Technology contributes to blooming spectacle

The Chinese capital has come up with its most elaborate floral display yet to celebrate this year's 69th birthday of the People's Republic of China with up-to-date technologies.

The Beijing Gardening and Greening Bureau unveiled the decoration plan on Sept 14, saying that high-technology applications such as 3D modeling were adopted in the making of the flower beds.

The huge flower basket that is the centerpiece in Tian'anmen Square features a more three-dimensional, complex and elaborate display nowadays thanks to advances in gardening technology and the country's development, said Jie Jun, director of the bureau's afforestation division.

Such modern technologies now make it possible to realize designs that were just wishful thinking in the past, he said, while the addition of music and lighting effects has turned them into bewitching entertainments of color and sound.

"No matter what the blueprint, we can bring it to life," Jie said, adding that the basket is also fire and water resistant.

The basket and the flower beds along Chang'an Avenue contain more than 200 species of flowers including anthuriums, sunflowers, carnations, peonies, lilies, peach blossom and Chinese wisteria. Some of the species on display were sourced as seeds overseas, from countries such as the United States, the Netherlands, Germany and Japan, and then cultivated in China.

As breeding technologies have matured, the flowers in the display are among the best in the world for their uniform shapes and rich colors, according to Beijing Florascape, the company that provides the flowers for the display.

It has been cultivating and researching flowers and other plants since 1956 and has been providing flowers for the floral display in Tian'anmen Square since 1986.

Modern irrigation devices have ensured the flowers look their best for the display as they help flowering plants to remain in bloom for longer. The company has also adopted drip irrigation for all flowers used in Tian'anmen Square this year to save water. The company said all the potted flowers are fitted with a needle that delivers water to the roots, which helps them stay fresh for as long as half a year.

But that doesn't mean designing the floral displays for the National Day celebrations has become any easier, it said, because the public now expects each design to be better than the one before.