**Trip to Century Park and Cherry Blossom Island**
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**Duration: 1 Day**
**Time: March**
**Cost per Person: 15 yuan**
**With Whom: Spouses**
**Activities: Photography, Free Travel**
**Places Visited: Century Park, Shanghai**
**Published on 2021-04-03 19:02**
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In the vibrant month of March, as spring returns to the earth, it is once again the season for rapeseed flowers to bloom. The 10,000 square meter ‘Colorful Rapeseed Flower Sea’ in the local pastoral area of Century Park has gradually opened. The multicolored flowers are a feast for the eyes, adding a touch of rural charm to urban life.
Rapeseed flowers, not a rare species, are valuable and practical. While the common rapeseed flowers are primarily bright yellow, in Century Park’s flower sea, they come in shades of deep purple, pink, white, orange, and lavender, competing in beauty against the tender green rapeseed leaves, as if a spring palette has spilled onto the fields.
2021 marks the first year Century Park introduced the cultivation of colored rapeseed flowers, which are distinct from traditional single-yellow rapeseed flowers. The colored ones have larger flowers, more vibrant colors, and more magnificent shapes. These colored rapeseed flowers were developed through biotechnology, mainly suitable for planting in leisure agriculture and scenic spots of beautiful rural areas.
It took nearly ten years from the initial cultivation to the stabilization of flower colors. Initially, agricultural experts discovered that radish flowers came in various colors and used biotechnology to transfer the colorful gene from radish to rapeseed. Over 8 to 9 years, they continuously self-pollinated the rapeseed offspring, allowing the flower color to stabilize, gradually forming new varieties of rapeseed flowers in colors such as white, pink, orange, lavender, and deep purple.
The 10,000 square meter colorful rapeseed flower field in Shanghai Century Park is like a spilled color palette. The rapeseed flower field introduced a new variety of ornamental colored rapeseed with large petals, a long blooming period, and a strong fragrance, making it highly ornamental. The blooming colorful rapeseed flowers in deep purple, pink, white, orange, and lavender compete in beauty against the tender green rapeseed leaves, as if a spring palette has spilled onto the fields.
Walking into the flower field path is like entering an oil painting. The colorful rapeseed flower field has colored the spring. Bees collecting nectar on the colorful rapeseed flowers are also a highlight of Century Park.
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The park authorities have built a cherry blossom island in the central peninsula area of the park. Surrounded by water systems and accompanied by bamboo and willow, the scenery is romantic. The cherry blossom island’s lakeside reflections are doubled, with over 1,000 cherry blossoms of various colors arranged in an orderly manner along the central path of the peninsula.
The cherry blossoms planted on the island are mainly of the type that bloom before the leaves, mostly mid-to-late cherry varieties with single-layer petals. Some are light pink Somei Yoshino. The winding path of cherry blossoms starts from the pigeon garden and leads to the bamboo forest. During the blooming season, walking along the path, petals fall in profusion, and the water reflections sway gently.
The tender green willow strands by the lake flutter in the wind, setting off the blooming white or pink cherry blossoms, making them more translucent and elegant. Crossing the bridge is the entrance to the cherry blossom island in full bloom. The tender green at the base of the flowers sets off the entire flower, making it elegant and refined.
The petals are single-layered, with some flowers being a light pink and others as white as snow. When in full bloom, the tender green at the base of the flower enhances the elegance and refinement of each bloom.
To facilitate visitor appreciation, the park has constructed a wooden viewing pavilion in the central area of Cherry Blossom Island, which complements the surrounding cherry blossom scenery. From the lakeside railing, looking into the distance, the white cherry blossoms appear all the more charming against the verdant willow trees and purple wildflowers.
The cherry blossoms bloom in clusters, endlessly fascinating, and one could linger beneath them, forgetting to return. During the cherry blossom season, strolling through the cherry blossom-lined paths, the trees are full of vibrant blooms, with petals falling like a colorful rain, the water’s reflection is graceful and relaxing.
Walking on the cherry blossom path, with the pink, delicate ‘faces’ above, a romantic feeling ripples through the heart.
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**Cherry Blossom and Orchid Spectacle in the Park**
The park has meticulously planted cherry trees alongside the extravagant February orchids, crafting a picturesque scene where the upper layer is a cloud of cherry blossoms and the lower layer is a carpet of February orchids. The vivid blue of the February orchids spreads across the ground, complementing the rows of cherry blossoms and creating a gentle, elegant ambiance.
