The annual blooming season of the calla lily in a secluded valley at Zhuzihu, or Bamboo Lake, will run for 33 days until April 30. The event is expected to attract over 700,000 visitors.

Hau walked into a flower field, together with less-privileged children from the Taipei Municipal Yangming Home for the Disabled, and plucked bundles of calla lilies and distributed the flowers among guests at the ceremony.

According to the Beitou Farmers’ Association, the festival, held in about 13 hectares of calla lily fields owned by 30 farming households in the Zhuzihu Valley, will remain open daily until 8 p.m. throughout the season to allow visitors to pick the flowers they like.

The association indicated that the flower fields can supply some 3 million calla lilies this year, and that the current price is around NT$100 for a dozen, about 33 percent to 50 percent cheaper than last year, mainly because of a good harvest.

Calla lilies grown at Bamboo Lake are mostly pristine white. They are chalice-shaped with a strong stem, and are a favored choice in flower arrangements because they are long-lasting.

The Department of Economic Development of the Taipei city government, which sponsored the annual event, said in a news release that it has set up a special Web site for the calla lily season — http://www.ed.taipei.gov.tw/calla-2008/ — to provide related information to visitors.

Related activities include a landscape show featuring the use of calla lilies, a photography contest and live music every afternoon from 2 p.m.

Officials at the department said people planning a trip to Bamboo Lake to see the flowers in bloom on the weekend should travel by city bus, instead of driving their own vehicles, in order to avoid traffic congestion.

The calla lily season at Bamboo Lake is one of Taipei’s five major flower events of the year. Another major event — the flower festival at Yangmingshan National Park that began in early February — ended on March 16.

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