Native flora building bridge for friendship, exchanges

The city of Nanyang in Central China's Henan province has used Chinese roses as ornaments to decorate its roads, communities, gardens and commercial areas, forming a unique landscape system.

With a history of growing Chinese roses for more than 2,000 years, Nanyang has kept a variety of ancient species of the flowers, which feature bigger blossoms, brighter colors and stronger stalks.

Official city data show that Nanyang is home to more than 2,000 species of Chinese roses, which can blossom several times a year from March or April till late autumn.

"Nanyang is located at the junction of the north and the south, and has four distinctive seasons," said Nanyang Mayor Huo Haosheng. "The mild weather and sufficient rainfall are suitable for both northern and southern plants, especially the Chinese roses and magnolias."

The city began nurturing professional markets for the production of Chinese roses in the early 1980s, and since then has continuously introduced and bred new varieties.

In 1995, the city's government designated the Chinese rose as Nanyang's "City Flower".

In 2016, the local government applied to host the 2019 World Federation of Rose Societies Regional Convention aiming at expanding the city's global fame as a rose city.

Last year, after being approved to host the prestigious event, Nanyang launched a 30-project program to furnish the city's gardens, roads, green belts, riverside and public spaces with roses and other plants.

Nanyang now has about 18,000 different varieties of trees planted across the city and more than 1 million Chinese roses in its central areas, including 6,000 tree roses, 300,000 floribunda and grandiflora roses as well as 640,000 ground cover roses, according to the local government.

The main venue of the WFRS convention, which will be renamed the China Rose Garden, is expected to consist of 18 sub-gardens for local exhibitions, including one main sub-garden for Nanyang, 11 for the counties of Nanyang and six for invited cities from the rest of the country, to showcase China's best and most beautiful roses. The convention will be held from April 28 to May 2.

The Nanyang sub-garden will focus on rose, jade and Chinese medical herbs while the Xixia county sub-garden will display vertical planting of roses and other plants, a 360-degree screen for displaying local culture and even an exhibit of dinosaur egg fossils.

The workers have planted a total of 1.3 million roses in the main venue, which is the biggest rose garden in China, according to the local government.

"Every rose is an angel, bringing beauty and aroma to the world and building bridges of friendship for the cultural exchanges throughout the world," said the mayor.

A jade carving cultural festival and an industrial development conference on argy wormwood will be held together with the convention.

(China Daily 04/24/2019 page12)