The Lushan Botanical Garden (庐山植物园) sits at around 1,000 metres elevation and houses a substantial collection of alpine and temperate plants adapted to the mountain's climate. The rhododendron collection alone is worth the visit in late April and May, when hundreds of varieties bloom simultaneously across the upper slopes. The garden also maintains collections of conifers, Chinese medicinal plants, and ornamental trees from across the Sino-Himalayan belt.
The garden occupies about 300 hectares and takes two to three hours to walk through at a comfortable pace. Several of the old research buildings from the 1930s survive amid the plantings. The staff maintain the collection as an active research station as well as a public garden, and the quality of labelling and interpretation is higher than most Chinese botanical gardens.