Nuts about nature

A pretty day begs to be enjoyed outdoors, and the Beijing Botanical Garden offers pleasant strolls through natural beauty and many places to sit down and enjoy it.

Right now it's best to arrive early (gates open at 7 am) and walk the grounds before it gets hot. Start at the southeast gate: Winding pathways take you along lakes and waterways as you explore the rose garden, the penjing garden and the Cao Xueqin memorial hall, which re-creates the West Hill scenery that inspired his novel A Dream of Red Mansions.

Take time to linger in the garden of penjing. (For Western visitors: "pen" means "pot" and "jing" means landscape. It is named penjing rather than bonsai - although the Japanese adapted and popularized these miniature tree sculptures during the centuries that China was a closed society, the technique originated in Shanghai and other southern provinces.) The plants in their ornamental shallow trays are arranged on outdoor walkways, become part of a landscape that also includes the textures of stone and water. Savor the thin, horizontal "cloud" layers of the Yangzhou style and the feathery Jing Tiao trees whose seeds were collected from the nearby Fragrant Hills.