While at my favorite garden center, I like to stroll and look around at the various plants, flowers, trees, and other displays.
The below photograph is one of my favorite areas in the store. I always enjoy looking at this miniature railroad track scene as it circles around a miniature forest. If you look closely you will see a small turtle and a small ladder near the back rail road tracks.
I believe the below photograph is a sample of a penjing planting which includes bonsai trees. After doing some internet research, I found that Penjing is the ancient Chinese art of artistically forming small plants and trees into miniature landscapes or natural scenes.
A Penjing planting creates emotion for the viewer–peace, happiness, calmness, serenity, etc. The surreal scenes can include small human or horse figures, moss, water, small plants, and carefully sized rocks.
The history I’ve read online, stated penjing goes back to the Buddhist monks from China who brought the art form to Japan. Students of penjing can often study ten years or more to learn this garden craft.
Carefully Placed Rocks in Penjing Planting 
Small Plants Used in Penjing Scenes
When we talk about bonsai trees, we usually mean a single tree which has been shaped by intense pruning and restricted pot size. This encourages the growth of a small tree in a shallow pot. Genetic tampering is never done to produce a bonsai tree.
Bonsai trees originated in Japan with some trees being over 1,000 years old. The price of a Bonsai tree is dependent on many factors such as the age, cultivation, and the artistic beauty of the tree. I noticed online a few bonsai trees selling from many thousands to over two million dollars each.
If you look closely at the photograph with the railroad track, you will notice some small bonsai trees for sale on the shelf in the background.
I’m not an expert on either bonsai trees or the art of penjing, but like everyone else, I enjoy viewing the carefully tended and water plants in this miniature garden setting.
A Thank You to Merrifield Garden Center for allowing me to photograph their store for this blog.