An epiphany on the road of growing orchids, shared with friends who love orchids

Author: Junzi Zhi Xiang

     The more orchids I grow, the less I feel for them. I recall when I bought my first pot of orchids, it had no flowers, just an ordinary Cymbidium goeringii. Placed on the tea table, watching the elegant sway of the orchid leaves, sipping clear tea, I savored the affairs of the world with a far-reaching state of mind. Smiling as I thought about the various ways people behave in this world. A sense of transcendence, a sense of leisure. The second pot I bought was a wild-collected green cymbidium in bloom. I was amazed by the carefree and unconstrained nature of the flowers, like a crane soaring above the highest heavens, gathering lingzhi in the clouds. Smelling the subtle fragrance of the orchid, it refreshed the heart and mind.

    Now. There are more orchids, dozens of pots, yet the heart for admiring orchids is gone. The price has become one of the standards for judging orchids; sometimes, more precisely speaking, it is about admiring money. My mind is full of the Four Great Heavenly Kings, the New and Old Eight Kinds, butterfly flowers and bizarre flowers, famous varieties and rare varieties. I began to pursue my so-called quality of orchid growing, and a worldly and utilitarian heart arose spontaneously. I began to yearn for famous varieties, began to yearn for bizarre flowers. Every day when I got home I would crouch over the internet, hoping to find a treasure, to snag a bargain, sitting for hours. Seeing sellers offer famous new flowers, I could not stop myself, I became restless, and unless I bought them I was not satisfied. If my finances were insufficient, I would buy some weak old mother plants with scorched tips and broken leaves for propagation. Dreaming that in time they would grow into a large pot, but the result went against my wishes; they departed on a crane early, and then I began to blame heaven and complain about others, cursing the seller as a black-hearted profiteer, sighing that human hearts are no longer what they once were. I always wanted to one day astonish the world and become a leading figure in the orchid world. Like a gambler, I bought dragon-root grasses, bought wild-collected grasses, purchased them in large quantities, planted them, and after they finished blooming gave them away everywhere, or planted dozens of shoots into a large pot and let them fend for themselves. Treating them like weeds, my love for orchids was utterly lost. Sigh~~~~

   The orchid is not at fault; I am the one at fault. I ask myself honestly, what do orchids bring me, what do I want from orchids! Quietness, a delicate fragrance, that is what the orchid wants to bring me. Fame and profit are what I now want.

   I looked again at the flowers and plants in my pots. Which one is not a good flower? Although there are no so-called famous flowers or unique specimens, what difference does it make? Orchids are essentially all the same! There is no such thing as noble or rare, new or old, extraordinary or peerless. It is we who artificially divide them into grades according to human preferences and worldly standards. Growing well the orchids within your own ability, and not pursuing things beyond the essence of orchids, is true orchid growing.