Peach Season Tour of the Northern Cross-Island Highway: White Egret Orchids Bloom in Summer on Driftwood
In summer, when you go to the Northern Cross-Island Highway, besides tasting sweet and juicy peaches, you can also stroll through the forest and breathe in phytoncides, while admiring the elegant white blooms of the Taiwan ground orchid!
The scenery area management office of the Taoyuan County Government worked with the Taoyuan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station of the Council of Agriculture. The Taoyuan station developed tissue culture technology for the Taiwan ground orchid and transferred the technology to the Taoyuan County scenery management office, which widely planted them in scenic areas under the county's jurisdiction, and also provided them to flower farmers for production and sale. Besides easing the survival pressure on native Taiwan ground orchids in the wild, it also allowed flower farmers, at a time when summer bedding flower supplies are in short supply, to still offer potted flowers that meet consumer demand.
To help people get to know the rich and beautiful forest ecological resources of the Northern Cross-Island Highway, the Taoyuan County scenery management office began today holding the "Northern Cross-Island Highway Ground Orchid Exhibition - Reunion of Giant Trees and Ground Orchids" at the Jiaobanshan Residence in Fuxing Township. Master Zhang Guangbo from the Daxi Wumu Log Theater used driftwood from the mountains along the Northern Cross-Island Highway, paired with the ground orchid genus orchid revived through tissue culture technology by the Taoyuan Agricultural Research and Extension Station - the Taiwan white crane orchid (Calanthe), presenting in the form of garden landscaping the distinctive woodcraft culture of Daxi and the rich ecological resources of Lalashan.
Ye Zongfu, head of the Taoyuan County scenery management office, said that the driftwood originally came from towering trees on Lalashan along the Northern Cross-Island Highway, which were washed down when typhoons struck. After the precious species of driftwood were sold at auction, the remaining driftwood with no economic value was either used as compost or treated as firewood. The ground orchid grows widely under the shade of Taiwan's primeval forests, and has gradually disappeared because of changes to its natural habitat and heavy collecting by people.
