Every morning, Zhang Xin walks the paths of the rose garden, his eyes scanning almost every leaf and bud.
Zhang, 38, is a specialist in Chinese rose care. But his work doesn't end in the garden. He also spends hours in the park's greenhouse cultivation area, carefully nurturing roses according to their blooming cycles and monitoring plants. "Each plant has its own schedule, and I have to guide it patiently so that when it reaches the garden, it can shine at its best," he said.
Zhang said the most important part of tending roses isn't watering, fertilizing, or even planting, but pruning. "If you want the plant to flourish, pruning is everything," he said.
The roses are also a bridge between the gardener and visitors. Zhang loves seeing people pause on the paths, lingering over colors or inhaling the fragrant bouquets. Feedback shapes his work: some people prefer traditional blooms, others are drawn to retro or artistic varieties. Each opinion, he said, informs the garden's evolution.
The Temple of Heaven, a short distance from Taoranting Park, boasts a vast Chinese rose garden, where blooms complement centuries-old architecture. Here, roses are not only cultivated for public enjoyment — they are entwined with ceremonial landscapes and imperial heritage.
"I come here almost every week," said Liu Mingfang, 67, who lives nearby.
"After the rain, the roses seem brighter, fresher. The light after the rain is perfect for photos," she said while taking photos of the flowers with her phone. "You can see every color in the petals. It feels alive."
When Liu was a girl, Chinese roses climbed over the courtyard walls of her home, she recalled. Seeing the roses today "feels like coming home", she said.
"Each color has its own charm. The pale pinks are delicate, the reds are bold — it lifts the spirit. Even the soft smell reminds me of my childhood."
Fu Yinghui, the team leader of the Chinese rose section of the historical site's flower center, has worked at the rose garden for nearly 40 years. The story of the Temple of Heaven's rose garden started in the mid-20th century, when city planners sought to bring color and fragrance to the capital's green spaces.
The park introduced Chinese roses from southern China in 1956. In 1960, the rose garden received a significant boost when Jiang Endian, a female horticulturist affectionately known as the "Lady of Roses", returned to China from overseas and was hired as a consultant.
With her expertise, the Temple of Heaven began building a proper rose garden, selecting superior varieties and laying the groundwork for what would become one of the country's premier public rose displays.
By 1963, the rose garden spanned approximately 13,000 square meters, making it the largest open-access rose garden in China at the time. In May of that year, the park welcomed its very first rose season, with the grounds filled with the colors and sweet smells of the carefully cultivated blooms.
By 1966, more than 3,000 Chinese rose varieties had been planted at the Temple of Heaven site.
In 1988, aged just 17, Fu, whose father was a historic building restorer at the Temple of Heaven, joined the rose team. "In 1987, the Chinese rose, along with chrysanthemums, was officially designated one of Beijing's city flowers," he recalled. "Roses were becoming incredibly popular — so many varieties, such vivid colors, and so versatile in how they could be cultivated and displayed. I happened to start my career at the perfect time."
With large-scale promotion and planting in the early 1990s, roses began appearing across the city.
"Before that, roses were considered high-end flowers — too costly for urban landscaping. Streets were mostly lined with pansies or scarlet sage. During the 1990 Asian Games, the streets began to bloom with bright, beautiful roses. Slowly, they became a part of people's everyday lives and even their homes," Fu said.
