Last year, Harbin in Northeast China opened the Provence Lavender Park to the public. The 73.3 hectare-park offers visitors a visual feast. In the future, a cold region rose base which is three times larger than the lavender park will be built nearby.

The sea of flowers will be another tourism name card for the city of Harbin.

Harbin will invest 1 billion yuan ($145.3 million) to develop a cold region rose garden with a plantation area of 200 hectares, according to a meeting on spring plowing and agricultural structural adjustment held on March 31.

The park will be built in the town of Xiangyang, Xiangfang district of Harbin, and is expected to become the world's biggest cold region rose garden.

The rose garden is a modern agricultural park which integrates flower production, exhibition, sales, and processing. This year, 380 million yuan will be invested in building a rose product research and development center, rose production workshop, and a historical museum for roses.

The rose garden chooses a special variety of rose which is suitable for growing in cold regions with temperatures ranging between - 45 C and - 38 C in the winter.

"The flowering stage of the cold region rose is long, and if we grow them in April, flowers will bloom in May and will last until October," said Li Zhongghui, project manager for the construction of the rose garden.

"During the flowering season, visitors can enjoy roses, take wedding pictures, and go for a picnic in the garden," said Li. “Besides, cold region roses can also be made into essential oils, spices, and medicine," she added.