Healthy home plants

Author: Wu Zhixing / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features:
Nutritional Cooking with Plum Blossom:
Cooking Method for Plum Blossom Congee:
5-7 plum blossoms, pluck off the petals, rinse with clean water and set aside. Wash 100 grams of glutinous rice, add white plum blossoms and a moderate amount of sugar to a pot, and cook slightly.
Cooking Method for Mixed Salad with Plum Blossom:
Take a flat plate, arrange the plum blossom petals, place 3-5 fresh coriander leaves on top, and add minced ginger, MSG, and vinegar. Mix before serving.
Cooking Method for Plum Blossom Chicken Soup:
Remove the bone from cooked chicken and cut it into small pieces. Take fresh soup and add it to a pot. Pick the plum blossom stamens, wash the petals, and let them dry. Add the chicken pieces, mushrooms, and peas to the soup. After boiling, add salt and adjust the flavor. Then sprinkle in the plum blossom petals. The soup is ready after a gentle boil. This soup has the effects of moistening the throat and improving eyesight.
Growth Habits:
Plum blossom is a famous flower native to China and ranks first among the "Top Ten Famous Flowers." As early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the love for plum blossoms was very popular in the Yue Kingdom. There was a custom of gifting plum blossoms. People often planted plum, pine, and bamboo together, with plum as the foreground, pine as the background, and bamboo as the guest, creating the scenic view of the "Three Friends of Winter." The plum branches are tough and straight, and the flower buds are easy to differentiate, earning the titles of "Purified Friend" and "God of Flowers in February." Plum blossoms have a cultivation history of over 3,000 years in China. They bloom before leaves in early spring, with heights reaching up to 10 meters. Flowering season varies: in southwestern China, it is from December to January of the following year; in central China, from February to March; and in northern China, after the Qingming Festival. From the initial blooming to full bloom, it takes 4-7 days, and from full bloom to the end of blooming, it takes 15-20 days.
Cultivation Techniques:
1. Prefers well-ventilated, sunny, warm, and humid environments. Avoids damp and dark conditions.
2. For pot cultivation, add base fertilizer and loosen the soil regularly. Apply thin fertilizer frequently, especially during the formation of flower buds in summer and the flowering period in autumn. Fertilize once every two weeks to promote abundant blooming.
3. Watering should be moderate, avoiding waterlogging.
4. Sensitive to temperature; blooms when the temperature reaches 7°C.
5. After flowering, prune by shortening the one-year-old branches that have bloomed to encourage new shoots.
Ornamental Value:
Ancient people loved plum blossoms, admired them, and planted them. When plum blossoms bloom, they are vibrant in color, with fragrance spreading for miles. The subtle fragrance and sparse shadows exude a unique charm. Placed with pine and bamboo, they form the "Three Friends of Winter," each with its own character: pine is tough and ancient, with gnarled branches; bamboo is elegant and ethereal, swaying in the wind; plum has a subtle fragrance and sparse shadows, pure and refined. Together, they complement each other perfectly. Ancient connoisseurs valued plum blossoms for their "horizontal, slanting, sparse, and slender" forms, often admiring branches with "age and uniqueness." Additionally, people praise plum blossoms for four virtues: "valued for rarity over abundance, age over youth, slenderness over fatness, and closed buds over open ones." Sparse branches of plum blossoms are elegant and graceful, thin trunks are refined, old plants are tough and ancient, and closed buds (about to open) are reserved and subtle. The slanting and horizontal branches are varied yet not rigid.
P4-P5