Prep in full swing at Srinagar’s botanical garden for flower show starting May 20

Apart from serene lakes, magnificent Mughal Gardens, vast meadows, deciduous forests and Himalayan peaks, people in Kashmir and visitors from outside this year will also be mesmerised by a festival of flowers starting May 20.

A mega flower show is being organised by the floriculture department wherein hundreds of growers from across the Valley will be displaying flowers, cut flowers, pot plants, novelties and ornamental plants at the Srinagar’s picturesque Botanical Garden.

“The festival is being organised on May 20 and 21 for which, our preparations are in full swing,” said Shayiq Rasool, deputy director, floriculture.

He said the festival aims to hold an exhibition of varied flower varieties of Kashmir and a competition among the farmers producing best quality flowers.

“The garden will be open to all and we want more and more participation,” he added.

Of the 1,800 growers in the Valley, at least 267 grow on a large scale and are progressive farmers, most of whom will converge in the garden to display their floral produce.

“The floriculture department will also display its produce and there will be judges who will award the best flower farmers,” Rasool said.

Flowers have been grown in Kashmir since times immemorial, but their cultivation by young and entrepreneurial Kashmiris on a commercial scale is a recent phenomenon.

Kashmir has been sending out cut flowers like lilies, carnations, roses, gladiolus, irises, and gerberas and ornamental and aromatic plants besides supplying raw material to the natural dye industry in Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune, Jammu and even Dubai.

Officials say changes in social values of people, rising expendable incomes and changes in urbal-rural population mix are triggering a local demand as well.

Like the festival, the location of the exhibition is also unique.

Established on the banks of Dal Lake on an area of 80 hectares and overlooked by Zabarwan mountain range, the Botanical Garden has unique varieties of plants, trees and voluminous varieties of flowers such as Himalayan orchids.

It has a variety of different tree species and is home to over 1.5 lakh ornamental plants. It has a treasure of over 300 breeds of flora which include cedar and willow trees with a stunning lake that spreads over 17 hectares. There are paddle boats in the lake that help visitors enjoy the beauty of the garden.

“It is after six years that we are organising this festival and are planning to make it an annual feature now,” Rasool said.