How is the Huilan orchid 'Lao Ran Zi' as a lazy bloomer? Orchid photo appreciation
Petal type: Red-sheath class plum petal. History: Selected during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty by the Ruan family of Jiashan, Zhejiang. Also known as Ruan Zi. Characteristics: The three petals are short, narrow and deep, with level shoulders, divided sepals with a large Guanyin hood-shaped central column, and a large round tongue; sometimes the flowers bloom in a congested manner; the tip of the lip petal is pinched narrow and not spreading, upturned or skewed, hence the common name 'Steelyard-hook-head Lao Ran Zi'. The flower scape is slender and long. It is one of the old eight varieties of Huilan...
Petal type: Red-sheath class plum petal. History: Selected during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty by the Ruan family of Jiashan, Zhejiang. Also known as Ruan Zi. Characteristics: The three petals are short, narrow and deep, with level shoulders, divided sepals with a large Guanyin hood-shaped central column, and a large round tongue; sometimes the flowers bloom in a congested manner; the tip of the lip petal is pinched narrow and not spreading, upturned or skewed, hence the common name 'Steelyard-hook-head Lao Ran Zi'. The flower scape is slender and long. It is one of the old eight varieties of Huilan.
According to the records in "A Brief History of Orchids", Lao Ran Zi is also known as Ruan Zi, and was produced during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty from the Ruan family dye workshop in Jiashan. The book's evaluation of it is: "The most vigorous and sinewy of the old red Huilan varieties"; and the orchid master Wang Shuping of Yuyao wrote in his "Fifty Years of Experience in Talking about Orchids" that "the tongue leans to the left, and the plant is extremely difficult to grow". These two books extremely accurately summarize all the characteristics of Lao Ran Zi.
In April of this year, on the sixth day after the top flower of Lao Ran Zi opened, I took a photo of it as a memento, and then cut the flower and placed it in a vase. After waiting for the other Huilan flowers to bloom one after another and filling a roll of film, I took it to be developed, and by then it was already two weeks later. When the photos came out, I suddenly realized that Lao Ran Zi had not been photographed well; the flowers were too small in the picture, so I had to try photographing the Lao Ran Zi that was placed in the vase again. From the photos, it can be seen that Lao Ran Zi belongs to the category of flowers with a very distinct form. Although the outer three petals are not very broad, they are extremely tight, with a deep Guanyin hood and a large liu-hai tongue. After two weeks, the flower color of Lao Ran Zi had already become somewhat yellowish, but the flower had hardly deformed at all, and the whole spray still gave people a very elegant and especially spirited impression. This shows the sinew and bone of Lao Ran Zi; it is truly a rare top-grade among red Huilan!
The flower form of Lao Ran Zi is generally recorded in orchid books, but these books often lack descriptions of the leaf form of Lao Ran Zi. "Jiangsu and Zhejiang Orchids", "Three Hundred Questions on Chinese Orchids", and Mr. Wang Jun's "Also Talking about 'Nanyang Mei' and 'Lao Ran Zi'" all hold that Lao Ran Zi has short, broad leaves, with an obliquely drooping leaf posture, and particularly many leaves, with leaf length only 30-40 cm. What confuses me most is exactly this. According to my observation, Lao Ran Zi has a pale emerald green leaf color, upright leaf character, broad leaves, and deep leaf grooves forming a "V" shape, with fine and bright white veins, but the leaf length differs, mainly varying by place of origin. The Ran Zi introduced from Jiangsu has a leaf length of about 45 cm, while the Ran Zi introduced from Japan has a leaf length even exceeding 60 cm, but the leaves are somewhat thinner. However, comparing the new growths sent up this year, the difference between the two is already not great. The new leaves of the Ran Zi introduced from Japan did not exceed 50 cm again, but they appear somewhat broader, and the leaves are instead thicker than those produced in Jiangsu. The germination rate is also noticeably higher. Therefore, I think it can only be said this way: the leaf length of Lao Ran Zi is generally about 40 cm, but due to different environments and cultivation methods, it may also grow beyond 60 cm, and of course it may also be shorter.
Another characteristic of Lao Ran Zi is that the plant is difficult to grow, which may be the reason why, as one of the old eight varieties with a very long history, it is now not widely circulated. Lao Ran Zi is difficult to grow, but from my planting experience, this kind of difficulty is not the usual meaning of being prone to collapse or not easy to sprout. Lao Ran Zi is difficult to grow into large plants and strong plants. Her small plants grow relatively more slowly than ordinary Huilan flowers. In daily management, first pay attention to applying thin fertilizer frequently, and in addition, effective and reasonable shading during the summer growing season is the key to increasing the growth rate of new plants of Lao Ran Zi.
