Instant gratification (seven-dollar shohin)

Carl_Bergstrom

While one cannot understate the importance of patience in this hobby (and by patience, I mean on the scale of several years, not several weeks), it can be really nice to get quicker results as well.

Here's a shohin planting that I put together yesterday using a 3 dollar chinene pot and a 4 dollar hinoki cutting that I picked up at the nursery last weekend.

The pot is quite a bit larger than it needs to be, as a compromise between instant gratification and future potential. The trunk won't thicken quickly in a pot this size, but it will allow me to develop a nice root spread.

Basically all I did (and I wish now that I'd thought to take pictures) was

1) Combed out the root ball with a chopstick, spreading the roots evenly in all directions before wiring it into the pot firmly.

2) Trimmed little bits of the foliage here and there to open up the tree.

Sure, it's darn close to a mallsai now that I'm done. But it's a nicer-than-average mallsai, with no glued rocks ;-). And more importantly, it's got a well-spread root system that will develop nicely, planted in a soil mix that will allow me to keep it alive.

It isn't going to get much bigger (see the Shohin Hinoki Juniper thread in the gallery for an idea of what you can expect in 6 years) but the bark will age and take on character. And it's nice to look at, in the meantime.

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Carl_Bergstrom

Er...hinoki [i:16f17b723a]cypress[/i:16f17b723a], not juniper.

I.e., Chamaecyparis obtusa. This happens to be the 'spiralis' cultivar, but that isn't essential.

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Rene_Voortwist

Hi OMC,

I think your little Chamaecyparis looks very nice, it just seems a little alone in it's pot. Wouldn't it be nice to make a small group. Could be a shohin forest... Or find a tiny accent plant to acompany it ?
Just my thoughts...

gr. René

Carl_Bergstrom

Rene,

You're completely right - if I wanted to maximize how nice the tree looks now, I should definitely add a couple more (or four more) cutting-size hinokis. Even some sort of the grass or fern, in the penjing style, would help. Your recent picture of the hinoki forest (Spring Show thread in the Gallery form) is a perfect example.

I guess I am really am also thinking of how this tree will look in 5 years - I think of it as a growing box for a very small shohin, with the added benefit of being slightly more attractive to look at now.

Best regards,
Old Mister

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bonsaial1

I like it just fine. How about adding it to the show?

How do you get the nice blue backgrounds in your photos

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Carl_Bergstrom

Al,

I could add it to the show if you like. I wasn't sure that the show was really an appropriate place to put a tree that had been in training for all of 15 minutes. ;-)

The pictures are taken simply using a piece of blue posterboard laid in a curve against a bench. (See the picture below) Low-tech, but it works. Sometimes I place a couple of reflecters made out of crumpled aluminum foil taped to a piece of posterboard, to improve the lighting.

The camera is just a cheap olympus digital number mounted on a tripod. Sort of a pain, because I can't play with exposure as much as I'd like. But all in good time. Right now I don't have any trees that deserve better photo equiptment.

Best regards,
Old Mister

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Rene_Voortwist

OMC,

OK I see. Well, for only 15 miniutes of training you've made a convincing tree shape. I like it. By all means put it in the spring show !!

René

Adam

I too think the tree is also good enough to go in the show. I'm going to start using the blue backrounds with my tree's as they make them looK really nice.

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[Adam]
"Cass Bonsai Gardens"
"Bonsai Knowledge"
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Carl_Bergstrom

Thanks, Adam! I'll go ahead and post that tree to the gallery, then.

Just a comment about blue - I like it, but I also really like black and off-white backgrounds as well. In fact, black is probably the nicest - see Gary's and Matt's trees in the spring show. It's also the hardest to do right (see my hemlock at the start of the spring show for an example of black done wrong).

I've been using blue mostly because with my digital camera it is darn near impossble to meter the exposure off of a neutral grey card, and the blue is close, whereas black and white are both way off and force much more guesswork in the exposure. If ever get around to getting a proper digital camera, I imagine that I'll use blue more selectively as a background.

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