Chapter 7 Chapter 6 Li Wuyan Who knows the taste on the side of the road, only Xunfang Dish and Bee.

I flew to Beijing on March 2, the sun was bright, and there was still mottled snow under the shadow of the trees.Taking the bus into the city, my mind is full of other things, but my eyes are attracted by plants from time to time.The bare branches of elms, locust trees, poplars, and jujube trees spread vigorously under the blue sky, looking vigorous, but there was no sign of spring sprouting.After the meeting on the second day, I went to Beihai Park and walked around the lake. Except for a small piece of water in the northeast corner, where some waterfowl floated, most of the lake was still frozen. The clear and cold air is rare in Chengdu. .It is unavoidable to observe the trees along the way, not to mention that the deciduous trees such as winter jasmine, bauhinia and pearl plum have no signs of sprouting, even the evergreen pines and cypresses are also very withered. I did not expect to see several magnolias near the west gate. Not afraid of the cold, although there is still snow around the roots of the tree, dense and fluffy flower buds have been lifted high on the branches.This time I will stay in Beijing for two weeks, and I should be able to see the arrival of spring.

In this way, in one year, we will experience the miraculous spring of nature twice. Compared with this scene in the north, how turbulent spring is in Chengdu these days!At the beginning of February, it is still anxious to wait for the spring flowers to bloom in sequence: plum, crabapple, cherry, and magnolia. But from the end of February, the flowers become more and more frequent, and so many plants and trees can't wait to bloom.In the city this feeling is not so strong.Because the city has a choice for the trees and plants to be planted, there must be beauty and order - although the city looks chaotic, it is the largest place for human beings to build order - it is also a kind of order to let flowering plants appear in sequence and at a uniform speed , at least shows the effort to build order, or at least reflects a certain desire for order.Well, this entangled Roland can no longer be used.Barth's common sentence pattern in "Mythology".What I want to say is that if you go to the suburbs on such a day, it will be a different situation.

On March 28th, I took photos of Magnolia for the last time. I have already packed the camera and will use it when I return in more than ten days.At this time, I received a call from a friend, inviting me to go to the suburbs to "appreciate apricot blossoms" the next day.Because a friend who started a company contracted a hilltop there to engage in agricultural development, and there were not only flowers to enjoy, but also wine, meat, and freshly sprouted wild vegetables in the field. We made an appointment to meet at the toll station of Chengnan Expressway at around 3:00 p.m., but we couldn’t wait to imagine the flowers and trees in the countryside, so we went there by ourselves after lunch.Go out of the city on the Chengnan Expressway in the northeast direction, and go to Xinghua Village, Fuhong Township, Qingbaijiang District, more than 20 kilometers away.As soon as I got off the expressway, I saw the route guidance for the Apricot Blossom Festival and the big poster of "First Date with Spring". "A first date with spring"?At least for me, apricot blossom is not the first flower letter this year, but flower news can always stir people's hearts.Therefore, while driving, I also listened to the waltz several times, and my mood seemed to be sprinkled with bright sunshine on a sunny day.The car left the plain and drove into the hilly area with red sandy soil. The song also revolved like a road, with the same undulating landform, light and melodious.I wanted to listen to it again, but I saw flowering trees looming above the red sandy hills.

This tree is more in line with my own imagination about trees than what I saw in the city: the branches are vigorous, the dark and rough bark looks old, and a cluster of dense white flowers blooms on such branches.In the past few years, my interest in flowering plants has been concentrated on the plants of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and I don’t know much about these very Chinese plants in the Sichuan Basin.Standing in front of a tree full of flowers, I thought, is this apricot blossom?From the book, I know that the Prunus family of the Rosaceae where Xing belongs is quite large: peaches, plums, pears, and even cherry blossoms belong to this family.In terms of flower morphology, the common features of this family are: "Single flowers, umbels or racemes. The flowers are usually white or pink, and contain five petals and five sepals." So, first put the lens Aiming at this kind of tree with old branches and flowers, in the camera, the clusters of white flowers are covered with misty light green. When I observe carefully, I find that the green comes from the flower stalk, which has not yet bloomed, and has not released the white petals. The green calyxes that come out, although the white petals that are fully unfolded form the main color, but under the sunlight, these green petioles and calyxes also emit a faint light, which blurs the pure white colors and makes them appear A more soothing undertone of color.At this time, someone from a family on the hill came out. I was worried that they would show unfriendliness, but a young woman was standing there with a child in her arms. The owner of this family came to me and said, There is another tree that looks better than this one.

He also made a request, I will take a look at my tree from your phone. He looked at the flowering trees of his family for a while from the mirror frame, and said loudly to the following: It is really better than our eyes! I asked him if it was an apricot blossom, and he shook his head, a plum tree. Isn't it the Apricot Blossom Festival? He smiled, you haven't reached the place to see Xinghua yet. The man went down to the rape field with yellow flowers at the bottom of the hill.I planned to find the tree he said was more beautiful, but as soon as I took a step, I was attracted by other flowers on the shallow hill.In those small plots that are not very fertile, broad bean flowers bloom, and so do pea flowers.

Broad bean flowers are dense and low-key. On the almost square upright stems, clusters of three or five axillary lip-shaped flowers are half-covered from under the wide leaves. The pea flowers are sparse but very flamboyant, green bean sprouts crawling on the ground, the flowers with white petals and red lips are very light and held high by the long flower cymbals, blown by the breeze, they are like delicate birds in the green waves Flying up, or hovering, it looks very graceful and free-spirited.I think, such a beautiful shape and posture of flowers are worth letting me see them triumphantly.And on the flat land under the hill twenty or thirty meters away, in the golden rapeseed field, the cheerful hum of bees reached my ears.

Even more unexpectedly, wildflowers bloomed on the paths between these plots!First, there are sporadic February blue, and four petals of blue and purple form a regular cross shape.Then I saw Corydalis blooming in pieces.Clumps of deep-divided palmate leaves are green and delicate, holding out a bunch of flowers that gradually open from bottom to top-this kind of bouquet is called raceme in botany.The flowers of these herbs on the ground almost made me forget the plum blossoms and apricot blossoms on the tall trees.The sun warmed the air and the soil under my feet. I sat down and stayed with these flowers and soil with peace of mind, smelling the longer-lasting smell of grass and soil covered by the scent of flowers.If it weren't for the phone calling, I would have sat in the warm sun for a long time.If the fragrance of flowers is exciting, the smell of grass and earth is reassuring.However, my friends have surpassed me and arrived at the destination to enjoy the apricot blossoms, urging me to hurry up.

Get up and rush to the destination, the blossoming apricot trees are covered with several hills of different heights.To be honest, with the flourishing plum blossoms ahead, I feel that the apricot blossoms in front of me are not very beautiful.I did a little homework before coming here, including looking at hundreds of photos of apricot blossoms on Baidu.It is also a tree that is prosperous and dazzling.But the apricot trees in front of me are not like this, and I can see the reason after standing for a while.These new apricots have been planted for a few years, and they are still low, and the crown cannot be fully developed after continuous pruning.First of all, they are born for the purpose of fruiting, and ornamental flowers are only an added value. For these apricot trees in groups, the height and spacing are roughly neat, the flowers are just because the stamens pollinate the pistils, and the ovaries become pregnant and expand. The fruit is the fruit.However, if you don't focus on the overall effect, the slightly sparse flowers on these trees are still quite beautiful. These white flowers are white and red, and the white petals are reflected by the purple-red calyx.This is the obvious difference from the plum blossoms that are reflected green by the green calyx.I'm not sure if this is a common phenomenon, but for the time being, let me distinguish Li Hua from Xing Hua in this way.

In recent years, another ornamental tree species called Hongye Plum has been planted in large quantities in the city.These days, in just two or three days, in the park or on the side of the newly expanded road, the branches of Hongye Li that have germinated for more than two years are already covered with fine and dense white flowers.The trees on the side of the road are more neatly pruned than in the orchard, but in the park, you can still see this kind of tree growing naturally and blooming profusely.Compared with the plum blossoms just observed, the shape of the red-leaf plum blossoms is closer to the apricot blossoms. The petals are white when viewed from a close distance, but light red when viewed from a distance. Effect.

In Huanhuaxi Park, there is a wooden sign not far from the group of red-leaf plums that have not been pruned, so they bloom very happily, answering a question that may arise in people’s minds, since plants rely on chlorophyll for photosynthesis , Then, will the purple-red leaves of Hongye Plum perform photosynthesis?The text on the wooden sign tells us that even purple-red leaves like red-leafed plums still contain chlorophyll, which can carry out photosynthesis just like green-leafed trees. Also in the southwest corner of this park, a branch of Red Leaf Prunus protrudes obliquely from it, which is thicker and darker than the branches of Red Leaf Plum itself. It is full of white and green flowers. Li Hua who taught me to confirm.Obviously, this branch was grafted.The branches of red plum leaves are flourishing upwards, but this branch is slanted out and almost reaches the sidewalk, attracting people who visit the garden to stop and marvel.In fact, grafting is already a very old gardening technique.During the meeting in Beijing, we discuss serious issues during the day, sometimes the atmosphere of the discussion is even more serious than the issue itself, and we go to bed at night to read some idle books to refresh ourselves, one of which is called "The Desire of Plants" by Michael Pollan.It is very interesting to talk about how plants can lure people to domesticate them.There is such a passage in it: "The real domestication of plants has to wait until the Chinese invented grafting." Moreover, the author also pointed out the specific time, "Sometimes in 2000 BC, the Chinese discovered that from a tree A section of branch cut from the tree can be grafted to the trunk of another tree, and once this grafting is carried out, the fruit that grows on the tree that grows at the junction will share the characteristics of the parents.” After grafting, grow into Of course, we have eaten a lot of fruits, but here, what I want to say is that the plum blossoms on the branch I saw are exactly the same as the ones I saw in the farmland, and there is no difference between the two different characteristics. Mixed to produce a new plum flower.

In the twinkling of an eye, I stayed in Beijing for two weeks, and there was no sign of spring coming. The newspaper said that the heating hours that were supposed to end this week will be extended.Had a nice snow the other day.That day in Qianhai, I chatted with an old friend and a new friend. After dinner, I saw that the ice on the lake had been covered with a thin layer of snow, shimmering under the dim lights of the city.Xiaoxue took a walk back to the hotel, passed an alley, and came across a nice name: Tanghua Hutong.The crabapple trees in those old yards stand in the snow, the dim street lamps illuminate the old trees with vigorous branches, there are also flying snowflakes, and the narrow and long alleys, like some kind of memory, a familiar place dream. Yesterday, the night when we were about to leave Beijing, the snowflakes started flying again, and it continued to fall during the day until we arrived at the airport in the afternoon.But two and a half hours later, when I got off the plane, what was waiting in Chengdu was rain.With a temperature of thirteen degrees, the rain is a bit beautiful, and on the way into the city, I saw peaches, crabapples, winter jasmine and bauhinia blooming very lively.Where the tree shadows are thick, pansies of the iris family are also blooming sporadically. These flowers are so blooming that I am a little overwhelmed when writing phenology notes. 2010, March, 16