Foreigners take a photo in the front of the central flower terrace in Tian'anmen Square on August 3.

Saving water at the flower terrace

To operate the sprinkler and drip irrigation system at the terrace, micro-tube emitters were installed on 100,000 flowerpots, with a water flow rate 1 to 2 liters per hour.

An 8 centimeter high barrier surrounds the flower terrace area to keep extra water in to keep the plants moist.

Flower terrace can resist extreme weather

Extreme weather this year required the flower terrace to be able to resist strong gales of at least 10 grade. Three hundred tons of steel were used to build the structure.

There are many spare flowers to replace those that could be damaged by strong winds, said staff members. Workers can repair small-scale damage within 24 hours while large-scale damage can take between three days and a week to repair.

The flowers come from farms in Shunyi, Daxing and Tongzhou, the three suburban districts of Beijing.

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(China.org.cn by Wu Huanshu August 5, 2008)