At present, Sakura, represented by Kawazu Sakura, has faded out of the stage. This week, Nakakura, represented by Sakura Shii Yoshino,"took over the baton" and became the leading actor on the Chunhua stage.

In recent years, cherry blossoms have become the most powerful type of ornamental plant in Shanghai. Thirteen years ago, Gucun Park became famous because of it. The first Shanghai Cherry Blossom Festival stood out from the stereotyped "Peach Blossom Festival" and "Cauliflower Festival". Today, it is still one of the most popular cherry viewing spots in Shanghai.

Since then, parks such as Century Park and Chenshan Botanical Garden have increased the scale of cherry blossom planting, and some neighborhoods have also followed the trend and made every effort to introduce cherry blossoms, which is regarded as "traffic responsibility."

In sharp contrast to the cherry blossoms is the white magnolia. After being a flower in Shanghai for more than 30 years, it always seems to have the trouble of "not becoming popular"-whether it is the scale of planting or popularity, it is inconsistent with its important status as a symbol of the city. It is an indisputable fact that the "national character" has been chased and surpassed by later "Internet celebrities" such as cherry blossoms, tulips, and roses.

Does Magnolia have a chance to counterattack? Good news came from the 10th Shanghai Citizens 'Greening Festival, which kicked off on March 26, and the first Magnolia Culture Festival opened simultaneously.

Magnolia finally has its own festival and the possibility of attracting attention. More importantly, a group of people who love city flowers gathered together under the call of the festival to take practical actions for the "popularity" of Magnolia.

Why do you like Magnolia?

"Years of appeals have finally borne fruit." Wang Huimin, executive director of the Creative Industry Research Center of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, admitted that she had been waiting for this moment for seven years.

To a certain extent, this represents the situation of city flowers. Most citizens 'understanding of magnolia trees stays on city flowers, and some people even believe that magnolia trees should be "given up":There are so many beautiful flowers, why choose this one?

Looking back at history, there are two key factors why Magnolia was elected as a city flower after defeating Qunfang.

The first is the choice of citizens. “市花是市民之花，所以由市民全程参与、做主，整个评选决策过程长达1000多天。”王慧敏介绍，1982年，著名花卉专家陈俊愉发表了《中国的省花和市花问题》的文章，引发了新中国城市市花评选的热潮。次年植树节，上海启动市花评选工作，历经三年多的协商提名、市民投票、专家论证、部门推荐、政府提议、人大审议等程序，白玉兰脱颖而出。

At that time, the flowers participating in the competition included roses, peach blossoms, crabapple, pomegranate, azalea, etc. A total of more than 100,000 ballots were collected from polling stations located in 11 parks, with white magnolia coming first, followed by peach blossoms. The September 1986 "Report on Request for Determination of City Flowers in this City" listed four reasons for recommending Magnolia officinalis as a city flower:Mass base, plants originating in China, Shanghai blooms earliest in spring, and sufficient saplings.

Second, it can better represent the spiritual character of Shanghai city. 第一，白玉兰是上海早春最早开花的树种，象征上海争先开放的精神。第二，与大多数先长叶后开花的树种不同，白玉兰是先开花、后发叶，象征上海敢为人先的创新精神；第三，白玉兰盛开时，每一朵花都是直立向上绽放的，象征上海人奋发向上的精神面貌。

On March 21, 2024, the Apple Jing 'an Retail Store located in the sunken square of Jing' an Temple officially opened. The picture shows the Apple logo containing magnolia elements. Photo by Haisar

Change your mind and brush your presence

“白玉兰‘能见度’太低，这是我们在调研中，市民反映最多的问题。”上海市绿委办秘书处副处长丁志钢介绍，** 有关部门曾对272条道路的行道树种类进行了统计，白玉兰占比不到1%** ，远不及行道树“四大金刚”——香樟、悬铃木、栾树、银杏，因此，上海绿化部门下一步的重点工作就是Increase the presence of Magnolia officinalis。

Increasing the sense of presence is not simply achieved by increasing the scale of planting. "Can we build a few more white magnolia boulevards to make it easier to see? Although the idea is good, it is not easy to implement." Zhang Xiaoli, director of greening design at Shanghai Xufang Greening Co., Ltd., is the promotion ambassador of Magnolia. She admitted that compared with the "Four Great Kings", it is not suitable to plant Magnolia in large quantities as a street tree.

Take Platanus as an example. From the perspective of function, Platanus has a huge crown in summer and good shading effect, leaves leaves in winter and has good light transmission effect; from the perspective of adaptability, Platanus can adapt to poor environments such as urban poor soil; from the perspective of daily maintenance, Platanus is relatively resistant to pruning; from the perspective of air purification effect, Platanus has broad leaves and hairy surfaces, and its effect of absorbing particulate matter in the air is better than many tree species.

Compared with the "top student" of sycamore, Magnolia japonica has a certain gap in many aspects. For example, its petals have a high water content, which will cause the road to be slippery after falling, causing safety hazards.

"Magnolia has an elegant temperament and is more suitable for solitary planting. Since it is not suitable for 'running volume' like street trees, I should change my thinking to brush the sense of existence." 张晓丽表示，徐汇区有不少商务休闲区、历史人文风貌保护区和旅游热点区域，在这些地方种植白玉兰，深沉内敛的建筑色调与纯白透亮的花色间更容易产生美好的化学反应。尤其是在徐汇滨江、衡复风貌区这些重要的“会客厅”，白玉兰就是最能代表上海的“迎宾员”，这些区域应当考虑增种一批白玉兰，并围绕它们打造一批适合公众游憩的城市家具、景观节点。

Ding Zhigang said that the greening department is still studying how to combine the construction of a ring-city ecological park belt to create a "Shihua Theme Park", or design and build a plant community in the park with Magnolia as the center."Shanghai is moving towards a 'City of Thousands of Gardens'. Moving forward with the goal, it also welcomes a valuable opportunity to write a good article on Magnolia."

On March 19, 2024, the white magnolia blossoms in the central green space of Lujiazui. Photo by Meng Yuhan

Potted magnolia blossoms come into the house

The fundamental purpose of increasing the sense of existence of magnolia is to enhance the contact and communication between citizens and city flowers, and then establish emotional bonds and generate heartfelt recognition and love for city flowers. Magnolia without a mass base has no soul.

然而，作为较为高大的乔木，白玉兰极难盆栽化，The windows and balconies of citizens 'homes can be described as the "desert" of magnolia trees。

At the opening ceremony of the first Magnolia Culture Festival, Chen Ping, vice president of the Shanghai City Private Economic Research Association, brought good news. After years of technical research, Magnolia has successfully achieved dwarfing and extended its flowering period. By the end of this year, the first batch of commercialized potted Magnolia will be launched.

Previously, the Shanghai City Landscape Science Planning and Research Institute established a magnolia test base and resource garden in Nanzhao, Henan, the origin of Wangchun Magnolia and the main producer of Magnolia seedlings. The scientific research team also established a breeding system for new Magnolia varieties, and successively selected new Magnolia varieties Qianzhifei He, Hongyu Yingtian, Yu Linglong, and Yu Jade Jade, which marks that Magnolia has independent intellectual property rights.

The person in charge of the base introduced that through technical means such as dwarfing rootstocks, the plant height of potted magnolia trees will be controlled to less than 70 centimeters after cultivation for about four years, and the flowering period will be extended from the original week to about two weeks. If the temperature of the flowering period is stable at more than ten degrees Celsius, some magnolia trees with extremely excellent performance can bloom for more than 20 days.

陈平表示，这支科研团队还研发出了白玉兰的花期调控技术，为2021年第十届中国花卉博览会制造了惊喜——每年2月底到3月上旬开花的白玉兰延迟至5月中下旬甚至在盛夏开花，让代表上海的白玉兰在花博会的开闭幕式上都能亮相， "In the future, blooming city flowers can enter citizens 'homes at any time, and white and fresh flowers can accompany us for half a month."

The same potted magnolia, star magnolia, etc. Photo by Chen Xihan

Innovative forms activate identity

In February last year, more than a dozen tulips that bloomed in advance in the flower bowls around Wukang Building became "Internet celebrities". Even if the outdoor temperature is less than double digits, a large number of citizens and tourists still come to the fork in front of the Wukang Building to queue up. They squat down in the cold wind, raise their mobile phones, find the legendary best angle, and freeze the frame of the building and flowers. The moment they are in the same frame, they do not hide their attachment and longing for spring and beauty.

A similar charming combination of "beautiful flowers + classic architecture" includes installation roses on the Bund, flower walls on Sinan Mansion, pink window sill floral decorations on Zhangyuan, etc.

This made Wang Huimin deeply touched:"If it is understandable that Shanghai has not yet formed a large-scale city flower viewing site due to urban space and natural conditions, ** However, it is difficult to find magnolia flowers in the flower creations around the 'readable buildings', even if they contain magnolia elements. There is no artificial device, which is a bit confusing. ** Wang Huimin believes that it is time to fully explore the historical and cultural value of Magnolia. More importantly, it is necessary to carry out innovative development and creative transformation to activate its cultural identity in a form that the people like to see.

Shanghai Ha Yuanchuang Network Technology Co., Ltd. recently developed a virtual neighborhood with white magnolia elements. Wearing virtual reality glasses and holding a joystick, you can enjoy the never-fading white jade orchids in urban landmarks such as People's Square and Xuhui Riverside. Sea.

"International brands attach great importance to the integration of products with local historical and cultural elements. In Shanghai, Magnolia is a good entry point." Peng Fang, founder of the company, said that there is a handful of magnolia trees decorated under the golden spires of the fantasy fairy tale castle at Shanghai Disneyland. In the future, various magnolia joint flagship stores will be opened in the virtual district, allowing magnolia trees to follow the various products and services have entered thousands of households.

Look for the unfading white magnolia in the virtual scene. Photo by Chen Xihan

Magnolia Cultural Creation "Shanghai Lantern". Photo by Chen Xihan

Promoting magnolia culture is a good thing, but using city flower culture to shape Shanghai's urban image is still in its infancy, and a communication system urgently needs to be established.

Wang Huimin suggested that on the one hand, it is necessary to establish a city flower culture communication system and symbol image identification based on the Baiyulan public trademark, standardize the corresponding authorization and use, prevent the indiscriminate use and abuse of city flowers, and avoid damage to their intangible assets and brand image. On the other hand, we call on more relevant departments such as culture and tourism to participate in the promotion of city flower culture, and use large-scale city-level festivals and exhibitions, mass cultural activities, various grand prix competitions held in Shanghai to let Bai Yulan tell the story of Shanghai well."Fragrance flies thousands of miles".

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