Orchid Garden Exhibition Greenhouse, Dongguan Botanical Garden (东莞植物园兰花园展览温室)

Dongguan Botanical Garden, north of the city in Nancheng district, descends from a Banling state farm founded in 1958 (a forestry farm according to Baidu Baike, a livestock farm according to Chinese Wikipedia). It became a municipal botanical garden in 1998 and took its present name in 2006, after merging with the Green World city park. The first phase of works began on 1 August 2016 and created twelve themed gardens, the orchid garden among them; the garden was inaugurated on 19 April 2018.

The orchid garden was not ready that day: an article of 20 April 2018 explains that it still needed fine-tuning and stayed closed while eleven other gardens opened free of charge. The visiting rules the garden published on 30 April 2019 set a regime that applies after the 1 May opening: five days open a week, closed on Monday and Friday for plant care, maintenance of facilities and pest control in the greenhouse.

During the COVID-19 epidemic this garden, like the rock garden and the China-Malaysia friendship garden, was never fully open. It was renovated during the closure, and the Dongguan Times announced its reopening for 1 October 2020, together with two other gardens, the last three themed gardens still shut. In May 2026 the garden administration's reply to a visitor's complaint confirms that the orchid garden and its greenhouse area still receive the public.

According to the Dongguan Times (September 2020), the exhibition greenhouse covers about 350 m² and its top is fitted with "high-performance" glass that lets through the light needed for photosynthesis.

The same article describes the climate equipment: several blowers installed all around to keep the air moving, and misters spread mainly near the artificial rockery and in the areas where the orchids are densest. In the 2020 renovation, the main announced improvement concerns the plant supports, rebuilt in lychee wood recovered from the neighbouring lychee garden. The greenhouse is the indoor part of a garden of about 3 ha (Baidu Baike) that also offers an outdoor, natural-looking landscape. The 2019 rules describe two screening gates, that of the orchid garden and then that of the greenhouse.

According to the Dongguan Times (2020), the greenhouse shows more than a hundred orchid species, among them members of the genera 兰属 (Cymbidium), 石斛属 (Dendrobium), 蝴蝶兰属 (Phalaenopsis) and 石豆兰属 (Bulbophyllum), together with about a hundred companion plants. At the entrance of the orchid garden, the lintel is decorated with moth orchids, so-called "dancing" orchids (跳舞兰), autumn dendrobiums and flame orchids (火焰兰); along the path, other orchids are tied to the big trees and the artificial rockery.

A guide of 1 May 2019 names among the stars of the orchid garden the Yunnan flame orchid (云南火焰兰), nicknamed the "giant panda of plants" and treated as the garden's treasure, and two threatened paphiopedilums (同色兜兰 and 杏黄兜兰), both on the IUCN Red List according to that guide, as well as the orchids 领带兰 ("necktie"), 咖啡兰, scented like milky coffee, and 跳舞兰, whose petals recall the character 吉. The greenhouse's companion plants include tank bromeliads (积水凤梨), staghorn ferns (鹿角蕨), bird's-nest ferns (巢蕨), 绿宝石 and tree ferns (笔筒树).

The orchid garden lies on the north side of the botanical garden, next to the agarwood garden (莞香园). A 2019 guide gives the route: from Qixiang Road, go south to the suspension bridge of the famous trees and flowers garden, then take the road running past the medicinal herb garden and the agarwood garden for about 300 m. Entry is with a card issued on site, and the number of visitors admitted into the greenhouse is limited: 20 to 30 people at a time according to the 2019 and 2020 documents.

An article of 2018 gives February as the best month for the orchids. The two routes Baidu Baike recommends (1 h 45 and 4 h) do not pass through this garden, which is best visited separately. It can be combined with the agarwood garden (about 3 ha), the rock garden (about 2 ha) and the famous trees and flowers garden (about 27 ha).