In the children's play area of Paris flower park, a parent is accompanying the children. Photographed by people's Daily reporter Liu Lingling

In 1969, the Third World Horticultural Exposition was held in Paris. Over the past 50 years, the former exhibition venues have been transformed into Paris flower park. In recent years, according to local conditions, Paris flower park has built a harmonious ecosystem of animals and plants, upgraded supporting facilities, integrated education and entertainment functions into the park on the basis of maintaining the natural environment, making the flower park a popular multi-functional leisure park, attracting many tourists

Walking into the Paris flower park, which is located in Vincent forest in the east of Paris, a white stone sculpture with the shape of "50" covered by green grass and flowers comes into view. In 1969, the Third World Horticultural Exposition was held here. In the past 50 years, the former exhibition venue has been transformed into one of the four major botanical gardens in Paris, and it is also the venue of the annual large-scale flower exhibition in Paris. In recent years, through the measures of protecting the ecosystem in the park, developing educational resources and upgrading supporting facilities, the Paris flower park has continuously radiated new vitality.

Adapt measures to local conditions to form a sustainable ecosystem

Along the tour route in the park, there are trees and grass all the way. In summer, the flowers of the brocade cluster are interspersed in the verdant vegetation, which is full of vitality.

Several scenic spots in the park are equipped with reversible display boards. On one side of the display board is the scenery of the scenic spot drawn by the children of the art school; on the other side is the black-and-white photos of the area 50 years ago, accompanied by a short text description to introduce the appearance of the scenic spot in that year. The sharp contrast shows the great changes that have taken place in the park in the past 50 years.

The Third World Horticultural Exposition is A1 World Horticultural Exposition, which lasts from April 1969 to October of that year. After the closing of the Expo, the Paris municipal government has built the Paris flower park on the basis of the original venues, to "settle down" the flowers and plants from different countries, and to create a large urban botanical garden for the citizens.

There are still some traces of the Expo in the park. Several pavilions that have been preserved to this day still maintain the style of the beginning of construction. The wooden roof is hidden in the green trees, showing a sense of elegance and simplicity. Continuing the design concept of "plants as the main and buildings as the auxiliary", most of the new pavilions are low-key in appearance, focusing on practicality, providing a spacious and bright growth space for plants.

In the process of construction, the flower park has reserved sufficient growth time for plants and complete habitat for animals, making the park an ecological restoration base to maintain species diversity. "The park follows the principle of adjusting measures to local conditions, divides areas according to the growth habits of plants, further expands the area of the park, gradually introduces birds, squirrels and other animals, and finally forms a balanced and sustainable ecosystem," said Park chief horticulturist Jean Yves morrow

In order to ensure the healthy growth of plants, the flower park is equipped with a professional horticultural team to take charge of the cultivation of plants. Horticultural experts carefully select and introduce plants, improve the greenhouse environment, improve agricultural technology, water and fertilizer technology, and build a "micro environment" for plant growth Over time, different types of parks have been established, such as pine forest garden, potted plant area, peony garden, Dali garden, etc. Paris flower park has also developed from the original 28 hectares to a large-scale botanical garden with an area of 35 hectares, more than 3000 kinds of flowers, plants and trees, and more than 20 exhibition halls. It attracts more than 1 million tourists from different countries every year and becomes a "green card" of Paris 。

Create a vivid natural classroom with teaching and entertainment

"I know! I know! " In the tropical plant exhibition hall, a group of primary school students are actively answering the teacher's questions. Today's Paris flower park is not only a green space for enjoying flowers, plants and trees, but also a lively and interesting natural classroom. Many primary school students come to visit under the guidance of their teachers to identify different kinds of plants and understand their growth process. For the convenience of teaching, the park also specially designed a set of "breakthrough Games" to let children search for plant species puzzles in groups. The group who first completed the puzzles can get small gifts and enjoy teaching, which is very popular.

The exhibition hall commentator told reporters that each plant in the park is marked with basic information such as name, origin, genus and species, so that visitors can understand the plants during the visit. Small knowledge boards about plants and nature are vivid and interesting. In addition, the park also regularly holds special exhibitions such as seed exhibition and insect exhibition to help children understand nature and enhance their awareness of protecting nature and protecting the environment through rich and interesting explanations and small games.

From May this year, the butterfly exhibition hall of the flower park was officially opened to the public. There are more than 40 kinds of butterflies in the exhibition hall. Visitors can observe butterflies at close range. "Not only do the children see it with interest, but our parents also learn a lot of new knowledge," said Oliver, a Parisian citizen.

French people love gardening, and every family is willing to create a green space. For this reason, Paris flower park often offers lectures or courses on horticultural knowledge to provide horticultural guidance to the public, which is warmly responded to every time. Oliver, who has participated in several courses, is very satisfied with the course: "to learn gardening in the flower park, you can not only know and understand the plant species and living habits in the field, but also the professional horticulturists can answer the questions, with one stroke more."

Teaching for fun In the classroom, in various professional horticultural lectures and on the easy to understand knowledge display board, Paris flower park provides a variety of cultural learning and experience activities suitable for young and old. "The educational significance of a 50 year old flower park should be reflected in different ways," morrow said. In the future, we will hold regular art activities to let more people who love nature and art find more creative inspiration and spiritual enjoyment here. "

Upgrade the facilities and release the social value of the park

In recent years, Paris flower park has been expanding its space functions, opening leisure areas, entertainment areas, upgrading supporting facilities, and gradually becoming an important leisure place for citizens. Matilda, head of reception center of Paris flower park, is also a teacher of yoga courses in the park. She said that since 2016, the park has set up a "public leisure space" with various courses such as yoga, meditation, Kung Fu and tea ceremony, which not only helps the public relax in the forest oxygen bar, but also enables the park's resource space to be better developed and utilized.

Not only that, "public leisure space" also creates new employment opportunities for young people. Matilda lived in China for a year and studied Taiji and tea art. She offers courses in "public leisure space" and trains other lecturers. "Thanks to the park's fresh and beautiful environment and increasingly perfect teaching mechanism, more and more people come to sign up for various courses, so we have hired more and more lecturers." Said Matilda.

The open space and various facilities in the park attract more and more large-scale activities. There is an open-air stage beside the artificial lake in the park, which often holds concerts, theatrical performances and other cultural activities. Every July and August is the most active time in the park, music festival, outdoor movies, aerobic running Colorful projects attract many young people to participate. Especially during the Jazz Festival, thousands of fans can gather here to watch the performance.

The park's children's playground is also full of laughter. Slide, rock climbing, trampoline, flying rope and other facilities provide children with a variety of entertainment options. In order to provide a more comfortable experience, the park also opened restaurants, cafes, bookstores and other places for tourists to have a rest. "The park tries to concentrate these places in one area to provide natural and quiet growth space for animals and plants." Matilda said that with the increasingly complete facilities in the park, the park has become a "online red card punching place" with both cultural and artistic atmosphere.

Cherry blossom in spring, Jazz Festival in summer, and green in autumn and winter. In addition, the exhibition hall displaying rare exotic plants and the artificial lake with plant landscape excavation, citizens have the power to go to Paris flower park all year round. "The theme of the 1969 Paris World Horticultural Exposition is' flowers of France and the world '," morrow said: "50 years on, we hope that the' flowers of France and the world 'in the park can continue to let more people enjoy the beauty of nature, love nature and love life."

Source: People's daily