Characteristics of Plum Blossoms (Understanding the Cultivation Methods of Plum Blossoms)

Huamujun

Ten swear words on the shore (3)

Miao Qing _

Apricot branches are connected with elms, and flowers are like plums.

The famous Yu is a sister in the village.

This is a poem about elm flowers written by Miao in the Xianfeng period of Qing Dynasty. This poem is very simple. It's just an earlier poem describing the flowering of elm trees, which means that apricot flowers are grafted on elm trees. It is pink and full of flowers, just like plum blossoms. In fact, the poet may have misunderstood that elm leaves and plums are not grafted like this.

Elm (scientific name: Almond), also known as powder elm, elm and white elm, is a deciduous (semi-evergreen) shrub of Rosaceae and Peach. 2-3 meters high; Branches are spreading, with many short branches; Branchlets gray, annual branches grayish brown, glabrous or puberulent when young; Leaves on short branches are often clustered, and leaves on annual branches are alternate; Leaf blade broadly elliptic to obovate; 1-2 flowers, opening first and then leaves; Calyx tube broadly bell-shaped, sepals ovate or ovate-lanceolate, glabrous, sparsely serrate near apex; Petals suborbicular or broadly obovate, apex obtuse, sometimes slightly concave, pink; The fruit is nearly spherical, short at the top, red outside and pubescent; The pulp is thin and cracks when cooked; The nucleus is nearly spherical, with a thick hard shell, almost uneven on both sides, blunt and round at the top, and irregular network on the surface. The flowering period is April-May and the fruiting period is May-July.

Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. is a unique tree species in the north. It originated in the north of China, mainly distributed in Heilongjiang, and now it is distributed almost all over the country. The main breeding bases are distributed in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Shandong, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other provinces.

The original species of plum blossoms are seedlings, not horticultural varieties. In other words, the author of the first poem thought it was a peach blossom grafted on an elm tree, which is why he didn't know much about plants. Moreover, the relationship between Ulmaceae and Rosaceae is not strong, so it is difficult to survive and become a new variety.

Eucommia ulmoides is named for its leaves like elm leaves and flowers like plum blossoms. There is a history of cultivation in China for hundreds of years. Although it is not long, it is favored and concerned by people. The reason is that there are few flowers in early spring in the north, and the ancients enjoyed plum blossoms. Unfortunately, most of them grow in the Yangtze River valley, so it is difficult to survive in the north. However, the elm with plum blossom shape and pink and bright peach blossom color has the same leaves as elm leaves, which are green and pleasant and extremely cold-resistant. Therefore, it was immediately favored by people after being transplanted from Northeast China to Beijing. After hundreds of years of continuous cultivation and selection, there are now dozens of varieties.

Many provinces are cultivating and breeding elms, and the common varieties are elms (small flowers, pink or pink in color, close to wild primitive species). ), semi-double elm leaf plum (pink flower, calyx 5 ~ 10, petals 10 or so. ), Eucommia ulmoides leaves nearly triangular, pink flowers, strong cold resistance. ), double elm leaf plum (pink flowers, late flowering. ), Prunus ulmoides (branchlets and petioles are purple, calyx 10, 5 triangles, 5 lanceolate, small flowers, pink or purplish, early flowering. ), etc. Among them, plum blossom and green plum are the most cultivated.

Elm leaves are dense, with flowers first and leaves later. The flowers are lush, delicate and bright pink. From a distance, it looks like rosy clouds and steaming clouds. In the garden, elm leaves are often planted with forsythia and Yingchun, and when they are in full bloom, they are red and yellow, which is more spring-like. Some elm leaves are planted among rocks, which set off each other and complement each other, with good visual impact.

There are many ways to propagate Eucommia ulmoides Oliv., such as grafting, sowing, rameting and layering. And grafting propagation mostly uses trees with strong affinity such as peach tree, apricot tree and plum tree in Rosaceae as rootstocks.

Eucommia ulmoides has strong adaptability, poor tolerance and lax requirements for soil. It grows well in loose and fertile sandy soil and slightly acidic soil with more humus, and can tolerate mild saline-alkali soil. Neutral soil with good ventilation grows best. However, ebony is not resistant to stagnant water, and the soil should avoid cohesive soil with poor drainage.

Du Zhongxi likes humid environment and bears drought. Basically, ground planting can grow normally without too much management. Potted plants should be watered according to the principle of "no watering, no watering and thorough watering". The watering frequency should be increased in summer, decreased in winter, and mainly dry in winter. In addition, potted plants should pay attention to cold and heat preservation to avoid freezing injury, and ground planting can overwinter normally.

Du Zhong likes fat. When planting in the field, several shovels of decomposed cattle and horse manure can be used as the base fertilizer, while potted plants can be mixed with animal manure such as bone meal, cake residue or chicken manure as the base fertilizer. Flowers fall in spring every year, flower buds differentiate in summer, and fertilizer can be applied again before winter. It is very beneficial to the growth of plants after flowering, which can make them flourish and flourish.

The most commonly used Eucommia ulmoides tree type in gardens is "natural happiness". When making potted bonsai, you can make it with seedlings or with ancient piles in the field. Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. should be inclined to dry, lie dry and hang branches.