Succulents are not just plants, but works of art

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Thanks to the author [Tangxin Dan Xiaogui] for theoriginal submissionsharing

Submission date: 2018-03-10

Edited and compiled by: Encyclopedia Jun

Location: Nanning, Guangxi

Leaning on the Railing Dream

 The meaning lingers on

Xiao Yi Senior; Fir 

00:00/05:40

Succulents are not only fun to grow, but also fun to photograph. I love planting, I love photography, I love cooking. There is a saying in "A Bite of China": all beautiful things are interconnected. Since succulents are so beautiful, why not photograph them.

I live in Nanning, Guangxi, and my balcony does not get enough sunlight. In order to have a child, I do not plan to use grow lights. Perhaps this is what makes me a Buddhist-style succulent hobbyist, relying as much as possible on the sun's ultraviolet rays for coloring and on the soil ratio to prevent etiolation and control shape. If they cannot turn red, then let them stay green.

I am a serious person; either I do not do something, or I give it my all. To grow them well, I overcame many difficulties. Holding back my disgust and fear, I picked off mealybugs with my hands. In winter I mixed soil with my bare hands, and my hands cracked. In summer I got up every day at five or six, before dawn, to blow the water out of the leaf centers. I have never believed that succulents are plants for lazy people; to learn anything, you must do everything seriously.

I like some niche succulents, or ones with nice-sounding names. Many of the ones I grow are varieties with very little information on Baidu.

Summer came much earlier than I expected, so I can only take advantage of this time to keep as many of their beautiful appearances as possible, and sort out my feelings to get through the summer.

A simple backdrop I set up myself

Photos taken with a phone are severely distorted, and the colors are far from what the eye sees. I hope to restore the succulents' own colors as much as possible. I made some efforts for this. To keep the original colors, I did not use lights, because lights make the flower pots reflect light and make the succulents look blue. That is not what I wanted. I relied only on diffused sunlight, adjusting highlights and shadows through the position, color, angle, and material of the reflector and background, to restore the original colors as much as possible. By using different shooting times and different weather, I achieved different artistic styles. Bringing aesthetic enjoyment to myself and everyone.

First I must show my bowl of Salmon, this is the anniversary gift I gave my husband. Unknowingly so many years have passed, thank you for your company all along. Salmon is his favorite food and also his favorite succulent variety. My husband even wrote a poem especially for this bowl of Salmon.

Three lifetimes of reincarnation, the Bridge of Three Lives; by the bridge, do you remember the fish thinking of you? Taking up the brush to write of the road of three lives, not letting tender feelings wither away their youth

The plump and adorable Ice Age, I never thought Ice Age could be so beautiful.

Devil's Feather, I love its unique dark pattern, as beautiful as a feather

Siberia, just like a big tree. The green, yellow, and red of the leaves make the overall color layers richer.

Ramlet, Lawrence sp

Cat's Eye Stone, on a whim I used a sparkling background, and the multi-directional refraction of light unexpectedly produced a dreamy feel

From top to bottom, unknown hybrid, Crystal Rose, Qinxin x Halina

I have never quite liked this set of photos; I chose the wrong background, which made the overall color lean toward blue-green.

Blood Spot Roma, I love both of them

Xiajiao, a member of the Roci Ma family, another niche variety, this is the hardest succulent I have encountered so far to photograph, because it is too red. It took a full two hours of shooting to restore its original color.

Peach Green, Halo. I especially like the pairing of these two pots with the plants.

Xiuyan

Large-leaf Xiuyan

Moonstone and Brave

Bonfire and Shenxiu. One rich, one elegant.

Shenxiu, as a member of the thin-leaf group, Steel Leaf Lotus x Guanghan Palace. It has not been listed among the Three Immortals of Thin Leaves, and has always been a niche variety. I first came to know this variety because of its strange name. I do not know who was so clever as to name it. Shenxiu is not overshadowed by the brilliance of Bonfire, but instead brings out a light, delicate beauty.

Shenxiu, one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions, the last of the seven mansions of the White Tiger of the West, namely the seven bright stars of Orion.

Puff Pastry Duck, my husband always likes to call it Beijing Roast Duck

Tricolor Crested, my only crested one

White Whale, a niche variety, overall very small, and also very cute. The black dot at the leaf tip is its special feature.

St. Louis, I could not resist lowering the saturation on this picture.

Unknown succulent, seems to be called Anna Xavier

Two unknown succulents, so cute

Crystal Rose, Black Rose sp

Dahongpao, Original Huayueye

Ten Miles of Peach Blossom, the color is so vivid it looks fake

Madame Finger and Orion, both are varieties with good quality and low price

Blue Heron and City of Angels are both varieties with beautiful names.

The City of Angels that can be found all look different; I collected four forms.

Heavy-flavor succulents, I deliberately saved them to shoot on a cloudy early morning, so that they would have character.

Nebula, a variety I especially like. Dark pattern, black series, heavy flavor. Once an expensive luxury item, now at cabbage price.

Red Pink Beauty and Jinmingxue. Both show a light pink color when in state, very beautiful.

Unknown hybrid and Jingye

Wax Peony and Absinthe. Orange series

Firefly

Da Vinci and Andamelo

Mojilian and AK Maria. Both are miniature plants

Dutch Winter Cloud

The Orion bouquet my husband gave me

Ulakla

Maccadimia, Melige, Alalei

First Love

Swan Lake

Beauty sp

Inada Hime, Candy Beauty, New Perfume

Cherry Blossom, Mexican Giant

Green Youth

Dolphin Princess, a beautiful name, a very bizarre-looking niche variety

Yuanluo

Mirror Lion. I do not know whether to count it as a Law Firm. A hard-to-color, unpopular succulent. A couple of days ago the weather in Nanning was abnormal; just after the Lantern Festival it was already over 30 degrees, and it, which had not colored in ten thousand years, actually turned red in one day. I hurried to photograph it as a memento.

Small-head mixed plate

I especially like the Moon Shadow series; there are too many in the Moon Shadow series, so I put them together specially

Moon Shadow sp, the beauty standard-bearer

What is this x White Moon Shadow

Onmyoji, Alba Beauty mutation

Pink Moon Shadow, my husband always teases me that this flower pot looks like a rice bowl

Eros and Pahonell

Xueyu, or Ice Snow?

Bloody Mary

Sasha Queen

Baimeisheng and f048? But 048 seems to be inward-curved

Water Lotus, I do not know whether this belongs to Moon Shadow, it looks quite similar

A bowl of Ice Plum my husband gave me

Josephine

The plump Snow Rabbit, it looks delicious at first glance

Strawberry Ice, Original Berry

Gemini Berry, Cream Berry, cannot tell them apart

Halina

Athena Xiangfei

Pirate Ship, like a bun, so cute

New Snowball, it had not colored yet when I photographed it

White Moon Shadow

Simpson

Blue Surprise, Blue Surprise x Blue Velvet (Blue Blue)

Xina sp, Moon Shadow sp

Tiny Burger

Qinxin, very translucent

Ascension

Haibin Grey, Onsno

Haibin Grey x Mojilian

Halina x Jinmingmie

Ebony is my favorite, it must be shown separately, the small Ebony is very cute

Growing Ebony in a bird's nest

This is a basket of odd Ebonies, their leaves all have special features

Ebony x Golden Maria?

Ebony Sword

Next are all the beautiful Claw Hybrid series

This one is very distinctive, named Emerald

Various hybrids

Hybrid collective dormitory

The small cart is very practical

A corner of the balcony

By the time I have written this far, it is almost dark; it is Jingzhe, spring rain is falling, and the balcony is all wet. I will take a few photos and post them before it gets completely dark.

Finally, some photos taken while traveling

The poplar forest of Ejina Banner and the sunrise at Juyan Lake

Pudacuo Forest Park in Shangri-La

Dali and Lijiang, beautiful even in casual snapshots

This article is by the authorExclusive authorizationWeChat official account: Succulent Plant Encyclopedia (ID: duoroubaike); the article content does not represent the views or stance of the official account

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