Today's Flower #136: Fu-shan (福山) Botanical Garden

My trip with Nature Kingdom on Thursday, February 24 started with a visit to the migratory birds of the wetland of Yilan and a stop by the King Car Orchid Park.  We arrived at our destination of Fu-shan Botanical Garden at lunch time.

The park is a high attitude valley surround by mountains covered with subtropical rain forest.  The geology is very similar to Yosemite but in a smaller scale and totally different vegetation.  It rains over 2/3 of the time during the year.  The center of the valley is a lake, the river run out from the lake, winding through the mountain range eventually reach Taipei and it is one of the water source for Taipei's drinking water.

It was the Formosa mountain cherry blossom season.  I almost come out every year to take pictures of them.

Fu-shan Botanical Garden is a branch of Taipei Botanical Garden, thus it is not a national park or conservation area.  It is an experimental and research center.  It belongs to the Forest Ministry of the Interior Department.

But even more than a conservation park, the area is highly restricted.  It only allows no more than 600 visitors per day.  Every March, the Garden is completely closed to outside visitors.  It has a lottery system, every visitor needs to submit his application one month in advance then counts his luck.

The Garden is planted with a great variety of plants, most of them native to Taiwan.

Our guide was very good, it was as if we took a botanical class in the University all over again.

Although the weather was not warm, but it was the spring season in Taiwan already.

We could see many new leaves coming out.

Here is a view to the lake that is the center point of the Garden.

Other than the abundant of plant species, the garden also team with many native animals.

Our guide pointed out a Green-backed Heron (綠簑鷺), Butorides striatus inside the bushes across the lake.  Can you see?

To see more flowers from around the world click here.