It took three years, but today the Herbal Garden at Lingnan Wonderland Eco-Resort National Rural Complex has a field of colorful roses to mark its ongoing expansion.

Now more than 6,000 sqm (1.5 acres) of 30,000 red, pink, yellow, and white roses are in bloom at the Doumen District site. In all, 20,000 sqm (5 acres) of roses will be planted to flower year-round. They consist of 15 selected species introduced from Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Jiangmen in 2018. The flowers are best seen between October and May.

Lingnan Wonderland Eco-Resort covers 11.77 sqkm (4.54 sq miles) at the state-level agricultural sci-tech Doumen Eco-Agriculture Park across Shilong, Dongwan, and Xialan villages.

The health-oriented eco-tourism complex focuses on farming and popular science based on local natural resources and Lingnan (Cantonese) culture. It is being developed over three phases at a cost of 2.7 billion yuan ($418 million).

Winter wonderland in Doumen [Photo by Liang Songhui, Li Jinfang & Qiu Yue / WeChat account: meilidoumen]

In addition to roses, the Herbal Garden encompasses a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Science Popularization Hall. The hall contains immersive cultural scenarios related to the 24 solar terms and is Guangdong Province's first TCM interactive and immersive tourist attraction.

The park will enter trial operation around the Feb 11-17 Spring Festival holiday. It is to fully open by May Day with TCM plantations, R&D, processing, sightseeing, entertainment, popular science, and accommodation facilities.

Nearby, Huatian Xidi (Land of Flower & Joy), a 600-mu (40-hectare, 99-acre) zone for leisure agriculture, cultural sci-tech experience, ecological education, and health-oriented get-away, and Marriott International's first countryside hotel in China will open to visitors next year.

The other phases, which call for a high-end healthcare small town and agricultural manor in Sanwan Village; beautification of Shilong, Dongwan, and Xialan villages; and outdoor training camps, will be completed in five years.

Today the herbal garden is partially open for free. Visitors can pick fruit at a nearby greenhouse or cycle through picturesque Shilong Village.

Drive to Shilong Village Committee (石龙村民委员会) with GPS navigation, and the garden is on the opposite side of the road.