Sunday, March 23, 2008

new Austrian black pine

The Austrian black pine (Pinus nigra Austriaca) is not a rare tree in southern Eruope. But it is very difficult to find a tree in nature that has talent to become a bonsai. And then the foliage is very long and they say that the species requires a big bonsai to look credible. A shohin size of any quality is an extrem rarity and thought to be impossible. A couple of days ago I managed to get this in a trade. Now this is only 18 cm high, well within shohin size. But as one can see the foliage is decently short. After an hour's work the foliage was much shorter and the tree looks like it will become a prominent shohin Austrian black pine. I think that this is a precious gem.