Challenges remain

Zhao, the engineer, said amateur growers have cultivated many hybrid varieties of the roses, but these have not been registered.

"In the past 20 years, some companies and professionals have realized the economic value of the flowers and started to become involved in cultivating new varieties," he said. "This led to the Chinese rose being registered as an intellectual property."

Zhao said seven varieties have been cultivated by researchers at the Beijing Institute of Landscape Architecture. They have been registered and planted across the country.

"Cultivating a new variety of the Chinese rose is not easy. We need to cross-pollinate at least 10,000 plants to get a new one, " he said.

The Chinese rose is normally self-pollinating, but cultivating hybrid varieties requires cutting off the petals and waiting for pollen from other plants to reach the flowers.

"Even when all the conditions are right, we still need some luck to cultivate new varieties," Zhao said.

A new variety cultivated by the institute won the Chinese rose contest at the International Horticultural Exhibition in Beijing last month. Named Beijing Pink, the variety was cultivated after more than 10 years' work.

Feng Hui, senior researcher at the institute, said, "The new variety is especially suitable for planting in Beijing, as it can resist both severe cold and high temperatures.

"During our research, we did not apply any fertilizer to the roses for five years, but the blossoming rate for the Beijing Pink still reached a level of more than 60 percent," said Feng, who cultivated the variety.

For the public, it is hard to tell the difference between the Chinese rose and regular varieties, even though 85 cities in China have chosen the former as their representative flower.

Ye, the Beijing businesswoman, said, "I and many of my friends confuse Chinese roses and regular ones all the time."

Zhao said many Chinese rose varieties, grown by enthusiasts in their homes and gardens, have not been officially recognized, and there is still a long way to go until the registration system is put in order.