Highways in Hangzhou decorated with Chinese roses Photo: Xia Yang
Society
By Jin Yingying
Over two million Chinese roses planted along the overpasses and crossroads in Hangzhou are blooming in late April. The refreshing, colorful flowers cover every corner of the city.
In 2009, Hangzhou mapped out the plan of "flowers in all seasons" on the greenbelts of the elevated highways. Chinese roses were soon planted on the Zhonghe Highway and Shangtang Highway in 2010, making Hangzhou the first Chinese city to decorate highways with flowers.
Up to April 2021, around 1.3 million Chinese roses are growing along more than 30 elevated highways in Hangzhou.
According to the weather forecasts, the overall blooming of Chinese roses is expected to start 5-7 days earlier than in the last year. The early flowering variety named "Fairy" is a newly-introduced trait which blooms in mid April. Other species start to flower around April 20.
To welcome the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 and ensure a continuous flowering in the summer, around 0.7 million Chinese roses will soon be planted on the 25 newly-built expressways across the city and the flowering period will be managed to maintain until September.