NDMC to develop new ‘Valley of Flowers’ tulip garden in Nehru Park

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will develop a large tulip garden section in Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri, with dedicated parking, recreational activity, drone photography and musical events, said senior council functionaries

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will develop a large tulip garden section in Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri, with dedicated parking, recreational activity, drone photography and musical events, said senior council functionaries.

Last year, the Shanti Path area in diplomatic enclave alone hosted around 146,000 tulip bulbs. (HT Archive)

The space, which they have called ‘Valley of Flowers,’ will feature seasonal flowers all through the year as the blooming period of tulips only lasts for 20-25 days during February-March. So far, NDMC’s largest tulip plantation site has been in the Shanti Path area in the diplomatic enclave.

NDMC chairman Manoj Kumar Dwivedi on Sunday saidthe civic body wants to build tulip gardens at a larger scale. “We have been doing it at Shanti Path. Although it’s a delight for passers by and visitors but since there is no parking possible there, it leads to jams with cars being parked on road side and visitors cannot spend longer time enjoying the bloom. As a visitor, I would love to be there around the tulip bloom for a longer time with my family, clicking pictures and even having a picnic alongside. But I can’t do it on Shanti Path.”

The civic body has identified a site for the proposed garden and started preparations, Dwivedi said in a post on X, adding that the new facility would supplement the existing tulip displays along Shanti Path. He added that NDMC will come up with a much bigger tulip garden inside Nehru Park.

“We have identified the place and have started preparing the site. This will have a big dedicated parking. We will have some fun activity, drone photography, music etc alongside. People can come and spend much longer time with their families with no hassles.”

Last year, the Shanti Path area in diplomatic enclave alone hosted around 146,000 tulip bulbs. NDMC also hosts its annual tulip festival in February at Shanti Path Lawns (opposite the Russian Embassy).

This year, NDMC has placed orders to import 467,000 tulip bulbs from the Netherlands for the upcoming winter season. Of these, 300,000 bulbs will be used in NDMC-maintained parks, prominent roads and other public spaces, while 167,000 bulbs have been ordered for DDA parks and other key locations across the city.

The bulbs are generally planted in December, with the flowers beginning to bloom towards the end of January. The flowering season typically continues until late February to early March, adding vibrant colours to the capital’s parks, roundabouts and prominent roads.

The NDMC began tulip plantation in 2017, when it began with a pilot project of 17,000 bulbs. It purchased 62,800 bulbs in 2021; 140,000 in 2022; 200,000 in 2023; and 325,000 in 2024. Tulips were previously confined to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Importing each tulip bulb costs around ₹35-38. The NDMC will spend an estimated ₹1.8 crore on the import of bulbs from Netherlands in 2026-27.

A parallel project of reusing the bulbs and storing them in climate controlled chambers at the Lodhi Garden is being carried out. Last year such 50,000 indigenous tulip bulbs were used out of which 29,000 had been cultivated at NDMC’s Lodhi Garden climate controlled chamber while the remaining 21,000 bulbs came from the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT-CSIR) at Palampur in Himachal Pradesh.