学文网早在1999年5月，具有1300多年历史的古城兰溪，就被中国特产之乡推荐暨宣传活动组委会授予“中国兰花之乡”桂冠。
这个兰花之乡名副其实，这里几乎家家户户栽培兰花、痴迷兰花，一年四季，空气中弥漫着幽兰的芳香，特别是兰阴山麓的兰花村，更是人人动手，户户种兰，兰香四溢，流传着桩桩件件痴迷兰花的佳话。
种兰清溪东
兰溪因兰江两岸盛产兰花而名。兰溪的种兰史可以上溯到唐代兰溪建县之初，其时就涌现出许多植兰高手。贯休的《书陈处士屋壁》，对兰溪植兰有过这样的吟咏：有叟傲尧日，发白肌肤红。妻子亦读书，种兰清溪东。
贯休是唐末兰溪太平乡人，诗书画“三绝”，特别是罗汉画举世无双。《全唐诗》收录了贯休的诗作694首，其中有9首写到了兰花。他在诗别提及和推崇的“陈处士”，是兰溪游埠人。陈处士素爱兰花，常年在游埠潦溪东岸栽兰五亩，写下了洋洋万言的《种兰篇》。据考，陈处士的《种兰篇》比南宋赵时庚的《金漳兰谱》还要早出330余年，是中国第一部栽兰专著。兰溪植兰名人辈出，元朝兰溪植兰能手金似孙，所培植的兰花竟然开出了并头花，于是他广邀诗友赏兰吟诵，一时传为佳话。明代的兰溪人唐龙，曾任兵部尚书，善植兰，常赋兰花诗，其中最脍炙人口的是《兰阴春馥》中的“兰花十里照春水，山鸟无声香自幽”之咏兰佳句。清代的著名戏剧大师李渔，因爱兰在老家兰溪建了“伊山别业”(别墅)，在“别业”中遍植兰花；他寓居南京时，又筑“芥子园”，并在园中建造“佩兰亭”。他精心撰就的《兰》《蕙》两篇散文，是他平日品兰、赏兰的心血结晶。
更让兰溪声名远播的，是1916年兰溪养兰名师陈元吉培育出了元吉梅，这是兰花家庭中的名门贵族，至今也很难觅得。
幽幽兰花村
兰花村位于明朝正德皇帝题词的《兰阴深处》之兰溪市兰阴山北麓，这里环境深幽，芳香四溢。走进兰花村便像走进兰花世界。小小的兰花村竟有200个“兰花苑”，每苑至少植有千盆兰花。
兰花村青瓦白壁马头墙，民居的造型为典型的江南风格。其居民的主体是由兰江两岸爱好兰花的村民聚居而成，也有从四川、福建、辽宁、河南等省远道而来在此定居的兰花大户。
这个村每户都有一个兰花苑，每苑占地均在一亩以上，苑中有种植兰花的大棚、兰花展室以及屋顶花园等等。一户一苑，一苑便成一景，让人看得眼花缭乱，目不暇接!更是到了一年一度的兰花节，来这里赏兰花的、买兰花的以及从四面八方云集于此的客商，村里一时成了兰花闹市!
村因兰花而名，村民们也因兰花而大显身手。
兰溪市兰花学会副会长凌华早在上世纪80年代就在家中养植兰花，他不仅在兰花村有兰苑，还在住宅的顶楼开辟了华馨兰苑、设立恒温室，培育出娇美人、翠晶荷、孔雀梅鼎、绿云牡丹、东方神狮等10多种名贵兰花品种。养兰花之余，他还经常撰写养兰心得，有多篇文章发表在《中国花卉盆景》《花卉》《兰友》等刊物上。兰溪市兰花协会会长柳柏椿，对兰花用情更专，不仅自己养兰，还鼓励女儿、外甥女等后辈养兰。他爱兰如痴如醉，为集名兰，耗费千元万元在所不惜。被誉为“兰坛怪才”的郑更生，数年来在兰花村创办“更生园”，成立了“兰花盆景批发大世界”。他虽已年过“花甲”，但为觅兰花珍品、奇品，常常单***匹马地骑摩托车去龙游、建德、婺城、金东等地大山之中东奔西走，寻寻觅觅，一有所获，便高兴得像孩子一般!
幽兰情谊传佳话
兰花村的名声如今名闻遐迩，成了名副其实的友谊使者。世界兰蕙交流协会会长黄秀球，对兰溪兰花钟爱有加，2000年3月，兰溪市兰花村创办初期，他就亲笔题写了“中国兰花之乡浙江兰溪”词条赠予兰溪。张学良生前是黄秀球的兰友，张学良的“爱国兰”便是通过他的介绍推荐而享誉世界的。当黄秀球得知兰溪人渴望得到张学良的“爱国兰”的美好愿望后，黄秀球便专程从台湾奔赴兰溪，把张将***培育的“爱国兰”送到兰溪市兰花协会会长柳柏椿手里。经柳柏椿数年精心培育，如今“爱国兰”已由一苗发展到五六苗，生长态势良好；兰溪市兰花学会副会长凌华嗜奇兰如命，他得知有种形似杜鹃的奇兰便到处寻觅，只因求“奇”心切，数次受骗，此事传开，感动了此种兰花的真正花主――四川兰界泰斗罗文典，他将别人必须3.8万元才能够得到的一苗奇兰，以2万元的特优价转售给了凌华。奇兰为媒，从此凌华便与罗文典成了莫逆之交，后来罗文典携家来兰花村落户，与凌华等人共同致力于发展兰花村的兰花事业。兰史专家鲍运达，在兰溪家乡边养兰边研究兰史。他从浩如烟海史料中，考证出兰溪种兰史始于初唐，并撰写了多篇有关兰花的论文。此外，植兰能手郑更生、柳柏椿、“余蝴蝶”等，都在兰花事业中孜孜探求、拼搏，被兰农们传为佳话。
Fragrant Orchid Village
By Hu Xingu
Lanxi, an ancient city in central Zhejiang Province, literally means Orchid Brook in Chinese. In May 1995, it was designated as the Home of Chinese Orchids.The 1,300-year-old city is worthy of the name, for almost all households in the rural areas of the city cultivate orchids. There are orchid buffs everywhere. The fragrance of the flower fills the air throughout the year.
Lanxi has been popular for more than a thousand years for orchids cultivation along its zigzagging banks. The history of orchid cultivation dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) when Lanxi County was first set up. A Lanxi local surnamed Chen worked on his orchid farm on the eastern bank of the Orchid Brook and later wrote China’s very first academic book on orchid cultivation in the Tang Dynasty. Guan Xiu, a contemporary of Chen and an eminent poet, visited Chen’s orchid farm and wrote poems to record what he witnessed there. Of the 694 poems that appear under his name in the Complete Poetry of the Tang, nine are about orchid.
Orchid Village in Lanxi is a world of orchids. The small village of orchids has two hundred garden-styled orchid farms. Most villagers here are local orchid enthusiasts and some are orchid farmers who migrated from other provinces and have settled down in the village. Each of these farms has a green house covered by plastic sheets and a show room. Each farm house has a rooftop orchid garden. The village holds an annual orchid festival. During the festival, visitors flock to the village. And orchids traders come here to make good deals.
Ling Hua, deputy director of the Lanxi Orchids Association, operates an orchid farm in the village. He started his orchid business in his own garden in the early 1980s. Now he not only owns an orchid garden, but also has a green house that keeps a constant temperature all the year around. Among his orchids are more than 10 valuable species with poetic names such as Beauty, Crystal Lotus, Peacock Plum Blossom, Green Peony, and Oriental Lion. Liu Baichun, director of the Lanxi Orchids Association, puts his heart and soul into orchids. A collector of famous orchids, he has spent a big fortune on the flowers he loves so dearly.Zheng Gengsheng runs an orchid wholesales market in the village, but he does not just sit at home to cultivate orchids. He often rides his motorbike to remote mountains in Zhejiang Province seeking precious orchid species. Bao Yunda, a self-made scholar of orchid history, works his own orchid farm and traces the local tradition in history in his leisure time. It is Bao that has traced the orchid tradition to the early period of the Tang Dynasty. He has written a few papers on orchids.
(Translated by David)