Peach blossoms have multiple meanings in ancient China. In different moods or contexts, they symbolize spring, love, longevity, a good life, disciples, etc.
(1) Peach blossoms symbolize spring. Peach blossoms bloom in early spring and have been a symbol of spring since ancient times. "Peach blossoms are as red as jade, and they must be as charming as those of the past." As a synonym for spring and beauty, peach blossoms are worthy of people's love. Wu Rong said in the poem "Peach Blossom" that "the trees are full of delicate flowers and red, and thousands of red branches are shining with spring melt"; Wang Wei left a poem that "when spring comes, peach blossoms are everywhere, and I don't know where to find the source of immortality"; and Cui In "Ti Cheng Nanzhuang", Hu also linked peach blossoms with spring, saying that "peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze".
(2) Peach blossoms symbolize love. The flower language and its representative meaning are the captives of love. In ancient China, peach blossoms have always been inseparable from the word love. Ancient people often talked about peach blossom luck in divination, which means that peach blossoms can bring people the opportunity of love. Ancient poets often combined peach blossoms with love.
In addition to using poems such as "One peach blossom tree and one tree poetry, who could be crazy about the language of a thousand trees?" to express love and longing, it is also often used to lament the fate of beauties. A line from the great poet Li He of the Tang Dynasty " "What's more, the days of youth are approaching, and the peach blossoms are falling like red rain." The beautiful disillusionment of love is written in a poignant and beautiful way. When the fleeting life cannot be connected with people's hope that the beauty will last forever, the peach blossom becomes the old sorrow and metaphor for the fate of the beauty.
(3) Peach blossom symbolizes longevity. "Tai Qing Fang" says, "Pick peach blossoms on March 3rd and soak them in wine to cure all diseases and improve color." The fruit formed by peach blossoms, peach fruits, is also regarded as a thing that prolongs life, which leads to Many stories, such as the Queen Mother's Peach Club, call peach "Shou peach". Wu Changshuo, a painter in the late Qing Dynasty, exaggeratedly praised the longevity peach, saying in his poem: "The burning flower, disfigured like wine, blooms for three thousand years, and is stronger than a fight."
(4) Peach blossoms symbolize a good life. In Tao Yuanming's "The Peach Blossom Spring", he described, "Entering the peach blossom forest, you can walk hundreds of steps across the bank. There are no trees in the middle, the grass is delicious, and the fallen flowers are colorful." It creates a fascinating and immortal ideal state for people. I don’t know how many generations of people with lofty ideals and people who pursue a better life have been inspired and influenced. Therefore, ancient people often named residences after peach blossoms, such as "Taohuawu", "Peach Blossom Garden", "Peach Blossom Temple", etc.
(5) Peach blossoms symbolize students and disciples. The spring scenery composed of peach blossoms and plum blossoms is full of infinite vitality and has been called students and disciples since ancient times. The phrase "peaches and plums all over the world" comes from "Zizhi Tongjian·Tang Ji·First Year of Empress Wu Jiushi", which is a metaphor for a person who has students everywhere, and the peaches and plums refer to the younger generations he trains or the students he teaches.
Peach blossoms, the blooming flowers of peach trees, belong to the Rosaceae family. The leaves are oval-lanceolate, and the drupe is nearly spherical. It is mainly divided into two categories: fruit peach and flower peach. Peach blossoms are native to central and northern China and are now widely cultivated in temperate countries and regions around the world. Their propagation is mainly by grafting.
Peach blossoms can be made into peach blossom pills, peach blossom tea and other foods. It has high ornamental value and is a common material for literary creation. In addition, the elements in peach blossoms have medicinal value in clearing meridians and moisturizing the skin. Its flower language and representative meaning are: captive of love. From March to June every year, different places hold different peach blossom festivals using peach blossoms as matchmakers.
Morphological characteristics:
Peach blossom is a deciduous tree. The leaves are oval-lanceolate, with coarsely serrated margins and hairless petiole length of 1-2cm. It can reach 3 to 10 meters in height. There are usually 1 to several glands; the leaves are elliptic-lanceolate to obovate-lanceolate, with finely serrated edges and hairless on both sides. Flowers are usually solitary, born when the leaves are open, about 2.5-3.5cm in diameter, with short stalks; 5 sepals, the base unites into a short calyx tube, hairless.
The petiole is 7-12mm long and has glandular points. The trunk is grey-brown, rough and porous. Branchlets reddish brown or brownish green, smooth. The flowers are solitary, with white, pink, red and other colors, double or semi-double, and the flowering period is from March to April. The drupe is nearly round, yellow-green, and the surface is densely covered with short hairs. Depending on the variety, the fruit matures from June to September. Mainly divided into two categories: fruit peaches and flower peaches. Variants include flower color changes such as deep red, crimson, pure white and red and white mixed colors, as well as double and double petals.
Growth habits:
Peach likes light and requires good ventilation; it likes good drainage and is drought-tolerant; it is afraid of waterlogging. If it is flooded for 3 to 5 days, the leaves will fall off in mild cases and die in severe cases. . It is cold-resistant and can generally survive the winter in the open field in East and North China.
Peach blossoms should be grown in light loam soil, and the moisture should be kept at half moisture. It is not intolerant to alkaline soil and does not like soil that is too sticky. It does not choose fertilizers. The rest of its ecological habits are roughly similar to plum blossoms. However, the growth potential and branching power are stronger than plum blossoms, but they are not durable and begin to decline from about 20 years old.
Generally, the age of trees can last 20 to 40 years. Peach trees enter flowers and fruits early. Usually, the flowers and fruits begin 1 to 2 years after the grafted seedlings are planted, and the flowers and fruits enter their peak period in 3 to 5 years. It grows rapidly and can produce secondary shoots 2-4 times a year. The root system is well developed, especially fibrous roots; it is easy to survive transplanting. The flower buds have 1 to 3 flowers per node and are almost sessile. The flowers and leaves bloom at about the same time, and the leaves grow into full shape after the flowers.
Refer to Baidu Encyclopedia information link: Peach Blossom