City flower show seeks to cultivate local interest

The annual Shanghai Flower Show will run from March 28 to May 6 at the Shanghai Botanical Garden, where it will feature more than 200 varieties of flowers, the garden announced Tuesday.

The show will have more than 1 million flowers on display at its two major exhibition zones, taking up 20 hectares of floor space, said Li Xuemei, the deputy curator of the Shanghai Botanical Garden.

"We have had more than 200,000 visitors per month at previous flower shows, which shows that the public has a great interest in flowers and gardening. People have trouble resisting the beauty of nature, especially in the spring when the flowers are blooming," Li told the Global Times.

The botanical garden hopes to transform the annual flower show in China's version of the Chelsea Flower Show in the UK, which the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has hosted annually in the Chelsea neighborhood of London since 1862.

In China, however, gardening has not attained the popularity that it has in other countries. "It takes time to cultivate an appreciation for horticulture and to get more people involved in gardening," Li said.

The flower show will also host activities on the theme of home decoration, including how-to sessions on creating flower arrangements, Li said.