About 2,500 plant species are to be featured at the Taichung World Flora Exposition, more than 60 percent of which are from Taiwan, the Taichung Agriculture Bureau said on Monday.
The exhibition opens on Nov. 3 and runs through April 24 next year, with displays spread across venues in Houli (后里), Fengyuan (豐原) and Waipu (外埔) districts on 60.88 hectares.
Organizers have installed about 6.6 million plants so far, including ornamental plants, cut flowers, shrubs and ground cover plants, bureau director Wang Jiun-shong (王俊雄) said.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
The exposition is to highlight locally grown plants and domestic agricultural technology, and each of the three venues features unique installations, he said.
The Houli venue is divided into a “forest park” area and a “horse ranch” area, he said.
The forest area would include plants from different altitudes to form a microcosm of the nation’s landscape, he said.
It would also include a section showcasing plants that are representative of Aboriginal culture, such as the Mexican marigold (Tagetes erecta) — which which traditionally only Rukai warriors were allowed to wear — pigeon pea, taro plant, lilac tasselflower — also known as Cupid’s shaving brush — foxtail millet and djulis — often called “Taiwanese quinoa,” he added.
The ranch area has been planted with species whose Chinese names are related to the character for “horse,” including common purslane, bayhops and the slender Dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochia debilis), all named in Chinese for their resemblance to different parts of a horse, he said.
The Fengyuan Huludun Park (葫蘆墩公園) is to include a 213m “romantic floral corridor” with differently colored plants and climbing plants, and a “vine tunnel” of about 30m made of sandpaper vine, he said.
The Fengyuan venue would also feature a tree rose garden with 36 types of roses, he said.
All the trees in the Waipu Park would be native to Taiwan, he said, adding that a Chinese soapberry forest originally on the site would be preserved and there is to be a 6m-high, 210m-long “green bamboo corridor” made up of princess vines, great bougainvillea and other climbing plants.
The organizers have spent NT$2.2 billion (US$70.73 million) on landscaping, including the cost of plants, soil, fertilizer and installation, as well as the costs of maintenance, personnel and machinery for the exposition period, he added.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS