Taiwan Today

Taipei City is suffused with color throughout the year.
 

High rises cluster densely in Taiwan’s capital, but there are green getaways within the metropolis, and Taipei City Government’s Flowers in Taipei ­campaign provides information on dozens of such colorful oases that hold flower viewing festivals throughout the year to facilitate easy access to these beautiful spaces.
 

Daan District’s Daan Forest Park is the main venue for Taipei Azalea Festival each spring, with over 210,000 of the city’s official flower on display. Not to be outdone, neighboring Zhongshan District hosts the Taipei Rose Festival in Xinsheng Park, which was an exhibit area of the 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo. This year 800 varieties of roses from around the world filled the space with more than 5,000 blooms.
 

Just two stops away on the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit’s red line, flower fans can visit Shilin District in early spring to take in astonishing numbers of tulips. The 2024 Shilin Residence Tulip Festival, which ­ended in March, saw 30 varieties and 140,000 individual blooms from the Netherlands and Japan turn the 9.28-hectare park into a riot of color. Further north at Shan-Tseng-Chi Park in Beitou District, lavender, silver ragwort, French marigold, scarlet sage and other flowers adorn the mountain slope.
 

While Yangmingshan National Park, also in Beitou, is famous for its rolling fields of silver grass, visitors also flock to its Zhuzihu Calla Lily Festival to pick fresh flowers. When calla lily season ends ­mid-spring, hydrangeas in the area take up the banner and greet early summer visitors with gentle hues of pale pink, purple and blue.
 

Though spring is the time for a bounty of blossoms, each season brings its own special charm. The Flowers in Taipei website shares information throughout the year so the public can always find a spot of color, no matter when they go looking.

—by Jim Hwang