Tireless toil for a yr to make tulips bloom

Express News Service

SRINAGAR:  Since Asia’s largest tulip backyard opened this Wednesday, guests have been flocking to recreate scenes from Bollywood movies, taking selfies amid lengthy rows of flowers beds.

To give them this aesthetic pleasure, a staff of 110 individuals around the yr to make 1.5 million flowers bloom within the backyard that’s unfold over 20 acres on the foothills of the Zabarwan vary.

About 2.25 lakh folks visited the backyard final yr regardless of the Covid wave. Assistant Floriculture Officer, Tulip Garden, Inam-ul-Rehman mentioned about 110 folks, together with 60 gardeners and informal labourers, work within the backyard. 

One of the gardeners, who has been working for the final 15 years, mentioned, “We have to put in the hard work for 11 months to make the one-month show successful. We hope that people in large numbers will visit. We feel proud when tourists come to see tulips and click pictures and make videos.”

Another gardener who has been working for 4 years mentioned they plant the tulip bulbs as per the number of its bloom.

“We have early, mid and late varieties of tulips. We plant them accordingly to keep the garden open for a month and allow the visitors to see tulips of different colours and varieties in full bloom. The carpet of flowers of different colours truly gives the feeling of paradise,” he mentioned.

The opening of the tulip backyard indicators the arrival of spring in Kashmir.

“Tulips needs low temperature for survival. If the temperature during the bloom increases, then we have to irrigate the garden with care without hurting the flower. We have to irrigate at night. We cannot spray water on the flowers or else they will get damaged,” mentioned a labourer.

A whole lot of planning goes into designing of various sections of the backyard.

“Tulips of different colours are planted. If we feel that the colour combination does not match, then we change it next year,” he mentioned.