hey leslie,

the seiju is a sport (mutation) of the hokkaido elm, which i believe is the smallest leaved elm, it was found in california in the 1970's and reproduced from there.they are both subspeices of ulmus parvifolia or chinese elm.
as for the age i have no idea how old it is i do know how old its not tho.
i bought it late last fall as a present to myself ... it was $150...i searched 100s of trees and saw the potential in this one

Thank you Keith,

What an interesting history. The leaves *are* amazingly tiny on this Elm. I really like that you have photographed this one at various stages of growth throughout the year. The photo taken outdoors in it's natural environment is beautiful...I don't know...it seems to make the tree look more realistic. If I may suggest however, that you try to avoid using another large tree as the background...your little elm tends to blend in with the tree bark so well it begins to disappear. Beautiful specimen!

All I can say is that I'm in love with this tree. It's really something to be proud of.

id have to commend mike at bonsai west i just tweeked his creation,definately my only "ready for show" tree
the root system is kinda non-existant tho (at least in spring)it has quite a chunk under the trunk so it was an airlayer
as for the pic it was the only place there was sun and the flash pics looked like crap

The sun on your Shohin is really lovely, Keith. Looks like early morning sun?... or late afternoon. Perfect! Will you post this on Pinkham's "Dormant Trees" topic? It definitely needs to be *shown off*!

yeah i have a few others ive posted around... maybe ill take more pics its still been warm here its not too tough to pull them out of their bunker... gives me a reason to poke around once more before they're burried

howdy,
hes out of the ground and growing well...as you will see it recieved some "natural pruning" over winter by my frendly neighborhood vole.it really surpized me in the amount of growth even with 90% of last years growth gone. i think it will do good in the end. can't wait to see...

This still is a great tree. one question..What is a vole?

Wow manofthetrees! That's a great mature looking bonsai! I'm so jealous of the small leaves! And pinkham, i was wondering the same thing.. Maybe a vole is a violent mole?

A vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, smaller ears and eyes, and differently formed molars (high-crowned and with angular cusps instead of low-crowned and with rounded cusps). There are approximately 155 species of voles. They are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in North America. Vole species form the subfamily Arvicolinae with the lemmings and the muskrats.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vole