 inches tall right now.



This dwarf Crape Myrtle Pokomoke is in a Horst H. pot. Never fall in love with a branch on a Crape Myrtle - they have a tendency to just lose them and then grow another one somewhere else. I'm hoping the branches on the left re-sprout but you never know. The chop scars are taking forever to heal as this tree has been in styling for at least 5 or 6 years.



This is a urban-adori. I collected it from my yard last year. I might have left too much of the native sand and the soil didn't drain well. This year I replaced all the fine sand with well draining bonsai mix and am looking forward to better growth.. The exposed roots already have a old wizened look to them. Just needs a transformative canopy (as Robert Stevens would say.) The pot is a fine quality Chinese Xjing stubby lotus shape.



Something like this virtual.

Not to play can you top this, but this one stands 2.25 inches "tall".



Very nice little trees, Rob. I especially like the Youpon holly. That's one of my favorite species for bonsai. Unfortunately, we're a little too cold for it up here, though I still have one medium sized youpon.

JimLewis wrote:Not to play can you top this, but this one stands 2.25 inches "tall".

Drat - Where's my wire?

JimLewis wrote: Very nice little trees, Rob. I especially like the Youpon holly. That's one of my favorite species for bonsai. Unfortunately, we're a little too cold for it up here, though I still have one medium sized youpon.

I agree Jim, Youpon Holly is under appreciated for bonsai - practically every house and building landscaping in my town is loaded with them. I have a couple big bonsai yet to make their internet premier. Suffice it to say you'd like them.

Managed to unstick the greenhouse doors today and got an up to date pic of the Juniper mini that I posted yesterday plus its relative - as yet unstyled but with bags of potential. It's slightly bushier but much the same in height. Am looking for the perfect little pot for it and have a couple that I bought from Erin pottery in mind.

Hello friens, this is my contribution. Punica granatum nejikan:



This is a Carpinus coreana,




Hapy new year

Wow... what a great way to end the year.... who has the smallest

I don't want to enter this competition as I have NOW WAY of winning...

Tony

Tony wrote:Wow... what a great way to end the year.... who has the smallest

I don't want to enter this competition as I have NOW WAY of winning...

Tony

Was this "NOW WAY of winning" a Freudian typo?

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

This shohin Juniper needed a makeover. Here it was a few years ago.


Unfortunately it lost a few of the lower branches.

After repotting it a few days ago.
Now in a pot by Florida potter Chad Beatty.


0

After some cleaning, lime sulfur and wire. It's about 10 inches all.


And here's a close up of the juniper.

Hi friends. You have cute little trees. I add also my mini trees.

pic. 1 - Juniperus communis Repanda - before
pic. 2 Juniperus after first styling - 7,5 cm
pic.3 Juniperus chin. Itoigawa - before
pic. 4 Itoigawa - after styling 11 cm

Rob--I have that same size asymetrical pot from Dale. Same glaze too. I'm still trying to figure out what to put in it--but your tree gives me a push in the right direction!! It's a cool pot. Kinda like a brain teaser.

Hi Mini friends,

here's an interesting article by Shisui on the very small bonsai:

http://www.bonsaipots.net/index.php?page=mini-mania

Rob you have very beautiful smallest Bonsai, thank you for the show.

Iwish You a lot of fun to read and view the images.

Best regards
Peter

G'day Peter...

What a marvelous web site...beautiful shohin and pots, etc...

Now, more than ever, I look forward to my grand new adventure...after thirtysomething and more years doing bonsai, I am plunging into Shohin...getting a jump start at the California Shohin gathering in February...

Never did I have any intrest Shohin Bonsai...but now as ancient age is taking over, and the larger bonsai seem to get bigger and and heavier every year, it seems to be the time to get started with these miniature babes.

So, off I go to Santa Nella...to become an "xpert" across one weekend!

Happy new year to all...

Pat...mounted on my trusty steed, riding off, wildly, in all directions...

By the way Rob...

Lovely Shohin pix...

Pat

Happy New Year Rob !!!
Re training of shohin materials, what is the ideal pot size ? Coz, I noticed that
all are already in small pot. And how frequent is their repotting? Thank you.

All we need now, is a picture of Fiona relaxing under one of these babies...

Pat












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Very nice Rob, especially the Ilex. Nice winter display. Pavel, as always showing great skills.
Thanks for sharing the interesting article Peter.

Here a few winter shots from today, giving the trees a little air out of the shelter.

Regards
Morten


Rockspray Cotoneaster - Cotoneaster horisontalis
Height: 10cm / 4 inches



Rockspray Cotoneaster - Cotoneaster horisontalis
Height: 9,5cm / 3,7 inches



Rhododendron lysolepsis
Height: 18cm / 7 inches



Chinese Cork Bark Elm - Ulmus parvifolia `Corticosa`
Height of tree: 16 cm.

bonsaistud wrote:All we need now, is a picture of Fiona relaxing under one of these babies...

Pat

I'm sure if Tony has seen this, it will already be a work in progress. Hmmm. Might have to claim editorial rights over that.

very nice !!! some of the shohin look quite good, some of them need to be worked on more.... so i will post two of my shohin which took me almost 7 years of work to create this shape. just yesterday i took recent photos.

Really love the Juniper, Mario. Is it Itoigawa?

Very nice shohin you all have there.
Here are some of mine:

azalea


maple


forsythia