Thousands of tulips planted for festival
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-14 10:12

Gardeners are planting 380,000 tulip bulbs from Holland in Changfeng Park for the Fifth Shanghai International Flower Festival next April.

New varieties of the flower will account for up to 30 percent of the tulips on display, according to Fan Xiaofeng, the spokesperson for the flower festival committee.

"We have new members such as the 'black queen,' 'diamonds,' and 'Darwin' species," said Fan.

When they are in full bloom, the "diamonds" will have curled petals, and come in a mixture of red, yellow and blue.

The tulip bulbs are all graded as "12+" (the diameter of each flower bulb), which are the best kind, said Fan. They were purchased in Holland at an auction for 1.15 million yuan (US$142,000). Then they traveled for 28 days to Shanghai. Humidity and temperature were measured daily during the shipment to avoid mildew.

"The average temperature was 4 degrees during the whole trip," said Fan. "That is just perfect for the tulips."

Planting procedures also have strict requirements. Soil for the tulips was brought in from Heilongjiang Province, as the flowers need acidic soil to grow. Local soil contains a high pH level that is not suitable for these precious plants. In addition the tulip bulbs have to be buried less than 5 centimeters in the soil.

It usually takes about 14 weeks for the tulips to reach full blossom. At the moment the committee's biggest worry is a warm spring.

"The warm temperatures will cause the flowers to bloom weeks before the festival," said Fan.

"We have special plant sprays, and prepared shades to keep them from overheating."