The story of my old Celtis sinensis.

This 111 cm high Chinese Hackberry (Celtis Sinensis) that was imported from China came into my lucky possession in 1993 when I won/bought it for only 875 guilders/ 350 Euro in a foreclosure Bonsai auction nearby Rotterdam in Holland! I could not have been happier to have won this amazing 111cm/43.4 Inch high Tree-like Bonsai! The only problem was that it had to be out of there right after the auction…and I drove a very small fiat those days?! Luckily a befriended Bonsai trader (Ed de Groot) transported it in his large truck to his EDO Bonsai centre in Blijswijk (NL) where he kindly offered to keep it in his warmed greenhouse during the upcoming winter period! Later in Spring, I rented a truck to transport her to my house. Getting it into my garden was a difficult adventure and I had to remove my garden door to get her inside!

Below: Repotting it later on my own from its massive Chinese pot into her new beautiful huge Walsall pot was a pleasant challenge, to say the least!

Below: Quiz: Can you tell why I named her the “LION CRUSHER”? 😊

Below: In 1999 I entered the ”LION CRUSHER” into the second famous and now legendary “Ginkgo Awards” in Belgium. Where she received a lot of praise!

Below: Jan. 2001. In the specially made for her makeshift winter shelter in my small town garden! But she was so worth it!

A few years later because she was so difficult to handle by myself and took up so much space in my very small garden, I brought her all the way back to the “Ginkgo Bonsai Centre” in Belgium to swap or sell Her to my dear friend the owner/Bonsai artist Dany User! Danny was kind enough to swap her with me for a mid-sized Juniperus itoigawa fresh from Japan. It has a promising trunk with a large Shari and Jin (deadwood) and tons of new short unworked foliage all over the place. Later I took it for days with me to our record store we then run in Rotterdam (Holland) and styled it in a few days on the counter there!

Below: Not much later I entered her in the famous “Noelanders Trophy” in Belgium where she earned a nomination! 🙏🤞👍

Now looking back, it is funny how these Bonsai things can go?!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Kara Motto Bonsai.