Chapter 6 Chapter Five Magnolia and emerald strips attract wind and grow, breaking through the fragrance of silver flowers, jade and snow.

Searching the picture collection, the first time I saw magnolia blooming was on February 6th, in Tazishan Park in the east of the city. I was going to see Begonias, but unexpectedly saw magnolias blooming in the peony garden surrounded by bamboo fences.The peony branches are stunned with short wooden stubbles, and there is no news of spring.On the contrary, there are a few thin and tall magnolias, all of which are holding up their hairy buds, and two or three of them are already in full bloom.The thin and tall tree lifts its flourishing branches so high that it is not easy to take pictures.I have seen photos of magnolias taken from above, and the beautiful ones all have the washed blue sky as the background.In winter, or early spring in Chengdu, it is impossible to have such a sky. When the sky is brightest, the hazy mist will not dissipate. When you lower your head, there is a faint sunlight that cannot cast shadows. bright sky.This kind of sky is obviously not good for the background color of white flowers.I had no choice but to focus the lens on the few sparse flowers hanging down.Two layers of six thick fleshy petals, ivory-like, jade-like lustrous white.It wanted to emit light, but it restrained itself, so the thick petals seemed to contain light, and seemed to emit light at any time, but they refused to let it go.It is so eye-catching and quiet.

Shelves of various shapes are being built in the park, and various figures, landscapes and utensils are wrapped with various bright materials to prepare for the Lantern Festival during the Spring Festival. I saw Magnolia again on February 12, in front of Du Fu’s Thatched Cottage in the west of the city. It was two or three meters high.Compared with the one seen in Tazi Mountain, it is also the same shiny white, but the difference is that there are patches of red in the white, and the petals have not fully bloomed, revealing the stamens and pistils inside.Botanical books describe such flowers as cup-shaped flowers. I think that if you hold them in your hand, the streamlined shape of this flower must fit the shape of a human palm.

The festival is coming, and many workers are also doing the work of creating the atmosphere, placing pots of rhododendrons on the steel frame until two tall and thick style columns are made.In addition, some strange-shaped crabapple and plum tree bonsai were placed beside the magnolia tree. It was the day before I left Chengdu to go back to my hometown for the New Year. I thought that when I came back in a week or so, I should see magnolias blooming everywhere. While driving on the road, I still think of the smaller magnolias on Tazi Mountain. The flowers are sleeping in the buds, and they will bloom in a few days.These flower trees are sure to be convenient for shooting when they are open.

Unexpectedly, during the week when no one was there, the temperature in Chengdu dropped day after day, "cloudy and cloudy, with sporadic light rain", which froze back the spring that had been flooding everywhere in the past few days.Du Fu has experienced this situation a long time ago, and recorded it in "Two Poems of Human Day": From the first day to the human day, there is no time when it is not cloudy. The ice and snow warblers are hard to come, and the flowers are late in the cold spring. It's just that today's climate is getting warmer, and there is only freezing rain, but no trace of flying snow.And the rain at low temperature can still make "flowers late".

On the ninth day of the lunar new year, on February 22nd, I went to Tazi Mountain again. The ones that opened more than ten days ago have withered, and there are still some dark brown fragments hanging on the branches. Those that were ready to bloom more than ten days ago are still blooming. Hidden deep in the buds, the only difference is that the tips of many buds have bloomed a little, exposing the white and yellowish flowers a little, is it to feel the change of the outside temperature?At this time, the park also bought tickets because of the bright red and green tied-up shapes of the lantern festival.If the lights are on inside at night, these shapes should look good.Now it is lifeless.Fortunately, all kinds of food and small commodity stalls are densely packed on both sides of the road, coupled with the surging flow of people, it can be regarded as successfully creating a festive atmosphere.I didn’t get a photo of Magnolia, but unexpectedly encountered several big trees in full bloom. I also ate a bowl of hot and sour noodles at the stall to drive away the cold, otherwise I couldn’t stay to take pictures of the cherry blossoms.

On February 24th, go out of the North Third Ring Road to the botanical garden on the hill near Tianhui Town.I heard from my friends that the garden still has a bit of wildness. The grass under the forest is not all man-made like in the park. I must be able to meet some wild grasses and flowers, such as February blue, such as viola.I went there, and it turned out to be wild, the grassland under the forest was basically deserted, and there were the expected weeds and flowers, and I even saw a few white flowers of Rubus blooming under the camellia tree, but they were still sparse and not climate-friendly. It will take some time to actually shoot them.The early cherry blossoms and plum blossoms in the garden have come to an end. In the magnolia garden in the northwest corner, other varieties have not seen any movement, but the white magnolias are blooming fiercely and prosperously on the trees that are ten meters high.In today's city, there are newly opened roads and real estate everywhere, and the newly planted magnolia trees are still small. Only here did I realize that it was not a mistake to list magnolia as an arbor in botany books.It is really a dreamlike situation to look up at the magnolia flowers that are taller than Kazuki and camphor on the winding mountain road.Sitting on the yellow grass and looking up at the sky, I saw the sun rising from the sky through the gaps in the flowers, the clouds slowly dispersed, and the sky was no longer the egg blue color similar to the magnolia flower color, but a little bit blue, although it is very Light, but really blue too.This is the color of the spring sky in Chengdu.This is the color of the sky when the earth is warming up. This is the color of the sky when the grass and trees are turning green and the flowers are blooming for the first time.The white flowers held high by the big trees also took on a touch of blue.However, the camera in my hand will only let me sit quietly for a while, because I worry that the rare sunshine will be covered by clouds again.And when I held my breath and stared at those flowers in the lens, they were even more beautiful, as if they were about to soar towards the light blue sky, and soar towards the sky along with the bright light pouring down.And I can't keep the entities of these magnificent flowers in the world, but keep the illusory light and shadow in each shutter.

That's it, the extreme beauty brings a sense of sadness. This is a profound sadness about life and beauty. Sure enough, the sun didn't stay for too long, and was covered by thick clouds again.I sat down and heard the crackling of the withered grass in the woods that had been basked in the sun for two hours.There was time to lie down now, but the cold was coming from everywhere again.Moreover, the Chuanshan Road at the foot of the mountain began to be blocked. From that day on, Chengdu began to warm up again, and the sun showed its face for longer every day. Although the CCTV weather forecast reported that the cold air was moving south again, and most parts of the country would cool down, the cold wave was blocked by the Qinling Mountains.The Sichuan Basin is still rejuvenating day by day. After several days in a row, the highest temperature has risen from 12 or 3 degrees to today's 21 degrees.Today is the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, the last day of February. Someone sent a book manuscript for earthquake relief, hoping to "correct" and "write a preface".The meal was by the way, mainly to see a group of photos of the traditional cultural relics of the Qiang people after the earthquake that a friend took during the Spring Festival.Talked a lot.Because the topic is of interest to everyone, and those places are also familiar to everyone.The photos are good, and it arouses the interest of talking.Going home at three o'clock, passing Chuangye Road, I noticed that the purple magnolias on the side of the road that hadn't moved at all three days ago suddenly bloomed in the sun.During the holiday, it was rare that there were few pedestrians and vehicles on the road out of the city, so I stopped the car on the side of the road and took dozens of photos in one go.Three days ago, I was still worried that this year I would not be able to shoot Purple Magnolia.Because on the 2nd I will leave for a meeting in Beijing, and come back in more than ten days, the flowering period of magnolia must have passed.While filming, I thought, is there really a magnolia flower god?Because I was walking in front of these purple magnolias that day, and I joked, "Magnolia flower god, let your flowers bloom, otherwise they will have already bloomed when I go out and come back, and I will not be able to shoot them this year."Today, these flowers are really blooming without reservation, without leaving a single bud.This is of course because from the 24th onwards, the sun comes out every day and the temperature rises day by day.Within a few days, almost all the vegetation is sprouting, and people have lost their bloated winter clothes.Even so, I still like to think that it is the magnolia flower god who fulfilled my wish.

On the last day of February, at night, when I write these words, in the night sky outside the window, festive fireworks are rising.At this time, the lantern festival in Tashanzi Park should also reach its climax, right?If there is a magnolia flower god, will she also come out from behind the bamboo fence in the peony garden and mix with the beauties watching the lanterns?What color should those magnolia flowers be when they are illuminated by the lights? 2010.2.28