Garden Sows Seeds of Delight in Western Beijing
Beijing Botanical Garden Specializes in Both Research, Relaxation
Feb 16, 2009
The Beijing Botanical Garden displays thousands of plants in a scenic setting surrounded by the capital city’s Western Hills. Founded in the 1950s, it is also is a horticultural research center mainly specializing in plants from China, especially northern China.
The botanical garden complex takes up almost 1,000 acres, about half of which are open to the public. A stroll through the garden is very relaxing after the frenzied pace of central Beijing.
Complex Boasts 14 Outdoor Gardens
The garden has numerous sections, most with displays that change periodically. There are 14 outdoor gardens, including tree-peony, peony, roses, ornamental peach, lilac, crabapple, magnolia, fall colors, perennials, bamboo and mums. Several acres are devoted to each section. There’s also an arboretum, bonsai garden and a tropical conservatory.
The rose garden, for example, has 100,000 bushes representing more than 1,000 cultivars, according to the garden’s web site. The section contains original, hybrid, heritage and ancient species. There are tea roses, climbing roses, floribundas, miniature and ground cover roses, to name a few varieties.
Gingko Tree is 1,300 Years Old
Another example is the Penjing or bonsai garden. Many bonsai are in large potted displays. The garden reports their most famous gingko is 1,300 years old, and is called "Powerful Force of Wind and Frost". It is known as “king of the gingko” in the garden.
The Tropical Conservatory, open since 2000, is the largest exhibition conservatory in Asia, the garden notes. Display areas include the tropical rainforest, cacti and succulents, orchids, bromeliads and carnivorous plants and a four-season garden. More than 3,100 kinds of tropical and subtropical plants grow in the conservatory, also home to a substantial butterfly collection.
There’s also an herb garden with 90 kinds of medicinal herbs and plants. The herbs are displayed in flower borders, and are grouped according to their medicinal properties, including blood circulators and regulators, relaxants and fever-reducing herbs.
Plenty of Benches to Enjoy the View
The garden is filled with wide walkways to the main points, but visitors who detour on lesser paths will be rewarded with ponds and other displays. In honor of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the botanical garden trained and trimmed many shrubs to look like athletic competitors. There are plenty of benches for visitors to rest their feet and just take in the eye-catching colorful displays.
Because of the distance from central Beijing, the botanical garden doesn’t attract too many foreign visitors. And many of those who do come hurry through on their way to the Sleeping Buddha Temple at the north end of the garden. This makes it a good place to escape the crowds.
Beijing Botanical Garden is open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Xiangshan Wofosi. It can easily be combined with a day trip from the very-crowded Summer Palace, which is said to have the most beautiful gardens in Beijing. Take bus 331 from the Summer Palace and get off at Wofosi (Sleeping Buddha Temple) or bus 360 from the Beijing Zoo.
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