Flowery wonderlands remind us that spring is nigh
Print Edition
It’s that magical time of year when nature comes alive again. For urban day-trippers, it’s time to shake off the dregs of winter and embrace the exuberance of springtime. And what better place than Songjiang to breathe fresh air, enjoy rural tranquility and delight in nature’s palette of seasonal blossoms?
The district, one of Shanghai biggest agricultural producers, is brimming with blooms as it gets set to host flower festivals from mid-March to the end of April.
Visitors to the district can delight in flowering plum and cherry trees, fresh strawberries and spring vegetables ripe for the picking.
Songjiang is a major producer of rapeseed, and in springtime the bright golden flowers form carpets of color in Sheshan Hill, Tianma Hill and the towns of Xinbang and Maogang.
The district has hundreds of hectares devoted to orchards and rapeseed cultivation. As the mercury rises, nature turns Songjiang into a “giant garden wonderland.”
Here are some tips on where to go and what to see.
To the Chinese, peaches signify longevity, prosperity and luck in love. So, in a centuries-old tradition, many young people like to spend a day amid springtime peach blossoms, hoping some of that proverbial wisdom rubs off.
At the foot of the Sheshan Hill, peach and pear trees come into flower from the middle of March, and may last all the way through the end of April.
Peach groves cover more than 13 hectares, yielding 10 quality varieties in the summer.
Some local farmers open their homes to sell visitors delicacies such as the district’s famed rice, eggs, free-range chickens and glutinous-rice pastry.
Xingsheng Peach Farm
Shanghai Zhongyi Peach Growing Association
March is the season for plum and cherry blossoms. At the northwest of the garden’s No.1 Gate, an orchard of plum trees dominated 3,500 square meters and offers 50 different varieties. The light fragrance of the blossoms is intoxicating.
The garden last year completed the first phase of work on a 100,000-square-meter Cherry Blossom Park. It contains more than 6,000 of the popular Japanese sakura trees. The sea of pink blossoms is expected to be at its height from late March into early April. When the park is fully completed, cherry trees will cover 450,000 square meters — three times the size of People’s Square in downtown Shanghai.
The botanic garden will also be featuring delicate orchids in an array of colors and shapes from late March to the middle of April. More than 50,000 plants in 860 species will be on display. The orchids come from across the globe and include some new breeds never seen here before.
Shanghai Chenshan Botanic Park
The Cangqiao pear orchard on the northern bank of the upper reaches of the Huangpu River will be covered with snow-white blossoms from the middle march into the middle of April.
The 30-hectare orchard contains nine different varieties of pears famous for their crispy flesh and mouth-watering sweetness. The pears have won numerous awards.
Visitors are invited to join the Pear Club, which allows them to taste pears, tour the site’s museum and watch a short film on pear cultivation.
The orchard is open free to the public from 8am to 4pm.
The park has more than 100 magnolia trees, complementing red camellias nearby as they bloom.
The oldest tree is more than 30 years old, while the biggest has a diameter of 40 centimeters. Most magnolias are grown on the slopes on the eastern and western sides of Fangta Tower. Others are scattered throughout the bamboo forest, the western slope of the Kids’ Zone and the park’s northeastern corner.
Fangta Park
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