Srinagar, Oct 22 (HS): Bagh-e-Gul-e-Dawood, Srinagar’s Chrysanthemum Theme

Garden at the Nehru Memorial Botanical Garden, will open for the season on

Friday, October 23.

Mathoora Masoom, Director Floriculture, Gardens and Parks, Kashmir, who

spoke to media at the garden on Thursday, said over 3.5 lakh plants have been planted this

year and that more than 12 million flowers are expected to bloom.

She said the flowers will last at least a month and a half. “If it opens

tomorrow, it can last till December 5 or 6,” she said, adding that the blooms

can also withstand a slight snowfall, which is expected in December. She said

this gives the flower a longer life span than tulips.

Masoom said the Floriculture Department has increased the garden’s bed area

considerably this year and wants to make the garden better than last year, when

it made its debut. “This is the dream project of the Department of

Floriculture, right from the commissioner secretary level to the gardeners who

work here,” she said.

She said the department aims to give the garden the same importance and

popularity as the Tulip Garden. “We don’t want any season of Kashmir to be bad.

Spring is with the tulip, and autumn will be, God willing, with the

chrysanthemum,” she said.

Masoom said the garden is expected to give tourism a major boost. In

autumn, she said, only the chinar hues used to draw visitors to the Valley, but

now people will also come to see the chrysanthemum. She said the botanical

garden is already seeing a heavy rush of visitors who ask about the

chrysanthemum garden, and the department is receiving queries from outside the

Valley and even from abroad. “Our local people ask us when this garden will

open, because they know it is something very beautiful in autumn,” she said.

Among the new features this year, she said, are a plaza decorated with

colourful flowers and a water feature. She said garden amenities, pergolas,

selfie points and the path layout have also been put in place to make the visit

a better experience.

Masoom said it is a theme garden where visitors will see only autumn

flowers, and only one flower, the chrysanthemum. Maples, ginkgo and other trees

have been planted to add to the autumn colours, and the garden blooms at a time

when the other seasonal blooms have ended, she said. “In other places there is

only autumn, but with the chrysanthemum we bring spring,” she said.

Asked about the difficulties in preparing the garden, she said changes in

the weather posed a lot of challenges, but the department’s staff and officers

worked as a team, with the Commissioner Secretary guiding them at every step.

“It is our wish that people come here and spread happiness,” she said.

A foreign tourist who visited the garden a day before its opening said she

was delighted to see the flowers. “There are so many different kinds of

chrysanthemums, and different colours, and they’ve done a wonderful job at

arranging them. It looks beautiful,” she told media.

She said she is on her first visit to Kashmir with friends from India and

had not expected to see the gardens. “We weren’t expecting to see the gardens

today. We didn’t know about them. And it’s absolutely gorgeous,” she said. She

added that she loved the temperature and the sight of busy bees pollinating the

plants.

Comparing the garden with others she has visited, she said she has seen

similar gardens in England and Spain, but this one is “really different, so

unique” with its scenery.

“I’m just excited to be here. It’s the first time

I’ve ever been, and I’ve wanted to be here for a really, really long time. It’s

only my second day, a few more days to go, but I’m loving it here,” she said.

Hindusthan Samachar / Zahoor Hussain Bhat