A garden possessing many fine azaleas in Huacai Town, Wuxi city, Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: wxbhfb]

The second Jiulong Bay Flower Fairy Festival attracted nearly a thousand tourists to see an array of full-blown azaleas at its opening ceremony in Huacai Town, Wuxi city, Jiangsu province, on March 21, and will last until May 31.

Visitors can admire azalea, the city flower of Wuxi and the protagonist of the Flower Fairy Festival, at a garden with the most collections of fine azaleas around China in the Huacai Town.

The 13-acre garden possesses 29 imported varieties of 559 ancient azalea trees and 695 bonsai of 48 varieties of fine azaleas, including some rare types such as a 500-year old azalea king, a 300-year old imperial azalea and the Anku azalea, which can blossom for three seasons.

The Chinese redbud, hyacinth and tulip, are in full bloom; other flowers such as red sage, verbena hybrid and digitalis will soon join them.

The 500-year old azalea king is rare to see in China. [Photo/WeChat account: wxbhfb]

In addition to enjoying flowers, visitors can also enjoy themselves at a variety of cultural experience events, such as a square dance contest, gardening classes and photography contest during the festival, at a themed garden that has been under construction for three years.

The Flower Fairy Festival, a traditional celebration in ancient China, is held to commemorate the blooming of flowers. Since the ancient days of China people have travelled to the countryside to enjoy the beauty of flowers. In ancient times, girls would cut colorful papers to stick to the flower branches. Poets and literary men would also compose and declaim flower-related poems.

Located on the shores of Taihu Lake, Hucai Town covers an area of 2,123 mu (141.53 hectares). It is designed as a new visual garden complex, where flower lovers can come and admire a variety of different species. It has Jiulong Bay flower city, Longwan Garden, the Jiulong Bay flower-themed hotel, Jiulong Bay natural amusements and other flower-related commercial locations.

Various kinds of azaleas, the protagonist of the Flower Fairy Festival, are in full bloom. [Photo/WeChat account: wxbhfb]