Digging out old articles and reading them again

Digging out old articles to read - orchid pot surfaces When browsing those orchid pictures online, one of my great pleasures was looking at other people's orchid pot surfaces. Making a pot surface is like a farmer preparing a vegetable plot. A deft and fastidious farmer will absolutely make a vegetable plot look like a work of art, drawing praise from everyone who sees it. First, he uses a large iron rake to turn the soil up in big clumps, lets them dry white for a few days, then breaks the big clods apart and rakes them even, then uses a hoe to tamp it into evenly sized little rice-cake shapes, and the ridges and furrows around the edges are also drawn straight and smooth with the hoe, just like the parting a girl makes when braiding her hair, so that the whole vegetable plot looks angular yet level and soft like a steamed cake But making a pot surface does not require the trouble of rakes and hoes, yet it should be just as pleasing to the eye. In the Huilan Tongxin Lu (Record of the Heart of Huilan) there is a record about making pot surfaces: the pot surface must rise more than two inches above the pot rim, shaped like a steamed bun. Level and slightly domed, the four sides must not be too sharply cut, for if cut sharply the roots are easily exposed. Near the leaf stems, press firmly with the hand, so that even after heavy rain it will not sink low; moss or grass can be laid and planted right away. The method described above of making the pot surface into a steamed-bun shape is still used by many people today, but with the granular potting media used now it is not easy to make a bun shape, unless one uses a pot with a flared mouth, or uses sphagnum moss, green moss or the like to hold the medium in place. Making it into a steamed-bun shape is the ancient method, and its reasoning is: doing so can to the greatest extent ensure that the pseudobulbs get ventilation and breathability as well as moisture and warmth retention. However, as for ventilation and breathability, today's granular potting media can fully achieve this without making a bun shape. If you yourself favor the ancient method and your growing environment is relatively enclosed with high demands for ventilation and breathability, then doing so is fine too. So what should a pot surface that makes people feel comfortable and delighted be like? First, let me sum up three points: first is practicality; second is neatness; third is beauty; fourth is creativity. Practicality means the pot surface must ensure ventilation, breathability, moisture retention and warmth retention; neatness means the potting medium on the pot surface must be clean and angular; beauty means the colors of the potting medium can be used on the pot surface for matching, whether the white of Ishiuchi stone or the red of ceramic media…… one can also plant green moss,翠芸草 (a small ornamental grass), small bamboo and the like, or add miniature rockeries, small stones, figurines and so on, all according to one's own preference, as long as it is elegant and appropriate. As for the point of creativity, it is hard to give examples right off, but as long as it is different from others, unexpected yet entirely reasonable, then it has reached the realm of creativity. Seeing a ruyi scepter ornament or a lingzhi fungus inserted into a fine Japanese porcelain orchid pot, it truly complements the image of the orchid as an auspicious herb and immortal plant. It seems there is much to be written about the pot surface of orchid pots. However, judging from the pictures seen online, one almost never sees anyone specially taking photos for others to admire, though at Japanese and Korean orchid shows one can see some exquisite pot surfaces. It seems most orchid growers pay special attention only to the growth of the orchid plant, while not attaching importance to the overall ornamental effect of the orchid. It is like a person who still has to solve the problem of food and clothing, so how could he talk about refinement in food? In fact, applying such a notion to orchid growing is quite backward. Or it could be put this way: most orchid people today still cannot grow orchids as freely as they wish without overstepping the rules, so they cannot yet turn their attention to the overall appreciation of the orchid. Growing orchids is cultivating the mind, and cultivating the mind naturally means cultivating it to be pleasing to the eye. It is like raising your own child: physical health is of course important, but at the same time, letting him have cultivation and an elegant, appropriate appearance is also very important. So, to make a not entirely apt analogy, knowing the son lets you know the father; likewise, a good pot surface can also reveal an orchid grower's knowledge, cultivation and growing skill. http://www.dfac.cc/showtopic-24-337330-0-0-1.htm