Flower show prep in full swing at Srinagar’s botanical garden

SRINAGAR: 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.

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