A complete analysis of the pros and cons of Jianlan (Cymbidium ensifolium) varieties to help you choose the right one
Yunxi He is honored as "China's Western Orchid City." Baoshan, because it is rich in lotus-petal-type flowers, holds a special place in the orchid world. Here have appeared many fine lotus-petal varieties such as "Yunxi He," "Zixi He," "He Zhi Guan," "Yipin He" and many others, and thus it was jointly named by orchid world masters Mr. Chen Xinqi, Liu Qingyong and Pan Guanghua...
Shizhang Hong Pros: beautiful new shoots, stable and charming flower color, strong fragrance. Cons: during cultivation, patchy marks resembling brushing often appear, strong light easily scorches the leaf tips, and the growing environment needs slightly higher humidity.
Taolin Pros: charming leaf color, pink markings that do not fade even when the plant matures, stable flower color, fragrant. Cons: extremely prone to scorched tips, very low rate of finished plants.
Hongniang Pros: beautiful plant shape, well-formed flowers, vivid flower color, fragrant. Cons: medium sprouting rate; if the potting medium is not kept moist during the sprouting period, black root tips easily occur, causing stunted shoots or poor development, and the first year after being reimported is especially the most difficult to cultivate.
Luniao Zui Pros: beautiful new shoots, easy to cultivate, flowers with a peach-red base and a green tip, fragrant. Cons: the contrast between peach red and green is not vivid enough, and the flowering rate is not high enough.
Caifeng Pros: beautiful variegation color on new shoots that gradually fades as the plant matures, easy to cultivate, high reproduction rate, fragrant. Cons: no obvious drawbacks.
Qingshan Yuquan Pros: snow-white plain-hearted bicolor flower, easy to cultivate, high reproduction rate, fragrant. Cons: the bicolor of the flower easily becomes less striking due to changes in the growing environment.
Huangya Tiegou Pros: beautiful plain-hearted bicolor flower, stable bicolor, easy to cultivate, high reproduction rate, strong resistance, fragrant. Cons: not easy to flower.
Baodao Yanzhi Pros: new shoots show snow-white swept-tip variegation, flower buds have an alluring color, fragrant. Cons: the swept-tip variegation easily scorches at the tips, and the outer petals are somewhat narrow.
Qi Xiannv Pros: large flowers, fragrant, very free-flowering; mine flowered 4 times last year Cons: leaves are tall and large, plant shape is poor
Luguang Deng Produced in Rongxian, Sichuan, it is still the leader among the four-season plum-petal varieties! The flower shape is well-formed, the flower color is verdant green as if about to drip, the center is neat and rounded, the outer petals open and close just right, and the leaf shape matches the plant comfortably! The flowering performance is relatively stable! At its best it is quite beautiful! However, the sprouting rate is not very high, and exceptionally strong plants are rarely seen! The characteristics on the plant are not obvious, making it rather inconvenient when selecting and introducing it!
Xiahhuang Mei The flower shape is well-formed, the flower is pale yellow, the center is neat and rounded, the outer petals open and close just right, and the leaf shape matches the plant slightly less well! The flowering performance is quite stable!! However, the sprouting rate is not very high, and exceptionally strong plants are rarely seen! The characteristics on the plant are medium-soft drooping leaves, with wavy undulations upon careful observation, bearing faint snake-skin markings, and it is hard to judge without having cultivated it!
Cancong Mei Large-flowered type, well-formed, flower color pale yellow like jade, the center is extremely rounded, known as the "peerless center"; when the flowering performance is good, the outer petals open and close just right, and the leaf shape matches the plant comfortably! Along the coastal areas the flowering performance is considered stable! In Sichuan the flowering performance is rarely like when it was first collected from the wild!! However, the sprouting rate is medium, and exceptionally strong plants are rarely seen! The characteristics on the plant are not obvious, slightly fish-belly shaped, with leaf tips lacking a blunt-rounded feel, making it rather inconvenient when selecting and introducing it!
It should also be noted that: this plant comes from Xinjin, and was first named "Wawalian" because both its color and center resemble a baby's round face, so delicate it seems it would break at a touch! We call it "Xian He"! When a friend from Qingshen sent it to an exhibition, it was named "Cancong"! That is why we know so much about it!
Gai Mei! (Yipin Mei) The flower shape is well-formed, the flower color is verdant green as if about to drip, the center is neat, the outer petals open and close just right, and the leaf shape matches the plant comfortably! The flowering performance is moderately stable! At its best it is quite beautiful! However, the sprouting rate is high, and exceptionally strong plants are rarely seen! The characteristics on the plant are dark green (for those cultivated in Sichuan), the leaves are arranged in a V shape, the leaf-base ring is obvious, the leaf tips are slightly blunt, often with a twisted turn, and the leaves are broad and thick! Growing Yipin is not difficult, but keeping it strong is not easy! I have seen a Yipin with leaves 2.2CM wide and 6 leaves! Only once!
He Wang (Are there two kinds of He Wang?) There are not two kinds, because in the early years a Hong Kong, China orchid enthusiast took away half of this plant, and that line was called "Hong Kong, China-produced He Wang"; perhaps due to external factors such as cultivation conditions, the flowering performance of this line is mostly not as good as that of the Sichuan line! As for how to make it flower better, according to the introduction by senior Deng Yuanxing of Mount Emei, the potting medium should be changed once every 3 years, and it is best to add yellow soil, as this benefits both sprouting and flower color! This is the secret of why the flowers of Sichuan He Wang are relatively pale white and the plants are strong!
This variety is a large-flowered type, well-formed, with pale white flower color, a neat and rounded center, outer petals that open and close just right, and a leaf shape that matches the plant comfortably! The flowering performance is moderately stable! At its best it is quite beautiful! However, the sprouting rate is not high, and exceptionally strong plants are rarely seen! The characteristics on the plant are: broad and thick leaves, fish-belly shape, medium-soft drooping, with others not obvious, making it rather inconvenient when selecting and introducing it!
Hong Yipin. Produced in Mingshan, Sichuan, the flower shape is well-formed, the flower color is yellow with red, quite beautiful, the center is neat and rounded, the outer petals open and close just right, and the leaf shape matches the plant comfortably! The flowering performance is quite stable! At its best it is quite beautiful! The sprouting rate is high, and exceptionally strong plants are rarely seen! The plant type has soft drooping leaves and is not very tall! The flowers are medium-sized! The characteristics on the plant are not obvious, making it rather inconvenient when selecting and introducing it!