A museum of Chinese gardens will welcome its first visitors on May 18, the opening day of the Ninth China (Beijing) International Garden Expo.

After 18 months of construction, the China Garden Museum, located in southwestern Beijing's Fengtai district, is getting its finishing touches with 85 percent of construction completed, said Qiang Jian, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry.

"The China Garden Museum will not only present a museum of life to the public, but also unfold the rich cultural fabric of classical Chinese gardens to visitors from home and abroad," he said.