More than two million flowering plants specially bred for 2008 Beijing Olympics have been put on display as China marks a one-year countdown to the Games.

Forty-eight varieties of flowers featuring 132 colors, including maidenhair, marigold and petunias, are displayed in full blossom in three areas:

On 7,000 square meters at ‘Shengfangyuan’, a flower breeding center in southern Beijing’s Huaxiang County.
On 50,000 square meters outside the Olympic beach volleyball venue in the eastern Chaoyang district.
Along a three-kilometer road connecting the villages of Huangtugang and Baipenyao, in Huaxiang County.

Li Xinmin, head of the Huaxiang committee of the Communist Party of China, said about 60 million flowers were needed to decorate parts of the city during next year’s Olympic Games. Chrysanthemums, a symbol of dignity in Chinese culture, and Chinese roses, peony and calla are on a list of Olympic flowers.

Zhao Ying, head of the flower breeding research team, said, ‘The blossoms are durable. Olympic flowers can resist heat, strong sunlight and drought.’

Landscape engineers would introduce more flower types from other parts of the country through crossbreeding to produce flowers that could blossom in the heat of August.
Source: China Daily