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Come March 23, 1.5 million tulips to welcome tourists in Kashmir
Kashmir’s Tulip Garden, one of the biggest in Asia, will be thrown open to the public from March 23 where 1.5 million tulips are expected to bloom and mesmerise tourists this spring
Kashmir’s Tulip Garden, one of the biggest in Asia, will be thrown open to the public from March 23 where 1.5 million tulips are expected to bloom and mesmerise tourists this spring. Some of the varieties are already in bloom.
The sea of colourful flowers of more than 60 varieties will adorn the 30-hectare terracing garden at Siraj Bagh in Srinagar involving the toil of 120 gardeners, labourers and other workers.
“We are expecting to open the garden on March 23 as against March 25 last year,” said Sofi Inam-ur-Rehman, floriculture officer and in-charge of the Tulip Garden.
He said that the high daily temperature this month has sped up the blooming process but the intermittent rains from Friday night have brought the temperature down.
“The wet and cloudy weather may have some impact on the overall blooming time,” he said.
The picturesque garden --- one of the biggest tulip gardens in Asia and located on the foothills of the Zabarwan range and on the banks of majestic Dal Lake – has planted over 60 varieties of red, yellow, pink – early blooming and late blooming – tulip bulbs.
Besides other flowers like hyacinths, daffodils, narcissus, muscaria and Iris adorn the garden while a Japanese ornamental cherry theme garden is also a part of the aesthetic beauty.
The garden also has ornamental trees like apricots and almonds which coincide with tulip blooming.
The garden plays an important part in wooing more tourists during this spring season, particularly after the Covid disruptions since March 2020.
“Last year, we welcomed some 2.25 lakh visitors, including tourists and locals while observing Covid SOPs,” said Rehman.
While the garden was closed in the spring of 2020 owing to Covid wave, in 2019, the garden attracted 2.58 lakh visitors, including many local Kashmiris and 1.9 lakh in 2018 as the annual Tulip Festival has been gaining in popularity and attracting tourists.
Zeeshan Khan, assistant director, tourism department, said that the tourists are already in good numbers here and the department is going to celebrate the tulip festival when the garden opens.
“We are going to celebrate spring and tulip festivals for which everything is ready,” he said.
Kashmir’s connection with tulips traces back its origin hundreds of years when the flowers were grown on muddy rooftops of houses. Gradually, they were grown in kitchen gardens and flower beds till in 2005-06 the then state government decided to convert Siraj Bagh into a regal Tulip Garden in keeping with Kashmir’s historical ties with tulips. The Tulip Garden was opened in 2007 on sloping ground with multiple terraces overlooking the scenic Botanical Garden. The state floriculture department imported tulip bulbs from the Netherlands and other European countries. Besides tulips, hyacinths, pansies, daffodils and ranunculus make the garden a one-stop destination for revellers during spring.
