Kashmir’s Tulip Garden opens for public
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah inaugurated the garden that boasts more than 17.5 lakh flowers of 74 tulip varieties, many of them in full bloom
Kashmir’s iconic Tulip Garden, the biggest in Asia, on Wednesday was thrown open to public and saw a rush of tourists on the first day, officials said.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah inaugurated the garden that boasts more than 17.5 lakh flowers of 74 tulip varieties, many of them in full bloom.
With mild rain lashing the area, tourists had a gala time at the picturesque garden that came up in 2006.
Donning a white Pheran, or Kashmiri gown, Omar visited the garden and took some pictures. He also posed for selfies with the visitors.
After his visit, Omar took to micro-blogging platform X. “After more than a decade I was back at the Tulip Garden in Srinagar to officially throw it open to visitors. Over the next few weeks thousands of people are expected to visit Asia’s largest tulip garden and enjoy the riot of colour,” he said in the post.
Omar was accompanied by agriculture minister Javaid Ahmad Dar.
“The beginning was good, and we hope our tourist season also blooms like this (the garden),” Dar said.
“This is just the first day and people have come in thousands. As vehicles were not allowed from a particular spot, people were marching on foot,” he added.
The 4,500-kanal terraced garden on the foothills of Zabarwan mountain range, overlooking the serene Dal Lake, remains open for four weeks every year till the tulips start to wither away.
The garden is at its best when the 1.75 million tulip bulbs are in full bloom, becoming a mesmerising sight for visitors.
Alongside tulips, the garden has daffodils, hyacinths, roses, ranunculi, muscaria and iris, creating an enchanting tapestry of colours and fragrances.
Tourists from across the country, and abroad, visited the garden on Wednesday and were all praise.
“The garden, the flowers, the weather - this is heaven. I am just falling short of words to describe my experience,” said a visitor from Calcutta.
Usually, the tulip bloom starts late into March and the average life of the flower is 20 days, stretching up to 25. The overall bloom is longer with mid and late-blooming varieties of tulips. The temperature-sensitive flowers need mercury to stay between 15 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius. In August 2023, the Tulip Garden earned a spot in World Book of Records (London) as Asia’s largest.
“The response was great. Around 12,000 to 13,000 people visited the garden till 4 pm,” said floriculture department’s Asif Yatoo, in-charge of the garden.
Last year, it saw an all-time high footfall of over 4.65 lakh, including locals, up from over 3.7 lakh in 2023, 3.6 lakh in 2022 and 2.3 lakh in 2021.
“We expect the tourist numbers to cross five lakh this year,” Yatoo said.
Kashmir’s connection with tulips traces its origin hundreds of years ago, when the flowers were grown on muddy rooftops of houses, in kitchen gardens and flower beds.
In 2005-06, the state government decided to convert Siraj Bagh on the banks of Dal Lake into a regal Tulip Garden.
