Xian Botanical Garden

Xi'an Botanical Garden of Shaanxi province was established in 1959. It is considered the principal national botanical garden in Northwest China. Aside from being an exhibition center, this institution serves a research facility and its goal is to assist in the conservation of plant life. The Garden covers 20 hectares(49 acres) and contains approximately 3000 plant species. The park's luxurious vegetation, beautiful garden landscapes, colorful natural scenery and rich variety of scientific specimens have contributed to the garden' s excellent reputation.  

The plants here are exhibited in the following nine special gardens: the Medical Plants Garden, the Aquatic Plants Garden, the Flowers Garden, the Bioenergy and Oil-bearing Plants Garden, the Aromatic Plants Garden, the Monocotyledonous Plants Area, the Dicotyledonous Plants Area, the Gymnosperm Plants Area and the Magnolia Garden. Besides, the Tropical and Subtropical Plant Greenhouses and Tsui Wah Garden are the must-see attractions for visitors.

Walking in the Aromatic Plants Garden, visitors will be greeted by the fragrance of flowers. There are various aromatic plants from home and abroad, including cloves, sweet osmanthus and roses. Visitors will also see many aromatic herbs, such as lavender, vanilla, mint and basil.

The Flowers Garden, the highlight here, should not be missed. It is a place where visitors can find more than 200 categories of tree-peony (the Chinese national flower), over one hundred species of herbaceous peony and another 70 kinds of herbaceous flowers. Over 200 categories of tulip are on exhibition there too. By 2010, the garden had held eighteen successful tulip exhibitions.

The Tropical and Subtropical Plant Greenhouses are homes to more than 400 categories of plants. And the two greenhouses are further divided into the high, middle and low temperature exhibition areas, which exhibit various plants from the South. Remarkably, as it is, there is a giant treelike plant in the greenhouse, named the Candied Date of Iraq, which was grown from a seed planted by a gardener 50 years ago. It has become the pride of this botanical garden and many visitors are excited to have their photos taken with it inthe background.

Tsui Wah Garden, which was built in 1990, is in Japanese style. The pavilions, white towers and stone-made lights combine with the lake harmoniously. The beautiful landscapes make the garden a good place to rest and feel the Nature.

For more information, please visit www.top-chinatour.com