Cherry Blossom Growing Expert Zhang Jizhong Shares His Cultivation Experience
I met Zhang Jizhong on a bright spring afternoon on April 8, 2009, when he was directing the loading and unloading of nursery stock at his cherry blossom base. He, a smiling middle-aged man in a green camouflage outfit, with a smile on his face, walked toward us with a light step when he saw us.
He took us to his garden. Behind him was the cherry blossom garden he runs, and his garden mainly deals in cherry blossoms and red-leaf photinia (Photinia × fraseri). It was April, the height of spring, with grass growing and birds flying, and the new tender leaves of the cherry blossoms and red-leaf photinia looked truly beautiful. He said he now has three gardens in total, covering more than 100 mu of land, and it is the largest cherry blossom plantation in Yanling.
He is a man destined for growing cherry blossoms
According to him, he began growing cherry blossoms in 2000, when various areas of Yanling had just started tissue-culturing cherry blossoms. Every village had one quota, and because he was destined to be connected with cherry blossoms, every village had a quota, and he was one of them. After a period of time, through his unremitting efforts and careful cultivation, the cherry blossoms were finally successfully cultivated, which was the first successful case of cultivating cherry blossoms in the region. From then on, he formed a deep bond with cherry blossoms.
He also has his own approach to cherry blossom management
He said that when growing superior nursery stock, one cannot slack off in planting and management. If flowers and trees are not managed well, it will affect the quality of the nursery stock and lead to reduced returns, so he puts great effort into cultivation. He also often inspects the growth conditions of the nursery stock in his various gardens and personally works at the base so as to better manage the stock. At the same time, his nursery stock also grows beautifully, appearing even more vibrant under the spring breeze. Through his continuous learning and exploration, he has also summarized many management methods, which are very helpful for the quality of cherry blossom cultivation.
He is also very optimistic about the development of landscape nursery stock
He said that today's flower and tree varieties must be of high grade to have good prospects. He is very optimistic about some evergreen colored-leaf landscaping trees. He believes that in future landscaping projects, evergreen colored-leaf tree species will definitely become outstanding among landscaping plants. So while planting cherry blossoms in large quantities, he will continuously develop some large-specification evergreen colored-leaf tree species to expand his nursery stock base.