Cherry blossoms bloom in Songjiang, heralding spring
A pink floral world has unfolded at the Chenshan Botanical Garden in Songjiang District, heralding the arrival of spring.
The best time to enjoy the atmosphere is this weekend, the garden operator announced on Monday.
Kawazu-zakura cherry blossom trees, traditionally one of the earliest to bloom and the most common variety of cherry blossoms in Shanghai, have flowered along rivers in the park.
The recent continuous sunny and warm spell contributed to the blooming of the flowers, gardening experts said.
So far, about 10 percent of the blossoms have flowered at the garden, and the rising temperature on Tuesday and Wednesday will further accelerate the flowering process, according to experts.
The kawazu-zakura blossom features large, bright, pink petals, making it one of the favorite flowers among residents.
Edited by Wang Yanlin.
The garden has about 80 varieties of cherry trees that cover 58,000 square meters. A 1.5-kilometer boulevard of trees creates a dream-like pink tunnel.
The first kawazu-zakura cherry blossom flowered at the garden on February 13, and the best temperature for its flowering is around 10 degrees Celsius.
Cherry blossoms started to bloom in the city despite the chill early this month, the earliest in recent years.
A few cherry blossoms had bloomed at the Shanghai Botanical Garden and Chenshan Botanical Garden at the time.
"It is rare to see the blooming of cherry blossoms so early in Shanghai," said Yu Lixia, a senior engineer at Chenshan Botanical Garden.
In fact, Yu said, a few of them had even bloomed before the Spring Festival.
Yu said early and mid-January rain and warm temperatures had "woken up" the cherry blossoms.
