Shandong peony garden is a sight to behold

Tourists do some sketches of the wonderful flowers in full bloom in the Heze Peony Garden. [Photo by Sun Anqi for chinadaily.com.cn]

Over 30,000 glorious peonies in the Heze Peony Garden in Heze city – located in East China's Shandong province – are still in full bloom, attracting hordes of tourists.

Garden manager Wang Zhihui said that the blooming time of the peonies there was more than 10 days later than that of the urban areas, due to its location and slightly lower air temperature.

Currently, there are over 200 varieties of peonies in the garden, with more than 40 of them having been introduced from abroad, Wang said, adding that they are currently at their peak blooming period.

In order to enrich the variety of the peonies in the garden and improve the quality of the flowers, the Heze Peony Garden has cooperated with international research and development institutions – including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and institutions from Israel and the Netherlands. The goal is to prioritize the development of new species and to advance the integration of the peony with the pharmaceutical industry.

The garden aims to cultivate peony varieties that are suitable for the humid and hot environment and that are also cold resistant, in order to contribute to the development of the city's peony industry.

The Heze Peony Garden has the largest number of peonies with a history of over a hundred years in China. It has over 2,000 peony trees that are more than a century old. (Edited by Jin Yongxue)