What other names does Japanese honeysuckle have? Get to know one plant every day

Japanese honeysuckle is also called gold-and-silver flower. Its name comes from Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica: "The new and the old alternate, yellow and white reflect each other, hence it is called gold-and-silver flower."

Gold-and-silver flower symbolizes honest love, devoted love, unchanging love and true love.

The story of gold-and-silver flower goes like this: long ago, in a mountain village in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang area, there was a family with two daughters named Jinhua and Yinhua. Later, the elder sister Jinhua fell ill and passed the illness to her younger sister Yinhua. After contracting "heat-toxin disease," they soon died. But a few years after the two sisters died, a flower with alternating yellow and white blossoms grew from the soil of their graves, and people found that this flower had a remarkable effect in treating "heat-toxin disease," and so it gained the name people know today.

How do you grow a gold-and-silver flower bonsai?

Japanese honeysuckle, also called gold-and-silver flower, has strong adaptability to its surroundings, so making a bonsai from gold-and-silver flower is a great choice for beginners.

Gold-and-silver flower usually shows flowers in April, and pinching is stopped in March. Its flowering period is in May each year and lasts roughly 30 days. With proper care, it can bloom a second time in September. The gold-and-silver flower plant is widely distributed, found in most areas on fertile plains and in mountainous regions. For planting gold-and-silver flower, humus soil is still the best choice. It has few pests and diseases, tolerates drought and waterlogging, and is extremely easy to keep alive. It likes moisture, sunlight and fertilizer, and ensuring the soil is fertile is an important prerequisite for gold-and-silver flower to bloom.

How do you choose the trunk of a gold-and-silver flower?

Choose one with a well-developed root system and thick, sturdy branches that have variation. The shape should be quaint and aged, with natural tapering. The branches of gold-and-silver flower can also be trained directionally to achieve the state you want.

Care

When planting a gold-and-silver flower bonsai, there is no particular season. During planting, keep the potting soil moist. This helps the newly planted plant survive. During the growth period of gold-and-silver flower, maintain sufficient water and fertilizer nutrients. Generally, it is best to use okara water as fertilizer. For the bonsai's shape, depending on the size of the tree, keep at least 3 main branches, and leave about 3 new buds on each branch. Fertilize before the flowers open and after they fade.

For gold-and-silver flower bonsai, the more important work is bud removal and pinching. The rules for bud removal are to remove the vigorously growing ones, remove the diseased and weak branches that cannot bloom, and remove buds that affect the tree's shape.

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