After living in the city for many years, the word courtyard seems distant and unfamiliar to most people, accustomed to the ease and speed of high-rise buildings, it is naturally difficult to return to the pastoral life of hands-on.
However, there are two sides to everything, and while enjoying the convenience, the unique willow garden flowers and green turnips around the wall naturally become a luxury.
If you suddenly have a beautiful courtyard now, how will you create this small world? Presumably, everyone's plan should be inseparable from the pavilion like a big tree.
Regarding the planting of garden trees, the ancestors actually have a lot of attention, among which the saying that "there are five trees in the courtyard and the descendants have always been rich" has won the hearts of the people.
So, what are the so-called "five trees"? Is their magic faded today?
Where are the "Five Trees" sacred?
From ancient times to the present, the planting of trees in the courtyard has been a highly recognized pleasure, and the gardens of the residences of all civil servants and magnates are indispensable to the green trees.
The folk also have a lot of respect for this, leaving behind sayings such as "it is better to eat no meat, not to live without bamboo" and "plant three trees in the courtyard, and there is heavenly help in happiness".
After thousands of years of cultivation and experimentation, the ancients have concluded five most suitable trees for planting in the garden, which are a good combination of ornamental and practical value.
This is the origin of the proverb "there are five trees in the courtyard, and the descendants have always been rich", and I will introduce it in detail for you.
The first thing to meet with you is the no. 1 seed of the garden green plant, the famous ginkgo tree.
Folk have always had the saying that "ginkgo biloba enters the house, gold is full of wealth", which shows that everyone loves it.
Ginkgo biloba has many advantages, its tree shape is tall, it can block the wind in spring, shade in summer, and it is full of trees in autumn, which is worthy of the word perfect.
Moreover, ginkgo biloba is also known as a longevity fruit, and today it is also a key herb for the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
In the hearts of the ancients, ginkgo biloba can not only gather wealth, but also raise people. It definitely deserved to win the quota of five trees in the courtyard.
After the ginkgo biloba is the jujube tree, which is widely distributed in the north, and it has many beautiful meanings.
First of all, red represents festivities in the folk, so the red dates are full of branches that have always been considered auspicious.
Secondly, red dates are also often used in weddings, metaphorically referring to "early birth of a noble son".
In addition to the auspicious meaning, the jujube tree is also quite economically valuable, and it is the fastest effect among the garden tree species.
There is a folk saying that "peach three apricots and four pears for five years", and the jujube tree will bear fruit in the first year of life, and the poor family can immediately supplement the family by planting one.
If there is any exotic tree species that is most recognized by the ancient working people, it must be the pomegranate tree.
Since being brought into the Central Plains by Zhang Qian from the Western Regions, the pomegranate has become the top stream of the fruit, wrapped in countless beautiful meanings, and become the strongest auspicious tree.
The pomegranate tree itself is a collection of thousands of pets, and the folk have always had the saying that "east durian gold, tomato silver, south durian north durian out of the nobles".
Secondly, its fruit is considered a symbol of many children and blessings, full of children and grandchildren, and is a regular guest for weddings and celebrations.
Moreover, in the family ceremony, the appearance rate of pomegranate is also very high, and the ancients believed that its characteristics of "a thousand rooms are the same, a thousand children are one" just symbolizes the long history of the family.
In ancient times, longevity fruit trees have always been quite popular, and persimmon trees are the best in this regard, so the five trees recommended by the folk are naturally indispensable.
It is not a problem for an old persimmon tree to live healthily for more than a hundred years, and it can bear fruit every year before withering.
Therefore, there is also a folk saying that "a persimmon tree is rich for a hundred years, and it is money from beginning to end".
The key is that planting persimmon trees can take a good color, because persimmons are homophonous with everything, and persimmons are red after ripening, so naturally there is a persimmon ruyi.
The first four are all widely recognized garden tree species, but the last of the "five trees" has always been controversial.
The south is more planted with golden trees, while the north prefers almond trees, and even some provinces also respect walnut trees. If the sayings differ from place to place, then they can only be seen in different opinions.
The scientific basis of the Five Rich Trees
After understanding the specific categories of the "five trees", I believe that everyone can understand the reasons for their recognition, these trees are easy to plant, ornamental value and practicality.
And each has a lot of beautiful meanings, the ancients summed it up as "there are five trees in the courtyard, and the descendants have always been rich" is very appropriate.
However, from today's scientific point of view, planting these trees certainly does not guarantee the wealth of the family, and the metaphysical arguments on them are certainly unreliable.
But these five kinds of trees do have good economic value, although it can't bring us a lot of wealth, but it is still completely fine to earn some pocket money every year.
Pomegranates, persimmons, apricots and dates are all much-loved fruits, and ginkgo biloba is not only used in medicine, but also in many tonic soups.
From this point of view, the saying that "there are five trees in the courtyard, and the descendants have always been rich" does have a certain truth, and it reflects the pragmatic mentality of the ancient working people.
In addition to its considerable economic value, the ancients planted the five rich trees with other practical considerations.
The first is to play a role in wind protection, there were no tall buildings to block the wind before, and in the spring in the small courtyard, there will be a big tree that shelters the wind and rain.
Secondly, the planting of very wide trees can also bring coolness in the hot summer, and the huge canopy can block the sunlight and make the whole courtyard cooler.
Finally, in the courtyards of deep mansions in ancient times, trees were indispensable.
Because it is the best "silencer device", it can play an effect of isolating the noise outside.
Literati inkers like the quiet living atmosphere in the middle of the night, and the five trees are the tools to absorb noise.
Ancient trees are studied in feng shui
In ancient times, when building courtyards, Kan public opinion masters were indispensable, and both the emperors and generals and the pawns of the peddlers believed in this.
According to the feng shui master, the decoration of every flower and grass in the yard is exquisite, and the trees are naturally more valued.
When planting trees in the garden, there are many taboos in feng shui, and many of them now seem to have a scientific basis.
For example, the ancients paid attention to "planting fewer trees in front of the door and less trees behind the house". Metaphysics believes that bamboo will obscure the fortunes of the family, and planting trees behind the house is prone to trouble.
This makes sense in ancient times, because bamboo grows very fast and its root system is well developed.
Planting bamboo in front of the door will not only cause obstruction, but also may affect the foundation of the house, bringing safety hazards.
The same is true for planting trees behind the house, the foundation of the house in ancient times was not very strong, and it was easy to be affected by the thick roots.
For example, the ancients believed that the willow was a fierce tree in heaven and earth, and it must not be planted in a private house, otherwise it would bring great disasters.
In fact, nowadays, when it comes to urban greening, willows are also rejected.
This is not because of the so-called fierce wood, but because the willows and yangs fluttering in the spring have indeed brought great trouble to everyone's life and travel.
It can be seen that the feng shui metaphysics of planting trees is also quite desirable.
epilogue
On the whole, the five trees in the courtyard recommended by the ancients not only have a beautiful meaning, but also have economic value, which is definitely suitable for the past and the present.
In many popular rural courtyard renovation videos, they are still quite popular guests.
Of course, with the improvement of living standards, the slight economic value of the five trees has not been valued by everyone.
But their "appearance" is equally good, full of ornamentation, both the magnificent colors of "when the summer yin is green, the autumn color turns red", and the elegant leisure of "the new green in front of the court, the breeze outside the eaves hides the dark fragrance".
Planting trees in the courtyard only takes a moment to pay, but raising people with trees has a hundred years of blessings.