The original Qingyuan bonsai plant name Forsythia and Golden Bell flower
Treasure Peak
Forsythia and bellflower are deciduous shrubs of the family Forsythiaceae, and their morphologies are relatively similar. Every spring, its flowers open before the leaves, and the golden flowers are hung all over the branches, like a yellow ribbon, bright and dazzling, which is a flower-viewing bonsai tree species that is worth promoting.
There are 11 species of Forsythia plants, except for 1 species in southeastern Europe, the rest are found in eastern Asia, and there are 7 species and 1 variant in the mainland. The fruit of this genus of plants can be human medicine, has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, dispersing knots and reducing swelling, the famous Chinese patent medicine Yinqiao Jiedu Pill (Piece), in which the "warp" is the dried fruit of Forsythia.
forsythia
Forsythiasus (Forsythiasus-pensa) is also known as yellow flower rod, yellow shoudan, yellow ribbon, ribbon. The stems are clustered, the branches are spread out or arched and drooping, brown, tan or light yellowish brown, the twigs are earthy yellow or grayish-brown, slightly quadrangular, sparsely raised skin pores, the internodes are hollow, and the nodes have a solid pith. The leaves are usually single-leafed, or 3-lobed to triple-altered, and the leaves are ovate, broadly ovate, or ovate-elliptic, with sharply serrated or coarsely serrated margins. The flowers are usually solitary or 2 to several axillary, the calyx is long, green, corolla funnel-shaped, lobes 4, obovate-oblong or oblong, yellow. The fruit is ovate-spherical, ovate-elliptic or oblong-elliptic, with a beak-like tapering apex and a sparse skin hole on the surface. Flowering period is from March to April. The fruiting period is from July to September. Horticultural species include Forsythia suspensa 'Aurea', Forsythia suspensa 'V ariegata', and Forsythiasuspensa 'Coldvein' (Figs. 1~3).
Figure 1: Forsythia
Figure 2: Fruit of forsythia
Figure 3: St. John's Wort Golden-leaved
Admiralty
The golden bell flower (Forsythiaviridissima) is also known as spring willow, spring bar, golden plum blossom, golden bell flower. Branches brown or reddish-brown, erect, branchlets green or yellowish-green quadrangular with sheety pith, single leaves opposite, oblong to lanceolate, or ovate-oblong-elliptic, irregularly coarsely serrated or sharply serrated above the middle, sparsely entire. The flowers 1~3 are born in the leaf axils, the calyx is short, the sepals are green, the corolla is dark yellow, and the lobes are narrow oblong to oblong. The fruit is ovate or broadly ovate, with a beak-like tapering apex. The flowering period is from March to April, and the fruiting period is from August to November (Fig. 4~5).
Figure 4: Admiralty
Figure 5: Admiralty
sculpt
Propagation can be done by sowing, cuttings, striping, and dividing. In addition, you can also go to the mountains to dig or use the old piles eliminated by the garden department to make bonsai, which has the advantages of clear and quaint form and short molding time. Generally, transplanting in the dormant season from winter to early spring, first shape the stump, cut off the branches that are not needed for modeling, and then plant in a larger pot or underground "raising", the pot soil should be loose and breathable, well-drained sandy soil, after planting, the soil will be compacted, watered thoroughly, placed in a sheltered and sunny place for maintenance, watering after survival to master "not dry, not watering, watering is watered thoroughly", pay attention to cutting off excess branches during the growth period (Figure 6).
According to the specific shape of the stump, the method of combining pruning and pruning can be adopted to make bonsai with straight dry type, oblique dry type, curved dry type, waterfront type, cliff type, weeping branch type and other shapes. Due to their long branches, they can be topped during the growing season to control branch growth and promote lateral branches, creating a compact and dense canopy. And pay attention to the roots, so that the roots are intertwined, in order to increase the old and simple charm of the bonsai.
Maintenance
It prefers warm, humid and sunny environments, and is tolerant of semi-shade, cold and drought, but is afraid of stagnant water. During the growing season, it can be placed outdoors in a sunny and well-ventilated place for maintenance, even in midsummer, do not shade the light, and usually keep the potting soil moist and not waterlogged. Cut off the excess branches and erase the excess buds in time to maintain the graceful shape. In spring and autumn, apply well-rotted thin liquid fertilizer or compound fertilizer every 15~20 days, and stop fertilizing in summer. In winter, you can overwinter in a cold room, or bury the pot outdoors in a sheltered place from the wind and the sun to overwinter, control watering, and keep the soil from freezing to safely overwinter. Before flowering, a shaping is carried out to cut off the branches that affect the shape of the tree, so that the tree looks beautiful when it blooms.
Turn over the pot once every 1~2 years after flowering, the potting soil is required to be loose and fertile, with good drainage and air permeability, and combined with repotting for a pruning, the excessively long branches are cut short, leaving enough bud positions to grow new branches, laying a good foundation for more flowering in the next year.
Compared with forsythia, the cold tolerance of golden bell flowers is slightly poor, and attention should be paid to cold protection in winter.