Author: Yiping Diary
Recently, it is the season when hollyhocks are blooming in the community. As Cen Shen (Tang Dynasty) said in "Hollyhock Flower Song": One flower bloomed yesterday, and another flower blooms today. The flowers are just right today, but they were old yesterday.
In the monotonous shade of green trees in summer, in addition to the tall figure of hibiscus that stands out, hollyhocks are blooming very well. Every time I walk past them, I can't help but stop and take a closer look at this giant flower with "hundreds of light purple and deep red flowers, which can compete with peonies."
In my memory, Hollyhock's name has always been called "Big Vent". I have been called this inexplicable name for many years. I should have heard it from my father at first. Maybe I heard it wrong, or maybe my father kept calling it by mistake. Anyway, there is no way to verify it now.
The tall and strong hollyhock, although its flowers are beautiful, is not a beautiful woman in my eyes because it is too tall. Being too tall does not seem to be a term used to praise women. A tall woman is just a tomboy at best, and being tomboyish is not a compliment to a woman after all. This is my obsession and my prejudice.
However, in the summer in my hometown, there are not many blooming plants, and even if there are blooming plants, the flowering period is not long. I have to admit that hollyhocks are very beautiful flowers. The colors are mainly pink and rose. There are also white, deep purple, and it is said that there are also yellow ones, but I have never seen them. The flowering season of hollyhocks is very long, starting from the time they sprout in spring. , huge leaves sprouted out, and then the branches jumped up uncontrollably, reaching over people's waists, shoulders, and heads. As they jumped up, the broad leaves also unfolded one after another, and then began Budded.
Hollyhock buds are as big as a baby's fist, delicate, plump and green, and gradually bloom in summer. The flowers are divided into single petals and double petals. The flower disk is like a small bowl and the petals are like silk and satin. It's often the beginning of autumn. As long as there is no frost, you will always see a few hollyhocks in a corner or on the roadside. Maybe its leaves have withered, but there is a red flower on the top of its branch that is still bright. Although the flower disk is not as big as in summer, it is difficult to count in the season when thousands of trees are bleak. I remember one time, when I made an appointment with Qin, I saw such a plant on the side of the road within a few steps of going out, so I picked off the pink one on it and brought it to her. That hollyhock was lucky. Qin inserted it into a water bottle and kept blooming for who knows how long (actually, the hollyhock only bloomed for one day), but whenever she mentioned that incident, Qin's eyes were full of joy. I know that for a person with feelings, a flower or a leaf means the world. Qin is such a kind and sensitive person.
I actually only learned the name "Hollyhock" when I went to the Beijing Botanical Garden a few years ago. In the botanical garden, a small sign as big as the palm of your hand will be erected or hung in front of each flower and tree, with the name of the flower and the subject it belongs to written in English and Chinese characters respectively.
Hollyhock, as the name suggests, comes from Sichuan, right? After searching on Baidu, it turned out to be true. Hollyhock, also known as "一 Zhang红", "Great Shu Season" and " Rong Kui , originates from Sichuan, hence the name Hollyhock. It is widely distributed in our country and is planted for ornamental purposes all over the world.
"Great Shu Season" ? "Talk out your anger"! I was shocked. It must be a homophone. My father misunderstood "Da Shuji" as "Taking out my anger". Haha, his mistake was so wrong that our family Two generations have been guilty of this for many years. In fact, I have long had doubts about this inexplicable name, but I have never had an answer, and I have been too lazy to trace its origin. Fortunately, the hollyhock does not seem to mind what others call it, and it still blooms no matter where it is. The capital is still in the land of the Central Plains, still in the barren soil of its hometown. It is at peace with the situation. As long as there is sunshine, there is its shadow.
However, there has been a doubt that has troubled me for many years: the land of Shu is beautiful and the people are small. Why? How can we give birth to such a tall and strong "female man"? As people reach middle age, they finally realize that there are many things that do not need to be asked again and again.Things in the world either go with the flow or happen against nature. There are many clues that I really don’t need to understand one by one. I just choose to accept them.
Hollyhock is a flower that has been ignored in my life, but today I can never forget it.
It was born with permanent roots in its foreign land. Just like me, it mistakenly became my hometown.
2017.1.30 First draft
Revised in the summer of 2022
The flower language of hollyhocks: dreamy, gentle, brave
dreamy : The flower shape of hollyhocks is plump and elegant, and the flowers are mostly pink, giving people a dreamy and beautiful feeling.
Moderate: Hollyhock does not have high requirements on the environment, giving people a docile and happy-go-lucky feeling.
Brave: The flowering period of a single flower of hollyhock is short, only one day, but it will bloom continuously.
