Chapter 436: Chapter 425: Top Scorer of the Farming Family
"Big brother, what kind of flower is this? It’s so pretty!" Xiuya’s eyes lit up at the sight of the flowers Ye Qiu had brought back.
"I found it in the mountains and thought it was beautiful, so I dug it up and brought it here." Ye Qiu placed the pink Dragon Sand Gem and Big Parade he had brought out from his space on the ground, two types of flowers he’d decided on after careful thought.
Needless to say about the pink Dragon Sand Gem, it is a very classic Vine Rose, whose plant size can grow to three or four meters. It boasts elegant colors and a graceful flower shape, with the outer layer of the blossom being white and the inner layer a light pink, diameter ranging from 7cm to 10cm, and 55 to 70 petals per flower. It has won the highest honor "The World’s Favorite Rose" in a certain world, which speaks volumes about its popularity.
As for the Big Parade, it is also a classic Vine Rose. Its main characteristic is its fast growth rate and colossal flower yield. With proper care, it can grow into a flower wall within a year. Moreover, it has strong disease resistance, requires little maintenance to bloom continuously through all seasons, and has vibrant colors, a long flowering period, and a rich fragrance, making it easy to create a sea of flowers.
"Xiuying, come over." Ye Qiu beckoned to Little Ya.
"Big Brother." Daya hopped over, much more lively than she had been two days ago.
Ye Qiu picked a flower and tucked it beside Little Ya’s ear, then looked at her carefully and laughed: "Our Little Ya is really pretty!"
Seeing her brother and sister looking at her with smiles, Little Ya felt so flattered she almost lost her composure.
"Such vanity." Xiutong tapped her on the forehead.
"Do you like these two kinds of flowers?" Ye Qiu asked Xiuya and Xiutong.
"Yes, big brother, where did you find them? How come we’ve never seen them before?" Xiuya asked in surprise.
"In a mountain hollow, I just stumbled upon them while wandering around." Ye Qiu answered vaguely.
Xiuya did not doubt him but merely sighed: "Big brother, you’re really lucky."
"Since you both like flowers so much, why don’t we take good care of them and sell these beautiful flowers later on?" Ye Qiu tentatively suggested.
With a dismissive smile, Xiuya looked at her big brother: "They’re just wildflowers from the mountains, who would buy them?"
"They will." Before Ye Qiu could respond, Xiutong suddenly said, "As long as the flowers are pretty, someone will buy them."
"But these are all wildflowers from the mountains! And they’re so big, don’t rich families prefer those delicate flowers? Like orchids, Juhua, and the like."
"How can we know without trying, big sister? Someone will definitely buy them. Have you seen such pretty wild roses elsewhere?" Xiutong said, her eyes sparkling.
"I haven’t, that’s for sure." Xiuya admitted truthfully.
"Then let’s take good care of them, someone will definitely like them." Xiutong said with conviction.
Ye Qiu didn’t realize Xiutong had so much confidence in cultivating roses, but since she loved it so much, it saved him the effort of trying to convince her.
"Bring me a sharp pair of scissors." Today, big brother will teach you all how to care for this kind of flower.
"Big brother, how do you know how to care for them?" Xiuya asked, curious.
"It says so in books." This was indeed not a lie from Ye Qiu because throughout history, Tianlin has always had a group of professional flower cultivators, and although orchids, Juhua, camellias, and other elegant varieties are the most revered, roses and vine roses are also very popular due to their rich variety, long blooming period, and abundant flowers. There truly are historical texts on how to care for roses and vine roses.
"Starting from today, big brother will teach you all how to read. It will be easier for you to do research in the future."
Hearing this, Xiutong’s joy came from the heart, and her eyes shone brightly as she looked at Ye Qiu: "Thank you, big brother!"
Xiuya, on the other hand, had some self-doubt: "Can I really do it?"
"Of course, you can." Ye Qiu affirmed, then patted Little Ya’s head, "Little Ya is also five years old. Follow along with them, and don’t let yourself be outdone by your sister."
"I will try my best," Xiutong promised Ye Qiu with a very determined look in her eyes.
Ye Qiu didn’t expect Xiutong to have such keen interest in gardening. To care for the flowers, she suddenly shed her previous timid and fearful nature. It looked like his decision was indeed the right one.
Vine roses root very easily, and although it’s autumn now, these two plants are growing very vigorously. He decided to cut many branches for propagation. Propagating vine roses is very simple; just leave two nodes on the stems and insert them into loose, breathable soil or directly into water. Under normal circumstances, they can develop a root system in half a month to a month.
Besides fertilization and water, vine roses need plenty of sunlight to grow. Therefore, Ye Qiu planted these two parent plants in the sunny courtyard, and pruned the wilted flowers one by one, shaping them beautifully.
While busy with these tasks, Ye Qiu explained the key points of vine rose care to Xiuya and Xiutong. Afterwards, he smiled at the two sisters and said, "There we go, from now on, these vine roses are in your care. Whether big brother can earn his tuition depends on you two now."
"I will definitely take good care of them," Xiutong nodded vigorously.
However, just two pots of vine roses, even if they are well cared for, will not be enough to scale up. Therefore, the next day Ye Qiu took his donkey cart to the county again. With some spare cash in hand, he decided to use this money to purchase some more local varieties of vine roses.
The local vine roses of Tianlin Country have obvious differences in flower shape compared to the Ouyue varieties from his space: the local roses usually have flowers where the center is raised, surrounded by curled petals in a cup-shaped form. Vine roses here are fine, but the ornamental value of roses is not very high; not only are their flower shapes and colors more limited, but they also have fewer petals, a shorter blooming period, and are usually only used for extracting rose essential oil, making rose tea, rose jam, and for pharmaceutical purposes.
However, the Ouyue varieties from Ye Qiu’s space have extremely rich diversity in terms of flower shape. There are the traditional old-fashioned rose cup shapes, some resembling steamed buns of varied sizes, some dense cluster-type flowers in bloom, with quite a number of high-quality varieties having over a hundred petals, blooming without exposing the core, and resistant to both blooming and sunlight.
In terms of color, there is also a rich diversity, with many single and complex colors, gradients, stripes, and spots. It is truly colorful, with varieties like Swedish Queen, Juliet, Dragonfly, and so on. When they bloom, they exude an Immortal Energy, and some people who fall into the rose craze never return.
There are also many diverse varieties of vine roses, allegedly more than thirty thousand, among which over four hundred are the most cherished and are all the result of human cultivation. This proves that vine roses readily develop new varieties. Perhaps buying local varieties and breeding them with hybridization and bud mutation might yield entirely new varieties.
There are two places in Yi’an County where flowers are sold. One is Hundred Flower Garden created by the county, usually rented out for banquets by wealthy families; it only occasionally opens to the public free of charge for viewing. They often sell off their discarded flowers at low prices.
The other location is the flower market near the vegetable market, but it really doesn’t scale up, and the truly precious varieties are rarely put up for sale. Instead, they are often privately shown to flower enthusiasts and transferred accordingly. However, Ye Qiu can’t afford nor does he want to buy the precious varieties for now – local vine roses and roses will do.