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Fragrant heralds of spring fill visitors’ senses
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THE first warm sunbeams of early spring are slowly awakening plums, winter jasmine, hill cherries and orchids from their winter slump, and the city of Hangzhou is set to receive visitors who appreciate the still quiet, scenic landscapes amid warmer temperatures.
At Guo’s Villa, originally a private garden, an ongoing orchid exhibition is an ideal place to go for tourists who are visiting Hangzhou this month.
It boasts many rare species, such as dancing lady orchid (oncidium), Venus slipper (paphiopedilum), also referred to as ladies’ slippers due to the unusual shape of the pouch-like labellum of the flower, and butterfly orchids in white, purple and pink.
“It usually takes orchid planters years to cultivate one good orchid,” said Pan Gaosheng, an expert from Hangzhou Flower Nursery. The quality of the seeds, careful cultivation and the planter’s experience are just as important as the right amount of luck.
The exhibition showcases more than 200 types of orchids, all grown by local orchid lovers and selected by the Hangzhou Orchid Society and the flower nursery.
While most orchids attract cameras due to their bright colors and strong, exotic fragrant scent, less assuming Noble orchid, or Cymbidium goeringii, is also much appreciated. It’s known to grow in climates as cold as in the Himalayas and impresses with an orange or pale green blossom, hidden among long, grass-like leaves.
The Noble orchid is considered one of the most popular orchids in China, and green thumbs name it chunlan, meaning spring orchid, for it blooms in this season.
With the flowers’ faint scent and the petals’ distinctive shape, chunlan is catalogued into dozens of subcategories.
People have a deep knowledge of how to best grow this orchid, “including how to make sheaths stretch in beautiful curves, petals grow into cupped shapes, pseudobulbs appear in nice arrays, and many other details,” Pan said.
On orchid trade websites, prices for a spring orchid can vary from 150 yuan (US$23) to 200,000 yuan, depending on the flower’s beauty and rarity.
The exhibition shows dozens of pots of chunlan voted this year’s best by the Hangzhou Orchid Society.
A very rare type of chunlan is Ruidie, which carries yellowish and white petals that typically have a mottled pattern. “Panda Ruidie” featuring white flowers with a dark purple pattern that are said to resemble a panda’s face is just one of many highlights.
Orchids, along with bonsais, plum flowers and winter jasmine decorate the antique Guo’s Villa both indoors and outdoors. A Chinese painting and calligraphy exhibition by artist Hua Haijing is also held under the orchid and flower theme, turning the premises into a grand, harmonious spring symphony.
The exhibition is worth a visit not only because of the flowers, but also because of the location. Guo’s Villa, built in 1851, is famed for retaining the delicate air of southern China’s imperial era architecture.
The orchid exhibition charges 10 yuan admission and ends on Sunday — but don’t fret if you can’t make it in time. Around Hangzhou, there’s plenty of options to see the early heralds of spring that have just started to bloom.
Venues to appreciate spring blossoms
• Taiziwan Park (Prince’s Bay Park)
太子湾公园
While cherry blossoms haven’t budded yet, hill cherry trees, along with plums, are soaking Taiziwan Park in a touch of pink.
A member of the cherry species, hill cherry is a small deciduous tree with pink flowers.
As the temperature rose some weeks ago, around 50 plum trees in the park are also in full blossom. When a light breeze blows, it often carries the pink petals into a nearby creek.
• Lingfeng Peak in Hangzhou Botanical Garden 杭州植物园灵峰探梅
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (AD 907-979), the royal court built a temple on the top of Lingfeng Hill with hundreds of plum trees surrounding it. Over the centuries, the temple was neglected, but people are still planting plum trees at the original place.
Hangzhou Botanical Garden was established here decades ago. It boasts a large variety of plants, yet it is still widely known for its roughly 10,000 plum trees of 80 species which are now in full bloom.
Fragrant, cream-colored magnolia flowers and tiny yellow winter jasmine can also be seen.
• Chao Mountain in Yuhang 余杭超山
Chao Mountain is one of many places that boasts beautiful plum trees, but it’s known for its particularly large number: Around 60,000 trees of sweet-smelling white, yellow and pink plum flowers are in full bloom here, presenting a fragrant white ocean.
And the plum trees on Chao Mountain are famous for their striking shapes as each blossom counts six petals as opposed to the usual five.
On top of that, the mountain is also home to two of ancient China’s five precious species of plum trees: Tangmei, planted in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), and Songmei, planted in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
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