Willows Injected with Catkin Inhibitors, a Carpet of Green Grass, a Gardenful of Azaleas… A Small Forest in Hangzhou Golden Garden
Lu Xun, a standard-bearer in the May 4th New Culture Movement, once wrote “Flowers bloom and fade, let it go” in his poem. In spring, it just reminds us to stick to our original aspiration despite changes of the outside world.
In this spring, we toured the 15-year-old Golden Garden at Qianjiang New City, which is said to be a forest-like residential quarter. After visiting various residential quarters, we find it is not an exaggerative expression. Golden Garden was famous for its tropical garden style when it was delivered. Tropical trees such as Washingtonia filifera and Phoenix canariensis at the gate and beside the pool are still full of vigor, giving the residential quarter a tropical ambience.
To better savor the garden-like scenery of Golden Garden, we invited Mr. Zhou Xinjian, the greening director of the residential quarter, as our guide. For Zhou, what makes him proudest is the pleasing and well-kept lawn, the fruit of his team’s painstaking effort and his favorite, which would free your mind.
According to Zhou, greening staff often get to work earlier than staffs of other sections. They get busy pruning seedlings and mowing lawns at seven o’clock in the morning in spring, and will even work for a longer time on garden upkeep in summer.
As to Zhou, the whole greening of Golden Garden is worth mentioning. During the tour, we found that some willows in the residential quarter were given an injection. What’s the use of such injection? “Willow catkins are very annoying and have been complained by many proprietors. To solve this problem, we consulted with the gardening and greening bureau and they suggested that we try gibberellic acid on willows to curb catkins. It works pretty well and we’ve used it for several years. And the cost is also acceptable，“ explained Zhou to us.
A big willow in the residential quarter was given six doses. The dose of gibberellic acid for each willow depends on the diameter of the willow. It is fairly common to see trees beside West Lake injected with catkins inhibitors, but it’s surprising to find that this method is also adopted in Golden Garden, from which we can see how greening staff keep pace with the times and care about proprietors.
Azaleas play the lead in Golden Garden in April. Mellow and soft pink of azaleas waves in the breeze and refreshes people’s spirit, and carefully trimmed azalea leaves show smooth lines, reflecting the professionalism of greening staff.
All trees grow well in Golden Garden as they have been taken very good care of since the delivery of Golden Garden in 2006. Guided by Zhou, we appreciated Osmanthus, Magnolia grandiflora, Armeniaca mume var. bungo Makino, nettle trees, zelkova trees, willows, and Cycas revoluta Thunb. and double-color Loropetalum chinense var.rubrum at the gate, and were gladdened by the vigor of such trees.
In Golden Garden, there is a very valuable and treasured crape myrtle estimated seventy years old according to Zhou. Crape myrtle is also known as “hundred-day-beauty” in China and is valued by professionals for both of its economic and cultural value.
It is the only crape myrtle standing near the center of the residential quarter. Every time you walk by, we strongly encourage you to stop and enjoy it for a while. It has smooth trunk, dense branches, and a unique shape, but it sprouts late and there’s no buds so far in April. Crape myrtle has a very long flowering period. We will just wait for its blossoms and bring you good news then.
As nearly-fifteen-year-old mansions, no matter how time goes by, Golden Garden remains its forest-like environment where there’re fresh air, birds twittering over quiet woods, fish swimming in clear water, and people living in agreement with nature. Thanks to careful refining by property management teams and good care by proprietors, the gardening and greening of Golden Garden has been maintaining at a very high quality level.
Scan and follow us