Yuan Dynasty Orchid Cultivation: An Analysis of Orchid Growing Techniques in the Yuan Dynasty
The grass has an oblique, upright form, about 35 cm long and about 0.8 wide; the leaf texture is thick and hard, and the leaf color is emerald green and glossy. The outer three petals of the flower are upright, slightly arched forward and embracing, resembling a lotus shape with a slight narrowing at the base and rounded corners, and the texture is glutinous and thick; the inner three petals, the column, basically do not open a window, and the lip is thick, pure white, and slightly curled. The overall flower form is very good (the one with the black background in the picture below is the one that bloomed here this year...
Excerpts from Ancient Orchid Writings--3, "Yuan Dynasty Orchid Cultivation"
In the Tang Dynasty, Guo Tuo's book on tree planting says that growing orchids and huilan fears moisture, and sprinkling water is most taboo. In the Yuan Dynasty, Kong Jingqi (Keqi)'s Zhizheng Zhiji records that an old saying about growing orchids says: they like clear weather and dislike the sun; they like shade and dislike moisture; they like seclusion and dislike remoteness; they like clumps and dislike dense planting. This means they want dryness but not to be exposed to the blazing sun; they want moisture but not much watering; they want concealment but not to be placed in a wild, overgrown place; if they want luxuriance and the seedlings become too many, then they will fail. Another old saying says: only with bamboo should one cultivate orchids, which is the meaning of liking clear weather and disliking the sun, and liking seclusion and disliking remoteness. Orchid growers often place them in sparse bamboo groves, so even if it is clear weather there is no blazing sun, and if it rains they will not become too wet. Only at this point did I realize that Xu Qingteng's poem given to a certain orchid grower has the lines "New bamboos are bent and curved to form a garden, green jade hangs with flowers carved into strips." Together with the dense woods and tall bamboo in the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion of Shanyin, this exactly matches the ancient saying "only with bamboo should one cultivate orchids." It can be seen that the writings of the ancients never set down words without purpose.