Dance of flowers

Dance of flowers
Deccan herald


The flowers are in full bloom. And their fragrance will waft through the sprawling Lalbagh for a week starting tomorrow. And flowers which are not local to India too will vie for attention with home grown flowers at the Glass House. You don’t want to miss all this.

The mention of Republic Day and most Bangaloreans associate it with the annual flower show at Lalbagh. This year too, it promises to offer a wide variety of flowers on show - a rose tower, orchids, zinnea, Dutch flowers, cockscomb, gloxinia, tube rose, begonia, Bonsai varieties, and many more.

The flower show nearly got cancelled this year. In December, many nurseries in Bangalore hadn’t confirmed participation. So the proposed Rose Show was cancelled. About the same time doubts were raised about the annual Republic Day flower show, thanks to heavy rains earlier this year and the cyclonic conditions till end November. However, the dark clouds moved on and paved the way for the flower show.

Director, Department of Horticulture, Dr G K Vasanth Kumar said, “The heavy rains were definitely good news for the department. Farmers gained good prices for their crop. But the overcast conditions resulted in flowers blooming late. So there were doubts about this flower show. Now, of course, we are all very relieved,” he said.

New attractions:

“Udupi Mallige (a rounder variety of jasmine) is usually in bloom for about eight months. Those who have about 50 such jasmine creepers have reaped benefits of upto Rs 40,000. So we thought it fit to display this variety this year,” said Mr Vasanth Kumar.

And while you take a stroll around the exhibits, you will be treated to some light music performances, courtesy, the Department of Kannada and Culture. “It is also our endeavour to encourage small scale industries. So we have invited Shakti Foods Ltd., from Lonavala to set up a stall selling food preparations using varieties of gooseberry.

Dreams in colour

Mr Vasanth Kumar hopes to include a laser light and sound show, that will truly showcase Bangalore’s image as IT capital, at the flower show. He also hopes to have a musical fountain show and has drawn up a Rs 1.5 crore plan for the Indira Gandhi musical fountain here. He has dashed of letters to authorities concerned and is awaiting response.

Future plans:

If trial runs can be completed successfully, the eco-friendly Reva electronic vehicles will shortly be put to use to take visitors on a tour around the entire botanical garden. A guide will accompany them to explain things of importance here. All this at a cost of Rs 100 per head.

Meanwhile, preparations are on at a hectic pace to roll out the ‘green’ carpet - one that’s filled with flowers for visitors to the flower show.