Chinese roses to be widely used in greenbelts of Beijing

Chinese roses will be widely planted and will gradually replace the current hedgerows in Beijing greenbelts. On May 24, reporters learned from the opening ceremony of the “2009 Beijing Chinese Rose Culture Festival” that due to the fact that the Chinese rose has a long blooming period, is convenient to care for and is highly accepted by residents, it will be the most preferred plant in Beijing’s urban green space, gardens, countryside green space and even on the balcony.

Beijing greenbelts will adopt Chinese roses in a large scale because t hey are easily cared for and have a long blooming period.

“For a long time, Beijing roads are gray and the green space mostly has green plants. The color of the city is quite monotonous,” said Zhou Jianping, Deputy Director of the Division of Urban Greening under Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry. Since 2003 when Beijing successfully planted Chinese rose walls in isolated belts along the Third Ring Road for decoration, the planting of Chinese roses has become popularized in the whole city.

Wang Chuncheng, Director of the Division of the Flower Industry under Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry, said that the Chinese rose is one of the city flowers of Beijing and has been widely used since the Beijing Olympics. A lot of new Chinese rose varieties with long blooming periods, high temperature resistance and drought resistance have been developed and special qualities such as intense sunlight resistance and waste gas resistance have also been enhanced. The cost of planting them has also been greatly reduced. At present, Chinese roses have been planted in a large scale along the Third Ring Road, Fourth Ring Road and the Airport Expressway.

“The cost of Chinese roses is a little higher than that of hedgerows,” Wang Said, but they have better effects in improving the environment. At present, the research and development on breeding new Chinese rose varieties is one of the subjects under key support in Beijing, and new varieties will be developed continuously. In the future, Beijing greenbelts will adopt Chinese roses widely and gradually replace the current hedgerows.