Spring Songs in Xinhui — The Flourish of Purple Tabebuia Flowers
At Lvmei Ecological Park (Green Beauty Ecological Park—in Mandarin Chinese, “lv” is pronounced in l as the consonant combined with the French vowel “u”) in Shantouping, Xinhui, a flourish of purple tabebuia flowers has drawn the curtain for the spring season with a colorful song of life. I took a 2-day trip to see the park that may very well have been heaven on earth.
In China, the floral season for purple tabebuia (tabebuia impetiginosa) is typically January to March every year. The day of my visit was January 24, 2025.
The admissions fee for the Lvmei Ecological Park (Lvmei Shengtaiyuan, Shantouping, Xinhui, Jiangmen, China) is RMB 48 yuan. The opening hours are Mondays to Sundays 8:30am to 5:30pm. Allow about 2-3 hours for photo taking at the park. At peak days, perhaps you must wait a little longer to take your photographs without the crowd.
Photography Timeline
To avoid crowds, I arrived at the Lvmei Ecological Park on a weekday, and right when it opened at 8:30am. For about an hour or two in the earlier morning, there were but a few souls in the garden. I took my time and toured every road in the garden, including the outer areas that were really not meant for tourists.
A slight disappointment for me was that the sun was only really coming up at around 10:30am to 11am. That was when the natural azure of the sky showed, but also when throngs of tourists started coming in. In terms of lighting, photographs are certainly much better taken between 11am to 3pm, but you would have to fight with other tourists for the prime spots. Since I had other sightseeing in mind, I decided to leave the garden around 11:00am.
A Brief Introduction of Tabebuia Impetiginosa
The tabebuia impetiginosa (commonly named trumpet tree) is a deciduous tree, which sheds leaves at certain time of the year. The flowers of the purple tabebuia come in a cluster. When viewed closely, you see handfuls of bouquets hung on the branches.
As a medium height tree, the purple tabebuia usually grows to 15 to 30 meters high. The tabebuia tends to thrive in warm and humid climates, and it is a species native to Central American countries. The species’ blooming bouquets have made it one of the most popular transplanted species in all parts of the world. Needless to say, they are planted mostly for ornamental purposes.
In fact, the actual business of the Lvmei Ecological Park is the planting of these trees for sales. All the trees in this park were cultivated, and the park is a dealer in tabebuia impetiginosa saplings.
Perhaps I will share just one more fun fact about the tabebuia. The genus name of this floral tree came from the Tupi words for “ant” and “wood.” Many tabebuia species “have twigs with soft pith which forms hollows within which ants live, defending the trees from other herbivores.” (Wikipedia on Tabebuia).
A Tour of the Lvmei Ecological Park
The Lvmei Ecological Garden spans a whopping 400,000 square meters. More than 6,000 purple tabebuia trees spread all over this space, making it an expansive sea of purple to behold during the floral season.
There are quite a few features in the park that I found commendable. Tourism is a key business in China. With the rise of Red Note of late, there is a strong tendency for the Chinese people to take instagrammable (or “Red-Notable”) pictures, with shots taken at particularly “photogenic” spots.
To meet this tourist demand, many site administrators like to install “props” that encourage this type of photo taking. Very often, I find these efforts to be annoyingly unnecessary. A lot of these so-called photogenic spots consist of gaudy or otherwise cliché elements – drapes above a tired-looking wheeled metal cart, too many colorful lanterns or a random chair here and there that serve to ruin the natural views instead.
At the Lvmei Ecological Park, there are surely such instalments as well, but I did not find them annoying. The park is big enough that, if I did not like the props in one part, I certainly could take a photo without them anywhere else.
Where there is significant effort in beautifying the environment with a human touch, I found it to be well done. By the pavilion, there is a small pond, and I found it to be truly delicate in highlighting a sense of the “typically Asian” landscaping.
The pleasure of touring the park also came from the fact that the purple tabebuia was not that tall, and at almost every turn you could just reach out and touch the flowers. You feel intimate with these trees as you walk through them. I felt being wrapped around a natural wonder.
There are three high points where you can capture the panorama of “the sea of purple.” One is a viewing platform up on the hill, with a short flight of stairs and this would be the highest reachable point. The other is in the middle of the park, also a built viewing platform of two flights of stairs and a gaudy piano on top for “Red-Notable” pictures. At this spot you see the sea of purple at medium height. The third is the café area, with cute coconut shell platforms to view the trees on a higher vantage point.
Photos above: A panorama of the sea of purple tabebuia at the viewing platoform on the hill.
Finally, I enjoyed the coffee at the café very much. I had a nice chat with the staff there. A relaxed time with coffee was very much appreciated after seeing the beauty of tabebuia impetiginosa.
Sources
Baidu.com, Green Beauty Ecological Park (Chin).
Leafy Place, 121 Types of Trees with Their Name and Picture – Identification Guide.
The Wikipedia on Tabebuia.