Flowering Quince Bonsai ‘Chojubai’ (Chaenomeles japonica)

Chojubai is the dwarf, or nana, form of Chaenomeles japonica — the Japanese flowering quince — and one of the most sought-after subjects in small-size bonsai. It is not a single clone but a family of dwarf selections, and there is little firm information out there on how many exist — so the one thing we promise is the flower: ours is the red-flowered form. A member of the rose family and a close relative of quince, apple and the flowering cherries, it packs the whole character of a full-sized flowering quince into a miniature: leaves the size of a fingernail, twigs that branch in dense zig-zags, and fine thorns along the shoots.

What makes the dwarf form so prized for bonsai is its hormonal balance. The nana form grows with little vigour in the top but flowers with extraordinary generosity, opening waxy red blooms on the old wood — often several times a season — and setting small, fragrant yellow fruits. Because the internodes are so short, careful, repeated pruning builds a very dense branch structure quickly; the twiggy, flower-studded silhouette you see on show trees is the direct reward of that patient work. Left alone it stays small: the whole species has a strong basal dominance, rarely pushing past 30–40 cm, and instead throws new shoots from the base — which is exactly why Chojubai is so naturally suited to multi-trunk, clump and root-connected group styles rather than a single formal trunk.

This listing offers our red-flowered Chojubai in two sizes of the same selection: a young rooted cutting — the ideal, inexpensive way to start a mame or to build from zero — and an older, already-flowering specimen with established structure and the character bark. Both are grown on their own roots in our nursery from our own cuttings. For seasonal care, feeding around flowering and how we build ramification, see our Chaenomeles japonica bonsai care guide.

Cultivation note: Chojubai flowers on old and short spur wood, so resist shearing everything back in one go — prune selectively after the main flush and let the spurs build. The shoots carry fine thorns; wire and handle with a little care. Its one real weakness is chlorosis in hard, limy water and vigorous suckering from the base, which you can either remove or use to develop a clump.