Juniper Cascade Bonsai for Beginners - Shohin Kengai

Today I want to introduce this Juniper Bonsai as a new project for this year.
I recently bought this Shohin cascade-style bonsai from my local houseplant store Nell and Green Botanics. https://nellandgreen.co.uk/

It’s still very young with a thin trunk and juvenile foliage but it already has a very nice cascade structure and in the spring it will be an enjoyable project to wire and prune into a very attractive bonsai.

In bonsai terms, Shohin simply means “a small thing” so refers to the smaller type of bonsai usually under 10” 25cm in height.

A Cascade is a style of bonsai that represents trees that grow on the edge of cliffs and slopes, with branches that grow down below the base of the tree. A beautiful testimony to how nature will survive in the harshest of situations.

The cascade-style bonsai will usually be displayed in these attractive tall pots to show off the downward-growing branches.

As it’s mid-winter here in the UK the tree is dormant and so I won't be working on it until the weather warms up and it starts to grow again, at that stage I will cut back some of the inner compact growth to let some more light in and wire it into its initial shape. Over the summer I will grow out the branches and start to refine the foliage.

Be sure to subscribe if you want to follow along with the progress of this Juniper.

If you have any suggestions on styling and how you would tackle this bonsai feel free to let me know in the comments, I always enjoy reading them.

Thanks for watching, I’ll catch you again soon.


#BonsaiForBeginners #ShohinBonsai #JuniperBonsai