The colorful silk edition of the Yuanmingyuan Forty Scenes Tuyong is one of the original drawings depicting the landscape of the historical peak period of Yuanmingyuan. It depicts the vivid landscape of 40 scenes in Yuanmingyuan in the way of silk color, especially the description of the plant landscape, which is very realistic and exquisite. It is a high-quality historical book for studying the planting of Yuanmingyuan. The study deeply combed the plant species, planting forms, the spatial distribution of plants, and their relationship with the function of scenic spots in the forty scenes pictures and deeply investigated the characteristics of planting in combination with the cultural background. It can be seen from the study that poplars and willows are the key species of plant landscape in Yuanmingyuan. Small flowering trees, large leafy trees, pines, and cypresses are also widely used. The planting forms mainly include clustered planting, specimen planting, patch planting, coupled planting, linear planting, and pot planting. Plants are distributed in four spaces: water bank, mountain forest, courtyard, and nursery. The plants and other garden elements together set off the spatial atmosphere of four functional scenic spots, namely, administration, sacrifice, living, and sightseeing.