Dreamy Photo Spot: Shilin Official Residence Hollyhocks Set Off Your Beauty

Want to be an internet beauty and upload gorgeous photos? We recommend a stunning dreamy location: the hollyhocks in the Western-style garden area of Shilin Official Residence Park are now in bloom during their flowering season, with colorful and vibrant flowers lining up in rows to welcome visitors, attracting many passersby to stop and take photos!

The Taipei City Parks and Open Space Division stated that hollyhock (Alcea rosea) is a perennial herbaceous plant native to mainland China. It is said to have been first cultivated in Sichuan, which is abbreviated as "Shu," and this plant thus got the name "Shu hollyhock," also known as "Shu season flower." Generally speaking, its flowering time is around the Dragon Boat Festival, so it is also called "Dragon Boat brocade" or "dragon boat flower." Its form has erect stems, reaching a height of about 1-2 m or more, with brilliant flower colors and large blooms. The flowers are axillary, forming racemes, and the papery single or double flowers gradually bloom from the lower part of the main stem upward, making them very eye-catching, hence the name "one-zhang red." In addition, hollyhocks have low soil requirements and are easy to cultivate and grow, so they can be found in many places in Taiwan. After the Tang dynasty poet Chen Biao saw them, he wrote the poem "Shu Hollyhock": "Before my eyes there is no way to deal with the hollyhock, light purple and deep red in hundreds of clusters. How much can it compete with the peony? The place where people dislike it is only because there are too many." This shows how colorful and brilliant hollyhocks are when in bloom.

He Qihua, director of the Parks and Open Space Division Horticulture Institute, added that the hollyhocks in the Western-style garden area of Shilin Official Residence Park were cultivated, planted, and arranged by the staff themselves. The flower colors include black, pink, peach red, red, yellow, white, and more. One can also see double-petaled varieties as gorgeous as peonies and fresh, elegant single-petaled varieties. They are now in bloom during their flowering season, and the flowering period is estimated to continue until June. The park area is full of all kinds of colors and a riot of purple and red, absolutely a great choice for internet beauties to check in and take photos!