What is the simplest way to propagate potted osmanthus? Take cuttings, let them root, then transplant into a flower pot
With advances in container gardening techniques, osmanthus can now be grown at home too. We have already covered how to grow osmanthus and its benefits and uses, so now let's look at how to propagate potted osmanthus. There are many ways to propagate osmanthus, including cuttings, grafting and sowing, and the simplest method is propagation by cuttings
With advances in container gardening techniques, osmanthus can now be grown at home too. We have already covered how to grow osmanthus and its benefits and uses, so now let's look at how to propagate potted osmanthus. There are many ways to propagate osmanthus, including cuttings, grafting and sowing, and the simplest method is propagation by cuttings, which also has a very high survival rate.
1. Propagation methods for potted osmanthus: cuttings are the easiest to keep alive
No flowering plant can do without propagation, and basically all the common garden flowers in daily life can be propagated, so do you know how to propagate potted osmanthus? The most common propagation methods are sowing and cuttings, and both are quite simple; cuttings are the most common for potted plants and the easiest to keep alive. Below we explain these propagation methods one by one.
2. Propagation by cuttings
The best time to take osmanthus cuttings is in May and June. The best cuttings are healthy, semi-lignified shoots of the current year. The base end of the cutting should be cut at a slant, with two to three buds left at the upper end, and a cutting length of 10cm is sufficient. Sandy soil is best for rooting osmanthus cuttings; do not use sticky soil. Propagating osmanthus by cuttings is not difficult, and the survival rate is very high.
After completing the above steps, spray water regularly to keep the soil moist, and still maintain the optimal temperature conditions. Roots usually form in just over 30 days, after which the plant can be transplanted into a flower pot. When watering, guard against waterlogging; osmanthus dislikes dampness and fears waterlogging most of all. Therefore, potted osmanthus should be watered scientifically, watering when dry and letting it dry between waterings; do not water too much, and prevent waterlogging in the pot, lest the roots rot and the leaves drop, which would affect flowering.
Note: Osmanthus is a long-day plant and loves sunlight. Potted plants can be placed in a spot with ample sunlight and good ventilation so they receive full light for photosynthesis, which is what allows lush branches and leaves and abundant, fragrant flowers; however, they must not be exposed to blazing sun. In addition, if the light is too weak, the branches grow thin and weak, which affects flower bud formation. This is the simplest and highest-survival method among the propagation methods for potted osmanthus.
3. Propagation by sowing
Osmanthus fruit usually ripens from April to May, and can be harvested when the skin turns from green to purplish black. Osmanthus seeds undergo after-ripening and need at least half a year of sand storage. After harvesting, sprinkle with water and pile them to ferment, remove the flesh, place in a cool spot to let the seeds air-dry naturally, then store mixed with sand; after sand storage they can be sown in autumn or spring.
Before sowing, prepare the ground well and apply plenty of base fertilizer; they can also be sown in an indoor seedbed. When sowing, place the seed with the hilum facing sideways, so that the radicle and young stem do not bend, which would affect seedling growth later.
4. Propagation by layering
Osmanthus can be propagated by two types of layering: ground layering and air layering. The ground layering method is carried out from spring to early summer, choosing relatively thick 1- to 2-year-old branches on the lower part of a low-growing mother tree; at an easily bendable spot, cut with a sharp knife or girdle the bark, then press it into a 3 to 5 cm deep trench and secure the layered branch with a wooden stick.
The air layering method is carried out in spring by selecting 1- to 2-year-old thick branches from the mother tree, cutting a ring or girdling them as in the ground layering method, then coating the wound with a growing medium, tying plastic bags tightly above and below, and in autumn, after roots have formed, cutting it away from the mother plant to grow on. The above is the complete content on propagation methods for potted osmanthus, and we hope it helps everyone.
A simple cutting method for potted osmanthus
Flower Bonsai Network introduction: Today the editors of Flower Bonsai Network share with you an article on the simple cutting method for potted osmanthus. Let's take a look.
Osmanthus is one of China's ten traditional famous flowers, an excellent landscape tree that combines greening, beautification and fragrance, and is both ornamental and useful; the scent of osmanthus is especially good for the elderly and can help them sleep more deeply every day. So have you ever thought that a sprig of osmanthus broken off by the roadside could be grown into an osmanthus tree? Today the editors will show flower lovers how to grow their own osmanthus tree from osmanthus branches by cuttings.
The best time for osmanthus cuttings is in May and June. The best cuttings are healthy, semi-lignified shoots of the current year. The base end of the cutting should be cut into a horseshoe shape, with two to three buds left at the upper end, and a cutting length of 10cm is sufficient. Sandy soil is best for rooting osmanthus cuttings; do not use sticky soil. Propagating osmanthus by cuttings is not difficult, and the survival rate is very high. After completing the above steps, spray water regularly to keep the soil moist, and still maintain the optimal temperature conditions. Roots usually form in a little over 30 days, after which the plant can be transplanted into a flower pot.
When watering, guard against waterlogging; osmanthus dislikes dampness and fears waterlogging most of all. Therefore, potted osmanthus should be watered scientifically, watering when dry and letting it dry between waterings; do not water too much, and prevent waterlogging in the pot, lest the roots rot and the leaves drop, which would affect flowering.
Osmanthus is a long-day plant and loves sunlight. Potted plants can be placed in a spot with ample sunlight and good ventilation so they receive full light for photosynthesis, which is what allows lush branches and leaves and abundant, fragrant flowers; however, they must not be exposed to blazing sun. In addition, if the light is too weak, the branches grow thin and weak, which affects flower bud formation.
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Osmanthus growing methods and precautions, an introduction to osmanthus
Osmanthus (English: Sweet Olive), of the family Oleaceae and genus Osmanthus, also known as "rock osmanthus" and "muxi", commonly called osmanthus tree. It is an evergreen shrub or small tree, a temperate tree species. The leaves are opposite, mostly elliptical or oblong-elliptical, with smooth, leathery leaf surfaces and serrated leaf margins. The flowers are clustered, with the corolla split to the base in colors such as creamy white, yellow and orange-red. In China, more than 20 cities, including Xinyang City, Quzhou City and Hanzhong City, use osmanthus as their city flower or city tree. Osmanthus is highly regarded for its calm and steadfast character. From "Zaijingtang Collection - Jiangnan Jingshi Poems - Osmanthus": "The jade tree stands quietly as the severe season comes, and after a thousand flowers have faded, its flowers bloom. Pure and steadfast, it creates a realm of pure fragrance; when the earth is desolate, it is relied upon to revive it." Related plays and songs include "Osmanthus Blooms Everywhere in August" and others.
Morphological characteristics of osmanthus
Osmanthus is an evergreen shrub or small tree, a temperate tree species. The leaves are opposite, mostly elliptical or oblong-elliptical, with smooth, leathery leaf surfaces and serrated leaf margins.
Osmanthus flowers are clustered, with the corolla split to the base in colors such as creamy white, yellow and orange-red.
Ecological habits of osmanthus
Osmanthus is adapted to subtropical climate regions and likes warmth and humidity. The average temperature in growing areas is 14 to 28°C, the average July temperature is 24 to 28°C, the average January temperature is above 0°C, it can withstand a minimum temperature of -13°C, and the optimum growing temperature is 15 to 28°C. Humidity is extremely important for the growth and development of osmanthus; it requires an annual average humidity of 75% to 85% and annual precipitation of around 1000 mm. Especially in the young stage and when mature trees are flowering, they need more water; if drought occurs it will affect flowering. Strong sunlight and shade are both unfavorable to its growth, and it generally requires 6 to 8 hours of light per day.
Osmanthus likes a warm environment and should be grown in deep, well-drained, fertile, humus-rich, slightly acidic sandy soil. It is not tolerant of drought or poor, thin soil; on shallow, compacted, barren soil it grows especially slowly, with sparse branches and leaves, small thin leaves, yellowed leaf color, no or few flowers, and even periodic dieback of the top, and in severe cases the whole osmanthus plant dies. It likes sunlight but has a certain tolerance for shade. Young trees need some shade, and once mature they require relatively ample light to ensure normal growth. According to observation, when one side of a single osmanthus tree's crown is close to a wall, or when the crowns of two osmanthus trees overlap each other, the side close to the wall or the overlapping part of the crown quickly becomes sparse, affecting the shape and beauty of the whole crown.
It can be seen that osmanthus is suitable for planting in places with ventilation and light; osmanthus likes a clean, ventilated environment and is not tolerant of smoke and dust damage, often failing to bloom after being harmed; it fears flooding and waterlogging, and if subjected to waterlogging damage, the root system turns black and rots, the leaves first scorch at the tips, then the whole leaf turns yellow and drops, eventually leading to the death of the whole plant; it is not very cold-hardy, but compared with other evergreen broadleaf tree species it is still a relatively cold-hardy species, which provides more possibilities for growing osmanthus in pots in the north.
Cultivation techniques for osmanthus: key cultivation points
1. Planting: Should be chosen in spring or autumn, and planting on a cloudy or rainy day is best. Choose a warm place with good ventilation and drainage; either a spot with ample light or a semi-shaded environment will do. When transplanting, make a soil ball to ensure the survival rate. The planting soil should be slightly acidic; avoid alkaline soil. The soil mix for potted osmanthus is 2 parts leaf mold, 3 parts garden soil, 3 parts sandy soil and 2 parts decomposed cake fertilizer; mix them evenly, then pot up or repot, which can be done before bud break in spring.
2. Light and temperature: South of the Yellow River basin, it can be grown outdoors and overwintered there. Potted plants should be moved indoors in winter and placed in a sunny spot so they receive full direct sunlight, with room temperature kept above 5°C but not exceeding 10°C. After bud break the following April, move them outdoors, first placing them in a wind-sheltered, sunny spot to grow, and after stable growth gradually move them to a ventilated, sunny or semi-shaded environment, then carry out normal care. Insufficient light during the growing period affects flower bud differentiation.
3. Watering and fertilizing: Before planting in the ground, mix plant ash and organic fertilizer into the planting hole first, and water thoroughly once after planting. Keep the soil moist before new shoots emerge, and do not water with fertilizer. Generally apply nitrogen fertilizer once in spring and phosphorus and potassium fertilizer once in summer to make the flowers abundant and the leaves lush; before winter, apply overwintering organic fertilizer once, mainly decomposed cake fertilizer and barnyard manure. Avoid heavy fertilizer, and especially avoid night soil. Potted osmanthus should be placed in a low-temperature greenhouse in winter in the north, and indoors attention should be paid to ventilation and light, with less watering. After moving outdoors in April, watering can be appropriately increased, and during the peak growing season a suitable amount of dilute fertilizer water can be applied; during the flowering season the fertilizer water can be slightly more concentrated.
4. Shaping and pruning: Depends on the tree; set the main framework according to the tree's form, remove other suckers, overly dense branches, leggy branches, crossing branches and diseased or weak branches to allow ventilation and light. For trees that are strong at the top and weak at the bottom, cut back the upper branches by 1/3 to make the overall tree vigor strong, and at the same time apply a wound healing and antiseptic film to the pruning cuts to protect the wounds.
5. Growing osmanthus in the north: Generally speaking, osmanthus is widely planted in the Huai River basin and areas to the south, and its suitable range reaches as far north as the lower reaches of the Yellow River and as far south as Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan. However, Beijing and Qingdao can also grow osmanthus. In "300 Questions on Home Flower Growing" by "Feng Tianzhe", it is said that in winter, after young osmanthus trees enter winter, water them once with antifreeze water and mound soil around the base to protect the roots, then wrap the trunk and branches with 7 layers of thick newspaper, and they can overwinter outdoors in Beijing. After three years, there is no need to wrap them for winter anymore.
Key cultivation points for container-grown osmanthus seedlings
1. Frost protection measures: Osmanthus is slightly cold-hardy, and container-grown osmanthus seedlings potted up from cuttings in the same year are prone to frost damage, so they should generally be moved into a greenhouse before the temperature drops below 0°C.
2. Pest and disease control: Osmanthus is prone to diseases and pests such as anthracnose, brown spot disease, leaf blight, leaf and branch disease, leaf roller moth, whitefly, scale insects, bagworm moths, slug moths and osmanthus leafhoppers, so observe promptly and spray promptly for control.
Cultivation management
In the warm regions of the Yangtze River basin and to the south, it is mostly planted in the open ground. For open-ground planting, choose a site with ample sunlight, good drainage, deep topsoil and light pollution. The planting hole for osmanthus should be dug deep and wide, and plenty of barnyard manure, plant ash and other base fertilizers should be applied. When planting, large seedlings must be moved with a soil ball to ensure transplant survival. Do not plant too deep. After the seedlings survive and recover, apply fertilizer once together with watering. After the flowers fade in winter, apply base fertilizer once. When buds break in spring and new leaves emerge, apply a quick-acting fertilizer mainly of nitrogen once; in July before flowering, apply a quick-acting fertilizer mainly of phosphorus and potassium once. In October, apply a slow-release fertilizer mainly of organic matter once, which will promote good growth and flowering. Before flowering, attention should be paid to irrigation; during flowering, water should be controlled, otherwise too much water easily causes flower drop. Pruning is best done after flowering in autumn; do not prune heavily, only prune diseased and pest-damaged branches, thin and weak branches, damaged branches, inward-growing branches and leggy branches. At ordinary times, also pay attention to pest and disease control.
In North China, because winters are cold, osmanthus is not suitable for open-ground cultivation and is mostly grown in pots. Potted osmanthus is not strict about soil and can be made from mountain soil or leaf mold, garden soil, river sand, etc., with a slightly acidic pH being best. If the pH is too low, growth is slow and leaves easily turn yellow and wither; some lime powder or plant ash can be added to adjust it. If the pH is too high, leaves easily wither and may even die; some ferrous sulfate or aluminum sulfate can be added to improve it.
Repotting potted osmanthus is done before bud break in spring or after flowering in autumn. After repotting, water thoroughly once and move to a shaded place for 7 to 10 days; only after growth resumes and new leaves emerge can normal watering and fertilizing begin. The pot soil moisture is best at 50% water content. Before new shoots appear and on cloudy and rainy days, water less; in summer and autumn when the weather is dry, more watering is needed; when flowering in autumn, do not water too much to prevent flower drop. On cloudy and rainy days, avoid water accumulation, otherwise prolonged water accumulation will cause root rot. For fertilizing potted osmanthus, refer to open-ground cultivation fertilizing.
Osmanthus has a well-developed root system and strong sprouting ability. Mature osmanthus trees send out new shoots twice a year, in spring and autumn, so they should be pruned appropriately and promptly. Pruning is best done after flowering in autumn or before bud break in spring. The purpose of pruning is to maintain the physiological balance between reproductive growth and vegetative growth, so that osmanthus has abundant flowers and lush leaves. Pruning should remove overly dense branches, leggy branches, damaged branches and diseased or pest-damaged branches. During the growing period, cut off sucker branches to help concentrate nutrients and produce abundant flowers. [12] The optimum growing temperature for osmanthus is 25 to 28°C; above 30°C is unfavorable for growth and development, and below -6°C it is prone to frost damage. The room temperature for safe overwintering of potted plants is more suitable between 0 and 10°C. In the north, move osmanthus indoors in late autumn, keep the pot soil slightly moist, and let it go fully dormant to promote flowering the following year; after Qingming the next year, move it to a ventilated, sunny place to grow. Potted osmanthus should be repotted and given fresh soil once every 1 to 2 years, with plenty of base fertilizer applied.
Propagation methods of osmanthus
Propagation methods: There are many ways to propagate osmanthus, including sowing, grafting, layering and cuttings.
1. Propagation by sowing
Seed propagation takes a long time to reach flowering, so home gardeners rarely use this method.
Osmanthus fruit ripens from April to May, and can be harvested when the skin turns from green to purplish black. Osmanthus seeds undergo after-ripening and need at least half a year of sand storage. After harvesting, sprinkle with water and pile them to ferment, remove the flesh, place in a cool spot to let the seeds air-dry naturally, then store mixed with sand; after sand storage they can be sown in autumn or spring. During sand storage, check frequently to prevent the seeds from moldering or being damaged by rats. Propagation by sowing generally uses the drill method. Before sowing, prepare the ground well and apply plenty of base fertilizer; they can also be sown in an indoor seedbed. When sowing, place the seed with the hilum facing sideways, so that the radicle and young stem do not bend, which would affect seedling growth later. After sowing, cover with a layer of fine soil, then cover with straw to shade and retain moisture, and keep the soil moist regularly; seedlings can emerge in the same year. About 20kg of seed is used per mu, producing about 30,000 seedlings. The seedlings grow in the seedbed for 2 years, and in the 3rd year can be transplanted for cultivation. Seedling-grown plants flower relatively late, only showing flowers 8 to 10 years after planting out.
2. Propagation by grafting
For grafting, the rootstock is often glossy privet, small-leaf privet, Chinese privet, water privet, white wax and fringetree (also known as yougongzi, niujinzi). When mass-propagating seedlings, the north mostly uses small-leaf privet; before bud break in spring, cut off the rootstock 5cm above the ground; take 1- to 2-year-old thick osmanthus branches 10 to 12cm long, cut one side of the base into a 2 to 3cm long cut surface, and cut the opposite side into a 45-degree small bevel; make a vertical cut about 1/3 of the way into one side of the rootstock, about 2 to 3cm deep; insert the scion into the cut, align the cambium, tie tightly with a plastic bag, then mound soil to grow. Using small-leaf privet as rootstock gives a high survival rate; the grafted seedling grows fast but has a short lifespan and easily forms the "small foot" phenomenon of "thick top and thin bottom." Using water privet as rootstock gives slow growth but a longer lifespan. Potted osmanthus is mostly propagated by approach grafting. Using fringetree as rootstock, approach grafting should be done in the growing season, not in the rainy season or the dog days. When approach grafting, choose a scion and rootstock of similar branch thickness, cut the scion at a suitable spot into a spindle-shaped cut reaching the xylem, about 3 to 4cm long, cut the rootstock at the same height into a cut matching the size of the scion, then bring the two cuts together so their cambium layers join closely, tie tightly with plastic strips, and after healing, cut off the rootstock above the graft and the scion below it. The root system of grafted seedlings varies with the rootstock; buried cuttings easily produce adventitious roots at various points in the soil, but have no obvious main root. Osmanthus branches strongly and branches low, especially noticeable in youth, and because of this it often takes a shrubby form. After dense planting or pruning, it can form an obvious trunk. The bark is rough, gray-brown or gray-white, sometimes showing lenticels. The leaf surface is smooth and leathery, dark bright green on the near axis and lighter on the far axis; elliptical, oblong, ovate, obovate, lanceolate, oblanceolate, long-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate.
3. Propagation by cuttings
Before bud break in spring, use 1-year-old well-developed branches, cut them into 5 to 10cm lengths, remove the lower leaves, keep 2 to 3 green leaves at the upper part, and insert them into a river sand or loess seedbed at a spacing of 3cm x 20cm. After inserting, water or spray promptly, and shade, maintaining a temperature of 20 to 25°C and a relative humidity of 85% to 90%; after 2 months they can root and be transplanted. [12] 4. Propagation by layering can be divided into two types: ground layering and air layering. For ground layering, osmanthus must use a low-branching or clump-forming mother plant. The time is from spring to early summer; choose a relatively thick low-trunked mother tree, take its lower 1- to 2-year-old branches, choose an easily bendable spot, cut with a sharp knife or girdle to the xylem, then press into a 3 to 5cm deep trench, and secure the layered branch with a wooden stick, leaving only the tip and leaves outside. The air layering method is to select 1- to 2-year-old thick branches from the mother tree in spring, cut a ring or girdle them as in the ground layering method, or make a cut from the lower side 6 to 9cm long, then coat the wound with a growing medium, tie plastic bags tightly above and below, keep the medium moist throughout the process, and in autumn after roots form, cut it away from the mother plant to grow on.
Choosing osmanthus seed
Propagating osmanthus from seed is the fastest, but the common methods are actually cuttings or layering; however, sowing is the best way to mass-propagate osmanthus. Not all osmanthus seeds are suitable for growing osmanthus seedlings; the mother tree chosen for seed must be at least 18 years old, as such osmanthus seeds will have a higher germination rate and the seedlings that grow will be more resistant.
A large proportion of osmanthus seeds are picked before they mature, and it is even less possible to guarantee that the osmanthus tree is over 18 years old, since the mother trees are contracted year-round, the quality is guaranteed to a certain extent. When choosing seeds, choose clean seeds, with a golden-yellow color; the seed is pointed at one end and shield-shaped at the other. Once the seeds are chosen, you must learn to store them: keep the seeds well stored in moist sand, and the field chemical management the next year will also be reduced.
Osmanthus growing methods: 1. Why is Four Seasons Osmanthus not fragrant?
Answer: The reason Four Seasons Osmanthus blooms year-round but is not fragrant is that the variety itself has relatively weak fragrance. Among the common osmanthus varieties, the most fragrant is Dan Gui, followed by Jin Gui, then Yin Gui, while Four Seasons Osmanthus has the weakest fragrance. As a cash crop it is rarely cultivated, precisely because it blooms sparsely and its fragrance is not strong; as an ornamental potted plant it is grown because its tree form is beautiful and it blooms in all four seasons, making it suitable for potted ornamental use. Four Seasons Osmanthus mostly grows in clumps, with yellowish-white flowers that are relatively sparse, a light fragrance and a long flowering period; generally, apart from the severe cold of winter and the intense heat of summer, it can bloom about once every two months, with the fragrance slightly stronger in autumn and lighter the rest of the year. Its varieties include large-leaf Four Seasons Osmanthus and small-leaf Four Seasons Osmanthus. If Yueyue Gui lacks light and phosphorus fertilizer during cultivation, its floral fragrance becomes faint. If the plant is placed in a sunny, ventilated environment, top-dressed once every 10 days, and appropriately given more phosphorus fertilizer, the fragrance of the flowers can be increased to a certain extent, but it still does not match other varieties.
2. Why does potted osmanthus not bloom?
Answer: First, insufficient light. Osmanthus likes light; during the vegetative growth period, when the light intensity is below 60°C, its growth and development decline, vegetative growth worsens, and the number of flowers decreases. When light is seriously insufficient, because photosynthesis weakens, nutrient accumulation is low, and therefore it cannot bloom. So sufficient light must be given. Second, lack of fertilizer. Osmanthus grows and blooms abundantly and needs to consume a large amount of nutrients. Thin pot soil or insufficient fertility will also affect the plant's growth and flowering. Therefore, during shoot growth, apply 1 to 2 applications of fertilizer mainly of nitrogen, and from the flower bud differentiation stage (beginning at the end of May) to before flowering, apply 2 to 3 applications of fertilizer mainly of phosphorus. Third, pot soil too wet. Osmanthus dislikes overly wet conditions and water accumulation; wet waterlogging causes root rot, leading to poor growth and failure to bloom, and in severe cases can cause the death of the potted plant. Watering should follow the principle of "do not water until dry, and water thoroughly when you do"; after heavy rain and torrential rain, promptly pour out accumulated water in the pot, and pay special attention to the weather after rain clears, when damage to the root system should be avoided even more. Fourth, soil on the alkaline side. Osmanthus likes slightly acidic soil, with a pH of 5.5 to 6.5 being suitable. Osmanthus grown in alkaline soil often grows poorly and has affected flowering. Fifth, smoke and dust pollution. Osmanthus is not tolerant of smoke, dust and pollution. When there is too much smoke and dust or when it encounters pollution, the leaves become smaller, easily fall off, and the phenomenon of only growing leaves and not blooming appears. Sixth, it has not reached flowering age.
3. What edible and health benefits does osmanthus have?
Answer: Osmanthus tea has the effect of clearing fragrance and refreshing the mind. After briefly scalding osmanthus in boiling water, scoop it out and dry it, then preserve it with white sugar and seal it in a bottle to maintain the color and fragrance; it can be used as a food flavoring. Mix osmanthus and pure lotus root starch with white sugar and brew, and it becomes osmanthus lotus root starch, which is delicious and appetizing. Take top-grade small jujubes, cook them with sugar, and when the liquid is almost gone, add osmanthus, and it becomes spleen-strengthening and appetite-opening osmanthus candied jujubes. Gui Zhi, Gui Zi and Gui Gen can all be used as medicine. The Gui Zhi Tang decoction made from Gui Zhi, peony root, fresh ginger, jujube and licorice is specifically for treating externally contracted wind pathogen, fever and headache and other symptoms. Gui Gen tastes sweet and slightly astringent.
4. How do you thaw frozen osmanthus?
Answer: In early winter, osmanthus is invaded by cold waves and is highly prone to frost damage; in affected plants, the concentration of the solution in the intercellular spaces increases, and severe dehydration of the protoplasm causes the tender leaves to shrink. In this situation, if you rush to place the affected potted plant in a high-temperature or direct-sunlight spot, it will instead accelerate the death of the osmanthus. The correct method is to take slow thawing measures, so that the cells gradually absorb water and return to normal. In this situation, you can also quickly wrap the potted flower with three layers of highly absorbent waste newspaper along with the pot; when wrapping, be careful not to damage the branches and leaves of the potted flower, and avoid direct sunlight. Leave it like this for a day, so that the temperature of the potted flower gradually rises. After this treatment, the frozen potted flower can revive.
5. How do you make osmanthus grow with an even plant shape?
Answer: First, when planting osmanthus, place the plant in the very center of the pot; after watering thoroughly, straighten any crooked plant, laying a good foundation for future cultivation. Second, prune reasonably. When pruning, pay attention to the overall appearance of the plant, pay attention to retaining buds, and try to let the terminal buds grow toward the gaps. Prune vigorous branches heavily, cut off useless weak branches, and for those needed to fill gaps, retain them and prune lightly. Third, moderately tie the potted plant. If a certain direction has a large gap, you can use tying to guide dense branches toward the gap. Fourth, rotate the pot frequently. For osmanthus that does not need pruning, rotate the pot frequently so that the gaps face the sun and can induce new branches. Rotating the pot: throughout the year, the sun always moves along its orbit, so the angle and intensity of light are always changing. If the flower pot is fixed in one position for a long time, one side of the plant always fails to get proper light, and over time a round potted plant will grow unevenly because of uneven sunlight. Therefore, during the growing season, rotate the flower pot 45° every 10 days. By frequently turning the flower pot, all angles and directions of the plant will grow evenly, the side branches around the trunk will be neat and uniform, and the leaves can also receive sunlight in a balanced way. Thus, the plant's shape and posture can be full and beautiful, achieving an ornamental effect from every angle, and allowing the branches and leaves to grow more spread out and beautiful.
6. Why does osmanthus easily die at the turn of winter and spring?
Answer: This must be traced to management methods. In addition to providing appropriate moisture and sufficient light, it is especially important not to fertilize osmanthus in winter and to keep it in a cool, cold environment. The reason osmanthus easily dies in winter is not that the environment is not warm enough, but that the environment is not cool enough. In the osmanthus's place of origin, winter is not warm. Having adapted to this growing environment for thousands of years, when osmanthus overwinters in a warm place, at first no abnormality can be seen in the plant. On the contrary, it seems to forget that winter has come, growing buds and shoots, and appears to be thriving. However, this situation cannot last long; factors such as indoor lighting and temperature changes cannot satisfy growth like that in summer, and old leaves begin to drop, new shoots wilt, and the plant dies. To make the osmanthus you grow overwinter safely, in winter place it in an environment of 0 to 5°C and give it sufficient sunlight; do not apply additional fertilizer, and avoid the pot soil being too wet. After winter has passed, you will find that the osmanthus you grew not only survived safely, but also appears even stronger in growth than those that barely survived overwintering in a high-temperature environment.
7. How should fertilization be done more reasonably?
Answer: (1) Reasonable fertilization should follow the principle of light fertilizer applied frequently, mainly with quick-acting nitrogen, and large seedlings should be fertilized 3 to 4 times a year. In early spring, when buds begin to swell and the roots begin to act, the osmanthus tree will absorb fertilizer. Therefore, in early spring the orchard should be fertilized to promote the growth of spring shoots. For flowers opening from the first spring buds, in the autumn of that year, strong spring shoot growth means more flowering later. Osmanthus trees bloom in autumn; to restore tree vigor and replenish nutrients, inorganic fertilizer or garbage compost is needed before winter. At the same time, according to the growth of the osmanthus, fertilize once or twice. For newly transplanted osmanthus trees, the roots are damaged, so their absorption capacity is weak, and fertilizer should not be added too early. Base fertilizer should be mixed evenly with the planting hole soil before adding more soil; the roots should not come into direct contact with the fertilizer, so as not to injure the roots and affect the survival rate of the osmanthus tree.
(2) Fertilizer must be applied at the roots to be well absorbed. In this way transplanting easily survives; when fertilizing seedlings, the fertilizer concentration for the plant's roots must not be too far from the seedling, otherwise the roots will expand outward. It should not be applied to the main trunk of the tree, because that is not conducive to fertilizer absorption.
Disease control of osmanthus
Osmanthus brown spot disease, osmanthus blight and osmanthus anthracnose are common leaf diseases of osmanthus. These diseases can cause early leaf drop in osmanthus, weaken plant vigor, and reduce both flower yield and ornamental value. The main pest in home osmanthus growing is mites, commonly known as red spider mites. Once disease is found, deal with it immediately; you can use mite clear, aphid-mite kill, and azocyclotin for foliar spraying. Spray both the front and back of the leaves evenly. Once a week, for 2 to 3 times in a row, and it can be cured.
Osmanthus brown spot disease
At the early stage of the disease, small chlorotic yellow spots appear on the leaves, gradually expanding into nearly round lesions 2 to 10mm in diameter, or becoming irregular lesions because the expansion of the lesion is restricted by leaf veins. The lesions are yellow-brown to gray-brown, and there is a yellow halo around the outside of the lesion. Brown spot disease generally occurs from April to October, and old leaves are more susceptible than tender leaves. The pathogen overwinters as mycelium on diseased fallen leaves, and in the spring of the following year produces conidia for primary infection; the conidia are spread by airflow and raindrops.
Osmanthus blight
The pathogen of this disease mostly invades from the leaf margin and leaf tip, and occurs at the leaf margin and leaf tip of the leaves. At the early stage of the disease, light brown small spots are produced on the leaves, gradually expanding into round or irregular lesions, then expanding into nearly round or irregular gray-brown large spots with dark brown edges. Blight occurs from July to November, and can occur year-round in poorly conditioned greenhouses. The pathogen spreads and infects via conidia carried by wind and water. High temperature, high humidity and poor ventilation are conducive to the disease. When the plant is weak, and on old leaves after overwintering and leaves at the lower part of the plant, the disease is more severe.
Osmanthus anthracnose
This disease infects osmanthus leaves. At the early stage of the disease, small chlorotic spots appear on the leaves, gradually expanding to form round, semicircular or elliptical lesions. The lesions are light brown to gray-white, with a reddish-brown ring at the edge. Under moist conditions, pale pink sticky spore discs appear on the lesions. Anthracnose occurs from April to June. The pathogen overwinters as acervuli in diseased fallen leaves and is spread by wind and rain.
Control measures
First, reduce the source of infection. Thoroughly clear diseased fallen leaves in autumn. For potted osmanthus, promptly remove diseased leaves. Second, strengthen cultivation management. Choose fertile, well-drained soil or substrate for planting osmanthus; apply more organic fertilizer and potassium fertilizer; planting density should be appropriate so as to allow ventilation and light, reduce leaf surface humidity and reduce the occurrence of disease. Use chemicals scientifically for control. At the early stage of the disease, spray Bordeaux mixture at 1:2:200, then later spray 50% carbendazim wettable powder at 1000 times dilution or 50% benomyl wettable powder at 1000 to 1500 times dilution. In severely affected areas, when seedlings leave the nursery, soak them in 1000 times potassium permanganate solution for disinfection.
Introduction to osmanthus varieties
After long-term cultivation, natural hybridization and artificial selection, osmanthus has produced many cultivated varieties. Through further investigation and sorting, 32 osmanthus varieties have been preliminarily identified.
By flower color, there are Jin Gui, Yin Gui and Dan Gui; by leaf type, there are willow-leaf osmanthus, golden-fan osmanthus, Dishui Huang, sunflower-leaf, and firewood-stem yellow; by flowering period, there are August osmanthus, Four Seasons Osmanthus and Yueyue Jia, etc. [7] China still has no unified variety classification, and by custom osmanthus is divided into the following four variety types: Jin Gui, Yin Gui, Dan Gui and Four Seasons Osmanthus.
Four Seasons Osmanthus variety group: The plant is relatively short with more suckers, and the floral fragrance is not as rich as Yin Gui, Jin Gui and Dan Gui. It blooms multiple times a year or continuously, with lemon-yellow or light yellow flowers. The varieties include large-leaf Four Seasons Osmanthus and small-leaf Four Seasons Osmanthus. It blooms in all four seasons, with varieties such as "Yueyue Gui", "Rixiang Gui", "Daye Fodingzhu" and "Chiye Four Seasons Osmanthus".
Yin Gui variety group: Blooms in autumn, with pure white, creamy white, yellow-white or pale yellow flowers. Varieties include broad-leaf seed Yin Gui, willow-leaf Yin Gui, hard-leaf Yin Gui, "Zi Yin Gui", "Jiulong Gui", "Zao Yin Gui", "Wan Yin Gui", "Baijie", "Chunbai Yin Gui", "Qingshan Yin Gui" and others.
Jin Gui variety group: Blooms in autumn, with flowers from lemon-yellow light to golden yellow. Varieties include "Dahua Jin Gui", "Daye Huang", "Huangchuan Jin Gui", "Wan Jin Gui", "Yuanye Jin Gui", Xianning Wan Gui, Qiu Gui, Yuanbian Jin Gui, Liuye Su Gui, Jinshi Gui, Boye Jin Gui, and others.
Dan Gui variety group: Blooms in autumn, with relatively deep flower colors, flowers orange, orange-yellow, orange-red to vermilion. Varieties include "Zhusha Dan Gui", "Daye Dan Gui", "Xiaoye Dan Gui", "Chi Dan Gui" and others.
Distribution range of osmanthus
Landscape osmanthus is native to the eastern section of the Himalayas in southwest China, and is also distributed in India, Nepal and Cambodia. In southwestern China, Sichuan, southern Shaanxi, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Henan and other places, wild osmanthus grows, and it is now widely planted in the Huai River basin and areas to the south; its suitable range reaches as far north as the lower reaches of the Yellow River and as far south as Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan.
This region has good water and heat conditions and suitable precipitation; the soil is mostly yellow-brown soil or yellow-cinnamon soil, and the vegetation is mainly of the subtropical broadleaf forest type. Nurtured and influenced by the above conditions, osmanthus grows well, and has formed several nationally famous osmanthus commercial production bases in Lu'an, Anhui; Xianning, Hubei; Taoyuan, Hunan; Suzhou, Jiangsu; Guilin, Guangxi; Wuhan, Hubei; Hangzhou, Zhejiang; and Chengdu, Sichuan. And Hangzhou's city flower is precisely osmanthus.
Medicinal or dietary therapy value of osmanthus
The medical information and health dietary therapy information on Huahua Network is for reference only and cannot be used as a basis for diagnosis or medical treatment. For any health problem, consult professional medical personnel, and for the treatment of any disease, please follow doctor's orders.
Ultimate flower-protecting mission: To love yourself, start from reality and strictly follow doctor's orders. For illness, do not be careless, do not delay, do not give up hope; face it bravely, warm the silent world with love, and care for the flower field within your heart with your heart.
Medicinal value: brief introduction to the medicinal material: Oleaceae, evergreen tree. The flowers are pale yellow-white and fragrant; aromatic oil is extracted and osmanthus concrete is made, which can be used in food and cosmetics, can make pastries and candies, and can also be used to brew wine. Osmanthus tastes pungent and can be used as medicine.
Source: The plant osmanthus of the genus Osmanthus in the family Oleaceae, using flowers, fruit and roots as medicine. Collect flowers in autumn; collect fruit in spring; collect roots in all four seasons, and dry each separately.
Related medicinal materials: Green-backed osmanthus, horse osmanthus, mountain osmanthus, osmanthus dew, osmanthus seed.
Nature, flavor and meridian entry: Flowers: pungent, warm. Fruit: pungent, sweet, warm. Root: sweet, slightly astringent, neutral.
Functions and indications：
Flowers: dispel cold and break stagnation, resolve phlegm and stop cough. Used for toothache, cough and asthma with excessive phlegm, and abdominal pain due to amenorrhea.
Fruit: warm the stomach, calm the liver, dispel cold. Used for deficiency-cold stomach pain.
Root: dispel wind-dampness, dispel cold. Used for wind-dampness muscle and bone pain, low back pain, and toothache due to kidney deficiency.
Practical attached prescriptions：
Prescription 1
[Formula]: 1 gram dried osmanthus, 2 grams tea leaves.
[Preparation]: Put the dried osmanthus and tea leaves into a cup, pour boiling water over them and steep for 6 minutes, then drink.
[Usage]: Drink 1 cup each morning and evening.
[Effects]: Strengthen muscles and nourish skin, invigorate blood and moisten the throat.
[Application]: Suitable for dry skin, hoarse voice, toothache and other symptoms.
Prescription 2
[Materials]: Several osmanthus flowers
[Seasonings]: 1 small teaspoon fine salt, 1 small teaspoon rock sugar
[Method]:
1. Wash the osmanthus repeatedly with salt water and drain well;
2. Put the osmanthus into a cup, pour in boiling water, add rock sugar, cover the cup, and let it steep for about three minutes; when the lid is lifted, the fragrance wafts out.
[Effects]: It can resolve phlegm and dissipate blood stasis, and treat coughs.
Effects of osmanthus wine：
The ancients believed that osmanthus was the chief of all medicines, so wine brewed with osmanthus could achieve the effect of "drinking it brings a lifespan of a thousand years." For instance, during the Han Dynasty, osmanthus wine was a fine offering used by people to worship gods and ancestors. After the ceremony, the younger generation would toast the elders with osmanthus wine, and when the elders drank it, it symbolized prolonging life.
The wine is sweet, fragrant and mellow, with the effects of stimulating appetite, refreshing the spirits, strengthening the spleen and tonifying deficiency. Osmanthus wine is especially suitable for women to drink and has been praised as "women's happiness wine." In traditional Chinese medicine there is theoretical practice of flower therapy, and osmanthus wine is a typical example.[16]Effects of osmanthus tea: Osmanthus tea can beautify the face, soothe the throat, improve symptoms of excess phlegm and cough, treat duodenal ulcers, urticaria, stomach cold and stomach pain, bad breath, and unclear vision.
Edible value: Glutinous rice lotus root with osmanthus: Honey-glazed glutinous rice lotus root with osmanthus. Ingredients: 800 grams lotus root, 200 grams glutinous rice, 20 grams lotus leaf, 100 grams white granulated sugar, 40 grams sugared osmanthus
1. Rinse the glutinous rice clean and soak it in warm water for about 1 hour
2. Wash the lotus root clean and break it apart at the joints
3. Cut off one end of the lotus root to expose the holes, fill in the soaked glutinous rice, then cover it with the cut lotus root end, and secure it firmly with bamboo skewers
4. Pour clean water into a pot, add the lotus root (with the rice-filled opening facing up), and bring to a boil over high heat
5. Cover with a clean lotus leaf, put on the lid, turn to low heat and simmer for about two hours, then remove from the heat
6. Take out the lotus root and let it cool, peel it, cut it into slices 0.8 cm thick, and arrange them overlapping on a plate
7. Place a pot over high heat, add clean water and bring to a boil, add white sugar and cook until dissolved, skim off the foam, then turn to low heat
8. Simmer until the sugar syrup is thick, add osmanthus syrup and stir evenly, then remove from the heat and let cool
9. Pour the sugar syrup over the glutinous rice lotus root and it is ready.
Osmanthus Huanglin pastry：
Ingredients: 300 grams wheat flour, 100 grams osmanthus, 150 grams egg white, 150 grams black sesame, 20 grams cornstarch, 150 grams lard (rendered), 100 grams white granulated sugar
1. After sifting the flour, take 200 grams of flour and add 90 grams of lard, knead into a shortening dough
2. Add 60 grams of lard to 300 grams of flour, and knead with an appropriate amount of clean water into a water-oil dough
3. Divide the shortening dough and the water-oil dough one by one into strips and then into small pieces, and roll them with a rolling pin into ox-tongue shapes
4. Roll them up from the top, then fold into three, roll into wrappers, wrap in osmanthus filling, and shape into cakes
5. Place them on a baking tray, brush the surface with egg liquid, and bake in the oven until cooked.
Key points for making osmanthus Huanglin pastry:
1. When baking this pastry, the temperature must be well controlled, otherwise problems such as cracks and poor smoothness of the pastry surface may easily appear
2. Method for making osmanthus filling: Put sesame, white sugar and lard in a container, mix and stir evenly, add an appropriate amount of dry starch while stirring, and finally add osmanthus and mix evenly to make the osmanthus filling.
Method for making osmanthus cake:
Raw material formula: 16 kg grade-one Sichuan white sugar, 4 kg refined sugar, 4 kg glutinous rice flour, 4 kg cooked oil, 2.5 kg honeyed osmanthus, 20 kg cooked flour. Production method
1. Make cooked flour: Put the flour into a steamer and steam it cooked (20 minutes), take it out and let it cool, then grind it fine with a pulverizer. This is cooked flour.
2. Make cake flour: Rinse glutinous rice in warm water at 50-60°C for 4-5 minutes, take it out and spread it on a winnowing basket to drain off the water. The next day, stir-fry it with river sand (river sand treated with rapeseed oil) until puffed (it must not be fried yellow), then grind it into powder with an electric mill; this is cake flour (also called male powder). Then spread the coffee osmanthus cake on a winnowing basket and expose it for 2-3 days; it is ready when the powder can be squeezed into a ball by hand without falling apart.
3. Make refined sugar: For every 50 kg of white sugar, add 2-2.5 kg maltose and 7.5 kg water, bring to a boil, then add 1 kg melted oil and simmer to about 120°C. When a drop of the sugar liquid put into water can form a lump, scoop it out and put it into an ice pot, stirring until it grains, and it becomes refined sugar.
4. Make the filling: According to the formula, mix the white sugar, cooked flour, cooked oil, cake flour and honeyed osmanthus evenly, sift to remove impurities, and the filling is ready.
5. Panning and shaping: Use a wooden frame. First put 1/5 of the mixed base and surface material into the frame, spread it into a thin layer as the base, place the filling in the middle, then cover with 4/5 of the base and surface material as the cake top crust, roll flat, press tightly, cut into rectangular strips with a thin knife, and then package.
Food characteristics: Rectangular strips, complete in shape, uniform in thickness.
Color: Yellow and white clearly distinct, no spots, no impurities.
Texture: Moist, loose and soft, fine and melting in the mouth, not coarse, without sugar grains.
Taste: Sweet and delicious, with a rich fresh fragrance of osmanthus.
Roasted osmanthus sausage:
Ingredients: 300 grams pork (fat), 400 grams pork (lean), 100 grams pig small intestine, 5 grams soy sauce, 5 grams white granulated sugar, 5 grams salt, 4 grams five-spice powder, 3 grams white liquor
1. Wash the fatty pork and lean pork, wipe them dry with a cloth and cut into granules, sprinkle in a small amount of salt and mix evenly, and marinate for about 10 minutes.
2. Wash the pig intestine with warm water and soak until soft.
3. Put light soy sauce, granulated sugar and five-spice powder (it can be omitted if you do not like five-spice powder) into the fully marinated chopped pork and mix evenly. Mix an appropriate amount of peach-red powder with one teaspoon of water, and after marinating with the seasonings for about 10 minutes, add it and mix well.
4. After the fully marinated minced pork has been mixed with peach-red powder, proceed to stuff it into the casing. Take out the soaked intestine, pour off the water used for soaking it, put the drained intestine back into a container, tie one end of the intestine firmly with thin string, and fit the other end onto a sausage-making funnel and also tie it tightly with thin string. Prepare a sewing needle about 7 cm long. When the intestine swells, use the sewing needle to prick holes around the lowest position where air is trapped, so that the air escapes. As the pork is pressed in, it will not burst. When the work of stuffing the pork into the intestine is completed, remove the funnel and tie the opening firmly with thin string.
5. Use a roasting clamp made of wire mesh to hold the prepared meat sausage in a wrapping manner and place it about 24 cm from red-hot charcoal to roast, turning and moving it until a fragrance is released.
6. If the prepared meat sausage is too long, it can be cut off and roasted in 2 or 3 batches. The cut opening should be tied firmly with thin string immediately to prevent the meat granules from coming out. If it is not roasted in long strips, it can be changed to the form of sausages about 17 cm long.
Carving material
The wood of the osmanthus tree is dense in texture, beautiful in grain, not easy to crack, and smooth when planed, making it a good carving material.
Landscape uses of osmanthus. Landscape uses
Osmanthus has a wide range of landscape uses. With the continuous progress of science today, seedlings originally produced in the south have been introduced to the north and are widely distributed in Jiangsu, Henan, Shandong, Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Shanxi and other places. Osmanthus has a good greening effect and reflects results quickly; in the year of planting it can already play a relatively good role. However, its cold resistance when planted in the north is only average, and special protection is needed in winter for it to overwinter safely.
Osmanthus is evergreen all year round, with luxuriant branches and leaves, blooms in autumn, and is overflowing with fragrance, so it can be called "dominating the three autumns and overwhelming all flowers." It is widely used in gardens, often as a landscape tree, planted singly, in pairs, or in clumps and groves. In China's classical gardens, osmanthus is often paired with buildings, mountains and rocks, with shrub-type plants placed near pavilions, terraces, towers and chambers. Old-style courtyards often used paired planting, anciently called "two osmanthus facing the courtyard" or "two osmanthus leaving fragrance." Planting osmanthus trees on the four sides of a residence or by a window can achieve the effect of "the golden wind sending fragrance." On campuses, for the meaning of "plucking osmanthus in the moon palace," osmanthus is also planted in large quantities. Osmanthus has a certain resistance to harmful gases such as sulfur dioxide and hydrogen fluoride, and is also a good flowering tree for greening in industrial and mining areas.
Osmanthus has a striking fragrance and contains various aromatic substances, and can be used for food or for extracting fragrances. China has already formed concentrated osmanthus-growing regions such as Xianning in Hubei, Taoyuan in Hunan, Lu'an in Anhui, Guilin in Guangxi, Zunyi in Guizhou, and Wuhan in Hubei.
Enjoying osmanthus in Jiangcheng
Osmanthus in some scenic spots in Wuhan: 3,458 plants at Hankou Riverside Beach, 153 plants in Baibuting Garden, 24 plants on Huangpu Road, 63 plants in the Hanjiang Green Space. Greening in Jiangcheng has upgraded from the past stages of adding greenery and adding flowers to the stage of adding fragrance, increasing the number of aromatic plants in newly built and renovated public green spaces to enhance the city's quality. In Baibuting Community, 473 osmanthus trees were planted in the central square some years ago and were very popular with residents. In recent years they have been replanted continuously, and now there are more than a thousand, and around every Mid-Autumn Festival the fragrance of osmanthus drifts far and wide, just like the famous Guiyuan of Wuhan University, known as an ivory tower. Wuhan has also specially launched a Wuhan flower-viewing map to make it convenient for tourists to enjoy osmanthus, cherry blossoms, plum blossoms and various other flowers and trees.
Xinzhou District of Wuhan currently has 13,000 mu of osmanthus bases, mainly distributed in Cangbu, with 34 bases, 11 of which are over 500 mu. The largest osmanthus garden has an area of nearly 4,000 mu, which is also the largest osmanthus garden in the country, and there is also the largest Dan Gui garden in Central China, with an area of 1,000 mu. First, it has the most osmanthus varieties: 157 varieties, the most in the country. Second, it has many rare osmanthus treasures, among which the early red Dan Gui area is 1,000 mu, the largest Dan Gui garden in Central China. Third, it has the largest osmanthus breeding base area, with 4 million osmanthus seedlings already being bred, the largest in Central China.
According to incomplete statistics, in the public green spaces of Wuhan's central urban area managed by the gardening department alone, 33,200 osmanthus trees have been planted, of which 12,300 are distributed in 63 city parks. This means that osmanthus trees outside the parks account for more than half. On Moshan of East Lake alone there are more than 100 mu and more than 10,000 osmanthus trees. Wuhan has more than 120 species of greening trees totaling 754,000 plants, and osmanthus trees account for less than 5%. But the person in charge of Wuhan's gardening department said that the built-up area of Wuhan's three towns is several times larger than the urban area of Xianning, with an average of more than 70 osmanthus trees per square kilometer; the number of osmanthus trees has already surpassed the old-brand "hometown of osmanthus," and it has transformed into a "capital of osmanthus." Observant citizens have also found that the osmanthus trees on the streets of the three towns include not only Dan Gui, Jin Gui, Yin Gui and other varieties, but are also divided by tree shape into single-trunk osmanthus and clumping osmanthus. Different osmanthus varieties have different flowering periods, making the golden-autumn osmanthus fragrance of Jiangcheng last more than a month.
Osmanthus Park
Suzhou Osmanthus Park. Suzhou Osmanthus Park was completed in October 1998, covering an area of 16.5 hectares, located in the southeast corner of the ancient city of Suzhou, adjacent to the thriving industrial park. To the east it embraces the ancient canal, and to the south it stretches for several li, surrounded by the lush city walls of Gusu and the green waters of the Grand Canal. It is one of the key landscapes in the construction of Suzhou's ancient-city scenic belt. Along the southern part of the canal there is the ancient city's "Snake Gate" and a 218-meter-long Gusu land-and-water city tower. A winding path two kilometers long runs along the canal through dense willow-shaded green-island woods. The lawns are broad and naturally comfortable, fully showing the characteristics of a Jiangnan water town, and it is the best place for citizens to relax, stroll and enjoy the scenery.
Osmanthus Park is named after Suzhou's city flower, "osmanthus." In the park, flowering shrubs are mainly evergreen plants, with more than 260 varieties, including many precious and rare tree species. Osmanthus tree species are especially characteristic. The richness of osmanthus varieties and the large quantity in the park rank first in China. It is the specialized garden with the largest collection and planting quantity of osmanthus varieties in China. In order to build a specialized garden of osmanthus varieties and support the work of "international cultivar registration authority for osmanthus cultivars," the park organized people to go south to Shanghai, Hangzhou, eastern Zhejiang and western Zhejiang, and traveled far to more than a dozen counties in southeastern Sichuan, crossing mountains and wading through waters, to search for some famous varieties long heard of but never seen, such as Jiulong Gui, Yichuanhong and Xue Gui. Apart from a certain amount preserved in Osmanthus Park, these varieties are rarely seen elsewhere. According to records by osmanthus classification experts Xiang Qibai and Liu Yulian, there are 62 osmanthus varieties in China, of which Osmanthus Park has collected 50, belonging to the two major categories of four-season osmanthus and autumn osmanthus, and the four cultivar groups of Sijigui, Yingui, Jingui and Dangui.
Home placement
1. Osmanthus can fill your home with poetry[23]. "Accompanying a beauty, fragrance across the world, fame across the world, noble and beautiful, auspicious" is the flower language of osmanthus. Liu Yuxi wrote, "Do not envy the peach and plum of the three spring months; osmanthus bears fruit and flourishes toward autumn." Su Shi wrote, "River clouds spread far and wide, osmanthus damp; plum rains patter, lychees thus." There is also Li Qingzhao's "Zhegu Tian - Osmanthus": "Why need pale green or deep red? It is naturally the first-rate among flowers." The Qing dynasty writer Zhang Yun'ao's quatrain "Appreciating Osmanthus": "In August at West Lake there is enough for a pure outing; where does fragrance reach the nose in quiet seclusion? Beside Manjuelong golden grains are everywhere; heaven's wind blows them down, autumn over ten thousand mountains." Although there are many verses praising osmanthus, there are also quite a few that hurt the heart by stirring feelings in the scene, such as Wang Jian of the Tang Dynasty in "Looking at the Moon on the Night of the Fifteenth": "In the courtyard the ground is white, crows roost in the trees; cold dew falls silently, wetting the osmanthus. Tonight the bright moon is gazed at by everyone; I wonder in whose home autumn longing falls?" It can be seen that osmanthus is a plant full of emotion.
2. Osmanthus can green your home and make you feel there is nothing to criticize. We know that osmanthus can release a light but not vulgar fresh fragrance; that fragrance is rich yet does not irritate everyone's sense of smell. Many people choose it when visiting the sick because it can purify the air in a hospital room. The same is true at home: if osmanthus is kept at home for a long time, it can long absorb odors in the home and, through photosynthesis, release clean oxygen and waves of subtle fragrance.
Cultural background of osmanthus. Cultivation history
China has a long history of osmanthus cultivation. The earliest mention of osmanthus in literature is in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas - Classic of the Southern Mountains" from the old Warring States period (475-221 BCE), which says, "The mountain of Zhaoyao has many osmanthus." Qu Yuan (340-278 BCE) in "Chu Ci - Nine Songs" also wrote: "I raise the Big Dipper to pour osmanthus wine; with a chariot of magnolia and banners of osmanthus." From the Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, osmanthus had already become a precious flowering tree and a superior tribute. In the early Han Dynasty it was introduced and planted in imperial palaces and gardens with success. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, osmanthus cultivation began to flourish. Tang dynasty literati planted osmanthus very commonly, and chanting about osmanthus became a trend. In Song Zhiwen's poem "Lingyin Temple" there is the famous line, "Osmanthus seeds fall in the moon; heavenly fragrance drifts beyond the clouds," so later generations also called osmanthus "heavenly fragrance." After the Tang and Song dynasties, osmanthus was widely used in courtyard cultivation for ornament. In the Yuan dynasty Ni Zan's poem "Osmanthus" there is the line, "Osmanthus keeps the evening color; curtain shadows lighten the autumn light," showing the situation of planting osmanthus by a window. Folk cultivation of osmanthus began in the Song dynasty and flourished in the early Ming dynasty. China's five major osmanthus-producing areas in history were all formed during this period.
China's osmanthus was introduced to England via Guangzhou and India in 1771, and thereafter developed rapidly in England. Today it is cultivated in many countries in Europe and America as well as in various Southeast Asian countries, and grows best in the countries along the Mediterranean coast.
Many alternative names
Osmanthus has many alternative names: because its leaves resemble a gui tablet, it is called "gui"; because its texture resembles rhinoceros horn, it is also called wood rhinoceros; because it is elegant and noble, with fragrance drifting all around, it is called "immortal friend"; osmanthus is also called "immortal tree" and "matchmaker among flowers." Osmanthus usually grows on rocky ridges, so it is also called "rock gui"; when osmanthus blooms, its rich fragrance travels far, and its aroma has the characteristic of being both clear and rich: the clear can cleanse, and the rich can carry far, so it has the fine name "fragrance for nine li"; its yellow flowers are as fine as millet, so it also has the name "golden grains"; osmanthus is "immortal guest"; it blooms in autumn, and the old saying holds that the god of autumn governs the west, so it is also called "western fragrance" or "autumn fragrance"; the osmanthus tree is a symbol of nobility, chastity, honor, friendship and auspiciousness, and anyone who succeeds in official career and rises rapidly is said to "pluck osmanthus."
Legends of osmanthus
(1) A plague broke out in Xianning, and nearly one third of the people died. People tried all kinds of folk remedies but none worked. At the foot of Guabang Mountain there was a brave, honest and filial young man named Wu Gang. His mother was also bedridden, and the young man went up the mountain every day to gather medicine to save her. One day, Guanyin was returning from an eastern journey and was hurrying back to the Western Heaven to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Passing by that day, she saw the young man gathering medicine on a cliff and was deeply moved. At night she appeared to him in a dream and said that in the moon palace there was a tree called muxi, also called osmanthus, bearing a kind of small golden flower; steeping it in water and drinking it could cure this plague; on Guabang Mountain, by the fifteenth day of the eighth month, there would be a heavenly ladder by which he could go to the moon palace to pick it. That night was exactly the twelfth day of the eighth month, and there were still three days until the Mid-Autumn Festival on the fifteenth. But to reach the top of Guabang Mountain he had to cross seven deep ravines and climb seven sheer cliffs and overhanging rocks. It would take at least seven days and seven nights, but time waited for no one; if he missed the osmanthus's once-a-year flowering period, he would have to wait another year. To make a long story short, this Wu Gang went through countless hardships and finally, on the night of the fifteenth day of the eighth month, reached the top of Guabang Mountain and caught the heavenly ladder leading to the moon palace. August was exactly the season when osmanthus fragrance drifts, with heavenly fragrance floating beyond the clouds. Wu Gang followed the fragrance to the osmanthus tree, but he could not carry much if he picked too much, so he thought of a method: he shook the osmanthus tree, making the osmanthus flowers fall one after another into the river below Guabang Mountain. Immediately, the river surface was filled with a fresh fragrance, and the river water was dyed golden yellow. People drank this river water and all recovered from the plague. So people named this river Jinshui. Later, they added three dots of water beside the character jin, naming it "Gan River." That night was exactly the great gathering of the immortals of the heavenly palace on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, and at the gathering they would also admire the moon and eat mooncakes. At this time the fragrance of osmanthus rushed up to the sky and startled the immortals, so they sent an official to investigate. When the official went to the moon palace and saw that all the osmanthus on the moon palace's divine tree, the treasure that stabilizes the palace, had disappeared and had fallen into the human world's "Gan River," he reported it to the Jade Emperor. When the Jade Emperor heard this, he was furious. You should know that the Jade Emperor most liked eating mooncakes made with moon osmanthus, and if all the osmanthus on the tree was gone, he could not eat mooncakes. So he sent heavenly soldiers and generals to arrest Wu Gang. After Wu Gang was captured, he told the Jade Emperor everything that had happened that night in full detail. After hearing it, the Jade Emperor could not say much, and in his heart he admired this young man; but Wu Gang had after all violated heavenly rules, and if he was not punished, the Jade Emperor's prestige could not be established. He asked Wu Gang what request he had, and Wu Gang said he wanted to bring the osmanthus tree to the human world to save people from suffering. So the Jade Emperor thought of an idea that could both punish Wu Gang and grant his request. He said, as long as you chop the osmanthus down, you may take it away. So Wu Gang found a great axe and began chopping, wanting to cut down the great tree quickly, but the Jade Emperor cast a spell, so Wu Gang chopped year after year, month after month, for several thousand years. Seeing that he could not chop the tree down, and longing for home and his mother, Wu Gang dropped a branch of osmanthus onto Guabang Mountain every Mid-Autumn night to express his homesickness. Year after year, Guabang Mountain became covered with osmanthus, and the villagers used this osmanthus to make tea, and Xianning had no more disasters. Chang'e, from the same village as Wu Gang, and Wu Gang had been childhood sweethearts and innocent playmates. Ever since Wu Gang went to the moon palace, she had always taken care of Wu Gang's old mother until the old woman passed away. Wu Gang and Chang'e were separated between heaven and the human world, and their longing for each other grew day by day. Wu Gang could not return because he could not chop down the osmanthus tree, and Chang'e, separated by heaven and earth, could not go to meet Wu Lang. Finally one day, the Queen Mother of the West brought her seven daughters to bathe at Mingquan Spring below Guabang Mountain. Chang'e saw this, secretly took the seventh fairy's immortal elixir for returning to heaven, took it home and ate it, brought her jade rabbit, and went up to heaven to meet Wu Gang. The seventh fairy, having lost the immortal elixir, could not return to the heavenly court and could only wait for her sisters to bring her one when they came to bathe again three days later, so that she could ascend to heaven. You should know that one day in heaven is one year in the human world. During these three years, the seventh fairy met Dong Yong.
(2) Legend says that in ancient times, at the foot of Liangying Mountain, there lived a widow who sold mountain wine. She was generous and kind, and the wine she brewed was mellow, sweet and beautiful. People respected her and called her Fairy Wine Lady. One winter, the weather was freezing cold. Early in the morning, as soon as Fairy Wine Lady opened the door, she suddenly saw a man lying outside the door, thin as a stick and barely clothed, who looked like a beggar. Fairy Wine Lady felt that he still had breath, so she carried him back home, first gave him hot soup, then fed him half a cup of wine, and the man slowly revived. He said excitedly, "Thank you, madam, for saving my life. I am a paralyzed man. If I go out, I will either freeze to death or starve to death. Please be kind and let me stay a few more days." Fairy Wine Lady was troubled. As the saying goes, "Before a widow's door there is much gossip." If a man like this stayed in her home, others would talk. But then she thought again, she could not just watch him freeze to death or starve to death. Finally she nodded and agreed to let him stay temporarily. As expected, gossip about Fairy Wine Lady soon spread, everyone became distant from her, and fewer and fewer people came to the wine shop to buy wine day by day. But Fairy Wine Lady endured the pain and took care of the man with all her heart. Later, when people no longer came to buy wine and she truly could not keep going, the man also left without saying goodbye, and no one knew where he went. Fairy Wine Lady was worried, and looked everywhere for him. On a hillside she met a white-haired old man carrying a load of dry firewood and walking with difficulty. Just as Fairy Wine Lady was about to go help, the old man suddenly fell, and the dry firewood scattered all over the ground. The old man closed his eyes, his lips trembled, and he weakly called out, "Water, water..." Where could there be water on a barren hillside? Fairy Wine Lady bit through her middle finger, and immediately fresh blood flowed out. She put her finger to the old man's mouth, and the old man suddenly disappeared. A clear breeze blew, and from the sky came a yellow cloth bag, filled with many small yellow paper packets, along with a yellow note that read: The moon palace bestows osmanthus seeds, rewarding kind families. With high fortune, the osmanthus tree is green; with high longevity, the tree is full of flowers. Pick flowers to brew osmanthus wine, first give it to father and mother. Wu Gang helps the good, and sends disaster to the treacherous and slippery. Only then did Fairy Wine Lady understand that the paralyzed man and the firewood-carrying old man were both transformed by Wu Gang. When this matter spread, people from near and far came to ask for osmanthus seeds. Kind people planted the osmanthus seeds, and they quickly grew into osmanthus trees and bloomed with osmanthus, filling the courtyard with sweetness and infinite glory. For people with bad intentions, the osmanthus seeds they planted simply would not take root and sprout, making them feel ashamed, and from then on they washed their hearts and turned toward goodness. Everyone was very grateful to Fairy Wine Lady; it was her good deeds that moved the great immortal Wu Gang, who managed the osmanthus trees in the moon palace, to spread osmanthus seed wine to the human world, and from then on the human world had osmanthus and osmanthus wine.
Cultural heritage
The eighth lunar month was anciently called the osmanthus month. This month is the best period for enjoying osmanthus and also the best month for admiring the moon. China's osmanthus and the Mid-Autumn bright moon have been connected with the cultural life of our people since ancient times. Many poets wrote poems and lyrics to depict and praise it, and even deified it. Moon palace mythologies such as Chang'e flying to the moon and Wu Gang cutting the osmanthus, the palace in the moon and the fairyland in the palace, have become widely praised tales through the ages, and it is precisely osmanthus that links them together. The osmanthus tree actually became an "immortal tree." Han Zicang of the Song dynasty wrote in a poem: "In the moon there was a guest who once shared the planting; in the world no flower dares compete in fragrance." Li Qingzhao called the osmanthus tree "naturally the first-rate among flowers." In modern times, through mass selection, the osmanthus tree leaped onto the throne of the 10 famous flowers.
Osmanthus has many names: because its leaf veins are shaped like a gui tablet, it is called "gui"; because its material is dense and its grain resembles rhinoceros horn, it is called "wood rhinoceros"; because it is naturally distributed among clumping rocky ridges, it is called "rock gui"; because when it blooms its fragrance is striking and drifts for several li, it is also called "fragrance for seven li" and "fragrance for nine li."
Osmanthus belongs to the Oleaceae family and the Osmanthus genus. It is native to southwestern, southern and eastern China. Wild resources now exist in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Zhejiang and other places, and cultivation is most concentrated in cities such as Chengdu, Wuhan, Nanjing, Guilin, Hangzhou and Suzhou. It is commonly planted throughout areas from the Huai River basin to the south of the lower reaches of the Yellow River. North of the Huai River, osmanthus has difficulty overwintering in the open, so pot cultivation is generally used, and in winter it is moved into a greenhouse or cold cellar to overwinter so as to ensure normal growth.
Osmanthus is cultivated in Japan and India. Since 1771, when China's osmanthus was introduced to England via Guangzhou and India, it then expanded rapidly. Today it is commonly cultivated in many countries in Europe and America as well as in various Southeast Asian countries, becoming an important fragrant flowering plant.
Some osmanthus plants bear fruit, and some do not. Generally the drupe ripens in April-May of the second year, and when used for sowing, it generally takes 5-6 years to bloom. For asexual propagation by branch cuttings, grafting and layering, it can bloom in the same year.
A Song dynasty record says: "When the moon is about to be full, the flowers are just right; after the flowers are about to fade, the moon also wanes. One should know that things in heaven and the human world alike receive the clear autumn at the same time." This points out the basic pattern of its flowering: namely, every year when the moon is full on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, osmanthus blooms in full, and half a month later the flowers have withered and the moon has also waned.
Osmanthus likes warmth and has strong stress resistance. It can tolerate both high temperatures and relatively cold conditions, and can overwinter in the open in areas south of the Qinling Mountains and Huai River in China.
Osmanthus relatively likes sunlight and can also tolerate shade. Under full light its branches and leaves grow luxuriantly and it blooms densely; in shaded places its branches and leaves are sparse and flowers are few. If potted indoors in the north, special attention should be paid to ensuring sufficient light to benefit growth and the formation of flower buds.
The ancients recorded a great deal about the weather conditions for osmanthus blooming. Wang Jian of the Tang dynasty wrote in "Looking at the Moon on the Night of the Fifteenth": "Cold dew falls silently, wetting the osmanthus"; Liu Zongyuan wrote, "Dense dew on the osmanthus of the front mountain"; Bai Juyi wrote, "Heaven is about to steam the cold fragrance with autumn air; the moon borrows golden waves to pick the yellow seeds"; Lu You of the Song dynasty wrote: "Heavy dew dampens the fragrance on the secluded path at dawn; the slanting sun warms the stamens, beautiful at the small window." In the poems, "cold dew" and "dense dew" show that the flowering weather should be cold and cool in the morning and evening; "warming and steaming" shows that the weather would also once again reach relatively high temperatures. This kind of weather, cool in the morning and evening and hot during the day, is beneficial to the accumulation of nutrients in the osmanthus tree and also promotes the formation of dew, and the osmanthus tree then accelerates its flowering. People in Suzhou call this "wood rhinoceros steaming." Around the Mid-Autumn Festival the weather suddenly becomes hot, even like summer, and once the osmanthus is steamed and warmed, it blooms profusely and abundantly. Osmanthus flowering requires a certain humidity and also a certain temperature difference.
Because osmanthus can be enjoyed for its flowers and also smelled for its fragrance, it is often chosen in modern urban landscaping. Osmanthus also has rich cultural significance. "Among the beautiful things, the osmanthus of Zhaoyao," osmanthus has always been a symbol of beautiful and elegant things in the world. "In August osmanthus blooms everywhere; when osmanthus blooms, happiness comes." Through the ages, people have also regarded osmanthus as an auspicious sign. And in all cases of passing the examinations and achieving success in official career, it is also called "plucking osmanthus," while those who obtain special honors are praised as having a "laurel wreath."
City flower and city tree: Xianning. Xianning City
Osmanthus cultivation has a long history. According to historical records, more than 2,300 years ago, the Warring States poet Qu Yuan passed through Xianning and wrote the beautiful lines, "I libate osmanthus wine and pepper broth," and "Swiftly I ride, O in a osmanthus boat." Five hundred years ago, there was already a folk tradition of brewing fine osmanthus wine.
A small number of thousand-year-old ancient osmanthus trees still exist in Xian'an. Xianning osmanthus ranks first in the country in six aspects: planting area, number of varieties, number of ancient osmanthus trees, osmanthus output, osmanthus quality and osmanthus seedlings. The city's five main resource indicators, including the number of osmanthus varieties, number of ancient trees, base area, fresh osmanthus output and osmanthus quality, have always maintained a leading position in the country. Osmanthus is distributed across 45 townships in 6 counties and urban districts of the city, with the four major cultivar groups of Jingui, Yingui, Dangui and Sijigui, and nearly thirty osmanthus varieties. There are 1.5 million osmanthus trees with a ground diameter of more than 5 cm, equivalent to an area of more than 50,000 mu. In particular, the city has 2,000 ancient osmanthus trees over a hundred years old, accounting for 91% of the country's 2,200.
In 1963 and 1983, the state twice named Xianning the "hometown of osmanthus"; in 2000, the state again named Xian'an District of Xianning City as the only "hometown of Chinese osmanthus." With indisputable resource advantages, Xianning City has successively won numerous national honors. According to a special survey on osmanthus, compared with 1999, the osmanthus area, output, output value, tax revenue and net income provided to farmers have all grown substantially, and the osmanthus industry has developed considerably. Xian'an District has been listed by the State Forestry Administration as a national-level seedling and flower base. Xianning osmanthus products have been exported to more than 10 countries and regions including Japan, the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia. "Rose fragrance, jasmine fragrance, cannot compare with Jiangnan osmanthus fragrance." The rich osmanthus customs have nurtured a Guixiang culture with southern Hubei characteristics. A "Legend of Tianxiang Osmanthus" tells the legendary story of osmanthus, and a song "Jiangnan Osmanthus Fragrance" has made Xianning's osmanthus fragrance spread across the north and south of the Yangtze River.
Lu'an
The background place of the TV drama "August Osmanthus Blooms Everywhere," Lu'an Zhou, is today's Lu'an, and the instructor of the New Fourth Army southern Henan cadre training class entered Lu'an Zhou and served as political commissar of the guerrilla detachment at Huoying Mountain. Huoying Mountain here is Huoshan County in Lu'an. Lu'an is also called Lu'an; because the pronunciation is the same, it is often written as Lu'an. It is one of China's largest and most concentrated osmanthus-producing areas. "August Osmanthus Blooms Everywhere" was adapted from the tune of the Dabie Mountain folk song "Eight Brocades" and has been sung to this day without fading. There are multiple versions of its birthplace. Since the 1980s, the birthplace of "August Osmanthus Blooms Everywhere" has caused disputes among various places, including Jiangxi, Sichuan, Hubei, Anhui and Henan claims.
Xinyang
"August Osmanthus Blooms Everywhere" was spread throughout the country by the "Red Sun Troupe" founded by Wang Jichu and became a classic of Chinese revolutionary historical folk songs. Shangcheng and Xinxian regard "Osmanthus" as their pride, and the two counties made irreplaceable contributions to the full blooming of "Osmanthus." Xinyang City adopted osmanthus as its city flower. Xinyang City is located in southern Henan Province, bordering Anhui to the east and Hubei to the south. Xinyang has beautiful mountains and rivers and a pleasant climate.
Suzhou
Suzhou's city flower is osmanthus. Osmanthus is an evergreen tree of the Oleaceae family. China has more than two thousand years of cultivation history, and it is rated as one of the ten traditional famous flowers. A myth was once widely circulated among the people: it is said that in the moon there is an osmanthus tree 500 zhang tall. Wu Gang, a man from Hexi in the Han dynasty, because he studied immortality but did not obey the rules of the way, was punished by being sent to the moon to chop the osmanthus. But this tree closed up as soon as it was cut, and could never be chopped down. He toiled all year round and was only allowed to rest at Mid-Autumn when the osmanthus bloomed. Mao Zedong's lines, "I ask Wu Gang what he has; Wu Gang brings out osmanthus wine," are a vivid embellishment of this story. Through the ages, people have regarded osmanthus as an auspicious sign. In all cases of passing the examinations and achieving success in official career, it is called "plucking osmanthus." Those who obtain special honors are praised as having a "laurel wreath." Among some ethnic minorities in Guangxi, young men and women also like to give osmanthus to the one they love to express admiration, hence the proverb, "One branch of osmanthus, one heart; in the osmanthus grove, a lifetime is joined."
Hangzhou
Hangzhou uses osmanthus as its city flower not because the flower shape is so beautiful or so large, but because of a deeper meaning: osmanthus is a flower with inner substance. First, its fragrance is rich, elegant and pleasant. Whenever osmanthus blooms in golden autumn, the whole city of Hangzhou is filled with osmanthus fragrance, making people feel relaxed and joyful. Second, literati and poets through the ages have chanted about Hangzhou osmanthus countless times, which shows that osmanthus planting in Hangzhou also has a long history and has been loved by people for thousands of years. All tourists who come to Hangzhou during osmanthus season are captivated by it, and osmanthus fragrance has already become a symbol of Hangzhou.
Guilin
Guilin's city flower is also osmanthus. In Guilin, this scenic, world-famous tourist city, the "best under heaven" Guilin landscape attracts many people from home and abroad, and in Guilin there is the saying, "Guilin, Guilin, osmanthus trees form forests."
Related poetry
"Zhegu Tian" by Li Qingzhao
Dim and light yellow, its nature is gentle; its feeling is distant and its traces far, only fragrance remains.
Why need pale green or deep red? It is naturally the first-rate among flowers.
Plum must be jealous; chrysanthemum should be ashamed; where it blooms by the painted rail, it crowns Mid-Autumn.
The poet may be too unfeeling; why was it not included back then?
"Appreciating Osmanthus" by Zhang Yun'ao, Qing dynasty
In August at West Lake there is enough for a pure outing; where does fragrance reach the nose in quiet seclusion?
Beside Manjuelong golden grains are everywhere; heaven's wind blows them down, autumn over ten thousand mountains.
"Looking at the Moon on the Night of the Fifteenth" by Wang Jian, Tang dynasty
In the courtyard the ground is white, crows roost in the trees; cold dew falls silently, wetting the osmanthus.
Tonight the bright moon is gazed at by everyone; I wonder in whose home autumn longing falls?
"Autumn Night Stirring Emotion" by Zhu Shuzhen, Song dynasty
Suppressing the west wind and dominating all flowers, for whom does the full autumn color busily work?
One branch lightly placed beneath the study window; person and flower heart each have their own fragrance.
When the moon is about to be full, the flowers are just right; after the flowers are about to fade, the moon also wanes.
One should know that things in heaven and the human world alike receive the clear autumn at the same time.
"Osmanthus" by Lu Shengzhi, Song dynasty
Alone dominating the three autumns and overwhelming all flowers, why boast of orange green and orange yellow?
Since it was divided and sent down from the Mid-Autumn moon, its fragrance truly drifts from the edge of the sky.
"Three Poems on East City Osmanthus with Preface" by Bai Juyi, Tang dynasty
The eastern city of Su was the ancient capital of Wu. Now it is a place for woodcutters and herders.
There is one osmanthus tree growing below the city wall. Pitying that it has not obtained a suitable place, I therefore composed three quatrains to console it.
You fell originally from the Tianzhu Temple; your roots now coil in the city of Helü.
At that time you should have fallen with the south wind, falling into the human world and growing at random.
Though weighed down by frost and snow, it does not die; brambles and thorns grow fast and threaten to bury it.
Long I worry it will fall into a woodcutter's hands, and be sold as a single bundle of firewood in Suzhou.
From afar I know the osmanthus in heaven stands alone; I ask Chang'e, do you want any more?
Luckily the moon palace has idle land; why not plant two more in the middle?
Song dynasty, Zhu Xi
Tall and graceful, the osmanthus beneath the rock, alone fragrant in the late year.
Leaves dense with a thousand layers of green, flowers blooming in ten thousand dots of yellow.
"Cai Sang Zi" by Li Gang
Its hidden fragrance does not bloom for spring light; it waits straight for the autumn wind, waits straight for the autumn wind; its scent is especially rich compared to other flowers.
With golden and jade hairpins swaying, the person is like jade; the breeze stirs the tinkling ornaments, stirs the tinkling ornaments, just like meeting beneath the moon at the jade terrace.
On the branch tips, ten thousand dots adorn golden stamens; ten li of clear fragrance, ten li of clear fragrance, drawing out the long, elegant thoughts of a recluse.
In a jade vase storing water, the flowers are hard to age; on a clean table by a bright window, on a clean table by a bright window, the fading petals fall with a rustling yellow.
"Bird Cries in the Ravine" by Wang Wei
When people are at leisure, osmanthus flowers fall; at night all is quiet, the spring mountain is empty.
The moon rises and startles the mountain birds, which cry from time to time in the spring ravine.
"Osmanthus Blooms Again at Changsha Temple" by Chen Yuyi
Heaven sent the hidden flower to bloom twice; at dusk the Buddhist chants spread here as I linger.
Not letting the lay devotee lie on the meditation couch, I call him out to the west chamber to view it together.
"Lingyin Temple" by Tang dynasty poet Song Zhiwen
Osmanthus seeds fall from the moon; heavenly fragrance drifts beyond the clouds.
"Chang'e" by Ming dynasty, Bian Gong
In the moon palace autumn is cold, the osmanthus round and round; year after year the flowers bloom only to be picked. Together in the human world we speak of heaven, not knowing that in heaven they long for the human world.
"Remembering Jiangnan" by Tang dynasty, Bai Juyi
In the mountain temple I seek osmanthus seeds in the moonlight; on the county pavilion pillow I watch the tide head.
"Sent to Zen Master Taoguang" by Tang dynasty, Bai Juyi
From afar I think of where my master walks the path; heavenly fragrance and osmanthus seeds fall in profusion.
"Thinking of My Younger Brother Han" by Yu Chou
Hibiscus weeps dew and is seen on the slope; osmanthus seeds drift fragrance and are smelled beneath the moon.
The flower language of osmanthus
Flower language: breathe in your fragrance. Autumn osmanthus is like gold, representing "harvest."
The flower language of osmanthus is "breathe in your breath."
Forever accompanying the beauty, the osmanthus tree is indeed a houseplant whose fragrance fills the world and whose fame fills the world; it is a symbol of the lofty and beautiful, of "auspiciousness and wealth."
Osmanthus pictures