Each container was numbered and the ones auctioned had special numbers which are considered lucky. Two of the identical containers were put into the auction and were sold for $2,000 and $3,000. Each registrant received a beautiful commemorative container upon arrival. The larger size bonsai containers were quite elegant. Unfortunately the airline personal were stronger and I now have a “kit.” But I purchased several of different sizes for future displays. It was only three inches square, but quite strong. When I approached the salesperson he looked proud of his hand made tables and took one off the table and stood on it.

Suddenly I came across a wide selection of small square display tables. In June I had a difficult time finding the perfect size shohin display table for a Sargent juniper displayed at the 2017 US National Shohin Bonsai Exhibition held in North Carolina. Hand carved root stands were abundant if you looked.

There seemed to be a great number of sales areas devoted to shohin bonsai, containers and display tables. But, if they were easily importable, I would have purchased many. I did not spend too much time looking at the plants because they were too tempting and I did not want to get into trouble. Since I’ve been to Japan a couple of times, I can easily recognize Japanese bonsai, especially the Satsuki azaleas. Nearly all were Chinese, but I did spot many Japanese imports. On one side there were mostly plants and bonsai, from young untrained material to developed, and heavy bonsai which needed to be moved by a fork lift.

Surrounding the exhibition on three sides, but still in the greenhouse complex was the sales area which wrapped around the exhibition. The entire exhibition was held in the center of a huge greenhouse complex. There were several displays featuring grasses and two hanging bonsai as well. Some of the stone arrangements had artificial trees, very cute and probably took a great amount of time to create, but easy to care for. They were displayed on traditional shohin bonsai box stands. Mixed in with the shohin bonsai displays were beautiful stone arrangements, small and elegant of course.

Rochester gardenscape 2018