Gashou-en

Masahiro Sasaki is doing his part to put Mifune, Kumamoto, on the map. The small Kyushu town is home to Gashou-en, a large nursery specializing in small-sized bonsai. Every other tree was worth a double-take. Here are some of their chojubai.

Japanese flowering quince ‘Chojubai’

Chojubai (subtract two zeros to get an idea of the price in USD$)

Chojubai

Some of the trident maples I found were equally interesting.

Trident maple

Semi-cascade trident maple

Multi-trunk trident maple

For each well-established bonsai on the bench there were many score more in development.

Shohin bonsai in development

Many of Sasaki’s best sales trees were at the Green Club – more on that in a future post – but there was no lack of fun trees back at the nursery.

Korean hornbeam

Chirimenkazura – dwarf star jasmine, Trachelospermum asiaticum var. Nana

I’m a huge fan of dwarf star jasmine – it’s one of a number of varieties I enjoy in Japan but don’t see very often in the US.

Chirimenkazura

Chirimenkazura

The ume were at their best the day I visited – just a few days ahead of full-bloom.

Ume

Ume

Check back Friday for more from Gashou-en.