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| Ornamental plants for the Beijing Olympics 2008 | |
| Only recently various projects to improve the local environment in 32 different sites linked to the Olympic Games 2008 came into full operation. At the centre of the operation is the 1135ha Olympic Park located north of Beijing. The winning project includes Chinese style landscape architecture and a dragon style water feature. Public bidding for the construction work is now underway. The Construction Guidance Office for the Beijing Olympics and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry have produced a document that lays out quality and other standards required for the projects. Specifications for newly planted trees are that the caliper (circumference) of the stems should be no less than 12cm and in key projects above 15cm. Minimum height is stipulated at 4m, and no less than 6m for key projects. The diameter of the tree crown (foliage) should be no less than 2 m. The Beijing Olympics will be held 8-24 August 2008 followed by the Paralymics and the National Day holiday. Altogether these festivities will last about 2 months. Over the period, Beijing city will be decorated with a huge quantity (officially estimated at about 37.5 million pots) which exceeds Beijing’s annual consumption for such plants. Mr. Yu Xuebin, responsible for the selection of bedding plants for the Beijing Olympics is also the director of Tianhui Flower Research Institute which is affiliated to Beijing Flower and Nurserystocks Company. He states than in 2004, they trialed 600 different varieties rising to 1100 in 2005. All varieties under trials are from famous world class seed companies such as: PanAmerican, Sakata, Goldsmith, Benary, S&G and Takii. From the trial period (including part of 2006) they will select over 500 varieties of 40 species to recommend to the relevant authority. The recommended varieties must fulfill three requirements. They should flower well in the Beijing climate during July and August, ornamental characteristics should be coherent with Chinese culture and tradition. Finally it should be easy to manipulate the flowering time of these varieties and they should be economic to grow. Researchers are especially satisfied with the performance of the varieties from genera: Cleome, Nicotiana, Rudbeckia and Viola, as well as some vegetatively propagated varieties of Petunia and Verbena. |
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