Visiting Thien Huong Pagoda ( Hue City), looking up at the Buddha altar, I suddenly saw some very strange, pure white flowers. Strange because the flowers looked exactly like lotus flowers, but the branches and leaves were completely different. At the age of U60, honestly, this was the first time I saw such a strange flower. Looking at me with surprise, the abbot said:
- That's the land lotus. "Yesterday, I was bailing water at the village square/ I forgot my shirt on the lotus branch", this is the lotus tree, not the lotus that we often see growing in ponds and lakes. The lotus in ponds and lakes is the water lotus, it doesn't have any branches to hang the shirt on and say I forgot it... - The monk laughed happily.
The monk said he had just come from the north on a Buddhist mission. He stopped by an ancient pagoda just as the lotus tree was blooming. It was so precious that people cut and gave him a few flowers to bring back to Hue. The flowers are beautiful, but it is not easy to propagate. So it is understandable that they are not popular and many people do not know about them. The monk also said that when this flower blooms, it gives off a very fragrant, pure, and pleasant scent. To propagate it, one must be a professional "worker" in green plants, and the survival rate is not high. The tree is precious, so the pagoda is very afraid of damaging it, so it limits cutting the flowers and grafting branches...
Seeing and touching with my own eyes, and being fond of plants, I painstakingly researched and looked up the origin of this "strange flower". On the pages of flower gardens and ornamental plants, I saw that besides the name of the lotus, the flower is also called mountain lotus, dry lotus, and cold magnolia. The scientific name is Magnolia grandiflora, belonging to the genus Mognolia, originating from South America and introduced to Taiwan, China, and then to many regions in our country. The lotus is a woody species, with a large canopy and many branches that create shade and are green all year round. The leaves are oval, the tips of the leaves are slightly pointed, quite thick, the upper surface is shiny green, the lower surface has fine hairs and is darker in color, like the leaves of the star apple tree. The lotus is a precious and unique plant. The plant and the flowers are both beautiful, the flowers bloom as big as a bowl, fragrant and lasting for a whole week, planted to create beautiful landscapes for gardens, temples, and parks.
What I find strange is that this plant species is introduced as being suitable for many different climate and weather conditions, easy to grow, easy to care for, and has few pests and diseases. In addition to its landscaping features, the plant also has medicinal value... Beautiful, precious, easy to grow, but why is it so rare? I have traveled south and north countless times, but I have never had the good fortune to come into contact with this flower species. Right in Hue, the once glorious capital, where many rare flowers and herbs were once collected to present to the palace, I have never seen or heard anyone introduce a lotus plant (?). Maybe because of lack of information, no one knows to find the species to bring back; and now, with these lines, who knows if there is an opportunity for those who love nature and plants to pay attention to learning and bringing this precious flower species back to their beloved land and garden.
I would also like to inform you that on some e-commerce sites, there are currently advertisements for lotus seedlings for sale, the price is not too expensive and the quantity is unlimited. It sounds very attractive, making me "itchy" and about to press the button to order. But suddenly remembering not long ago, because I could not control myself, I ... risked my life to order a pair of magnolia flowers. It cost both money and effort to take care of them, and in the end, the result was only ... 2 dry sticks! So, remembering the abbot's words, that lotus seedlings are very difficult to propagate, looking at the e-commerce site and seeing lotus seedlings ... full, how could I not have a little doubt. Losing money is one thing, but losing effort and losing excitement and trust in the seller of the plants is a very frustrating loss, very "hard to swallow". So, haste makes waste, I told myself to leave it at that, when I have a chance to go to the North, I will sneak back to the garden, see for myself the quality of the seedlings, and then it is not too late to "request" them.
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