Why is the Green Cloud orchid hailed as the Queen of Spring Orchids

Spring OrchidQueen - Green Cloud  
       The Spring Orchid Green Cloud was discovered in the jiyou year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1869 AD) at Daqingli on Wuyun Mountain in Hangzhou. Wuyun Mountain lies between the Nine Creeks and Eighteen Gullies and Yunqi in Hangzhou, at an altitude of 334 m. Its ridges and slopes are deep and beautiful, the surrounding mountains flow with green and congeal into emerald, a scene of lush verdure, and it is a famous high mountain among the peaks of the West Lake scenic area. Folk tales also tell that Guanyin, on her way to the Western Heaven to pay homage to the Buddha, passed by this mountain, lingered there reluctant to leave, and dropped a lotus flower that turned into five-colored auspicious clouds. Legend says that a widow surnamed Chen, who lived in Liuxia Town in the western suburbs of Hangzhou, was on her way to Hangzhou to lodge a complaint when she saw, in the dead hollow of an old plum tree by the roadside, a plant of unique shape giving off a fresh fragrance -orchid- so she picked it and stuck it in her hair, and wherever she passed, bystanders caught a faint, delicate scent. The widow Chen's uncles bullied her for being alone and tried to seize her house and land. Unwilling to be trampled on, she went to Hangzhou city to file a lawsuit, and it happened that she passed the long-famous Shao Zhiyan Writing Brush Shop. Theorchidin her hair attracted the shop owner Mr. Shao Zhiyan, who was passionately fond oforchids. Shao Zhiyan immediately sought out the widow and pressed her about the orchid'sFlower'sorigin, but the widow ignored him and just kept walking on. It turned out that her mood was very bad because of the lawsuit. When Boss Shao learned the whole story, he said to her: “As long as you take me to find this orchid, I will certainly help you win your lawsuit.” The widow finally agreed to take him to look for the orchid, and so Green Cloud, the finest of orchids living deep in the mountains, at last appeared before the world. Later this Shao Zhiyan even used the image of Green Cloud as the trademark of his Zhilan brand writing brushes, a practice continued to this day. In the end the widow Chen also won her lawsuit, and Shao Zhiyan spent a good deal of silver on her behalf, hence the saying that Shao Zhiyan bought this orchid at a high price. The discovery of Green Cloud was purely accidental, but it was collected by someone with a keen eye,cultivatedand thus handed down - though this is only a legend.
Green Cloud is known as the queen of Spring Orchids, and possessing it is the ultimate goal oforchid growers.  About ninety years ago, Hu Zhitian of Yuyao, in order to obtain the rare flower Green Cloud, made a special trip on horseback to Shao Zhiyan's home in Hangzhou, where he bought one shoot and a half of old grass for 1440 silver yuan. He returned home joyfully, but because of a mistake in cultivation it failed to survive. Later, Jin Laogao, the son-in-law of Zhu Youren of Shaoxing, brought three plants of Green Cloud from the Shao Zhiyan Writing Brush Shop in Hangzhou and asked 4400 silver yuan for them. Hu Xiaoyan's mother, Madam Huang, bought them all and cultivated them. In the same year after planting, two new shoots sprouted, and they were divided into two pots. After many years of growing, more than one hundred plants were produced in succession, and they have been handed down to this day. (Excerpted from "Hu Xiaoyan of the Orchid-Growing Family Talks About Green Cloud")
 Green Cloud is a multi-petal lotus-type rare variety. The outer petals are short and broad, with contracted bases and flared corners, mussel-shell-shaped sepals, and a Liu Hai tongue. The leaves are short and broad, thick and glutinous in texture, slanting upright, 10—20 cm long and 0.7—1.1 cm wide; on mature plants the basal leaves twist slightly into a bow shape, the veins are white and bright and extremely fine, the leaf color is deep green with an exceptional luster, and the serrations along the leaf margins are sparse, with only the middle part of the margin of the central leaf bearing slight fine teeth. Most leaves are V-shaped, the foot sheaths clasp tightly and do not splay apart, and the leaf tips are blunt and rounded. The new shoots are emerald green like jade, with a faint pink flush, and they sprout relatively late, generally not emerging from the soil until late June to early July. The flower buds are pale pinkish-purple, marked with coarse, sparse purple-red stripes; the bracts are broad and large, fully enclosing the bud, and the bud is round and full, while the bud sheath has a purple-red sandy blush with green coloring. The flower stalk is 6-8 cm tall, thick and round, green with a sprinkling of pale purple clouding, the top node gradually turning pale green, bearing 1—2 flowers. The petals are short and round, and the flower color is emerald green, very delicate and charming. According to ancient orchid manuals, one stalk with two flowers can open as many as 20 petals, and a single flower opens 10 petals; usually there are 5 sepals, 4 sepals, and 1 lip, or 4 sepals, 4 sepals, and 2 tongues, and it is said that some can open 3 tongues. When a Green Cloud flower opens 8—10 petals, its symmetry is good, varied and colorful, unpredictable, and sometimes the petals even show butterfly-like changes, very beautiful; some open only normal lotus-type petals, but this is simply because the plant is not strong or the variety is not pure. Most Green Cloud on the market today come from tissue-cultured seedlings from Korea, and there are also techno-orchids such as Green Cloud Crown and Green Cloud Snow and other variegated Green Clouds; these are not the true transmitted Green Cloud. These plants are tall and large in form, and their spirit, fragrance, and flower shape differ greatly from the original old variety of Green Cloud.  Yet a Green Cloud opening 7-8 petals is already rare, and one that can open a full 9-10 petals is almost nowhere to be found.
     For a long time people have said Green Cloud is difficult to grow, but in fact this is because they have not grasped her habits. Green Cloud by nature likes coolness, needs sufficient light, and should see plenty of morning sunlight; it is best grown on the drier side, requires a well-ventilated environment with fresh, unpolluted air, and the growing medium must have good permeability and retain water and nutrients. In terms of management, apply dilute fertilizer frequently, and do not divide the plants too often. As long as you treat Green Cloud with an ordinary frame of mind, you will certainly be able to grow it with abundant flowers and lush leaves.