Dearth of tourists haunts Ooty’s blooming gardens

TNN | Updated: Apr 23, 2020, 10:40 IST

UDHAGAMANDALAM: Unmindful of the global pandemic and the lockdown, the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) and the Government Rose Garden (GRG) in Ooty are in full bloom.
The gardens are the most popular tourist spots in the hill town during April and May, when mercury soars in other parts of the country.
While there are no tourists this time, the gardens are maintained well as they are the twin crowns of Ooty, a horticulture department official said.
The flower show committee had in February announced dates for the annual flower show and other shows as part of summer festival to be held during the month of May. If the summer festival is not held, GBG will be skipping the annual flower carnival, a rare case since its introduction more than a century ago.
Regarded as one of the most popular botanical gardens in the world, GBG witnessed the first flower show in 1896, organized by the chairman of the Nilgiris Agri-Horticultural Society J H Tremenhere, who was also the collector of the Nilgiris.
Spread over 22 hectares, GBG now houses over 680 rare botanical species of which 340 are rare trees of over 100 years old. Over 107 species of ferns, about 80 species of orchids apart from 60 species of annual flowers and 27 species of climbers adorn the garden.
The GRG is situated on four hectares and on five terraces on the sloping land called Elk Hill since its inception in 1995. More rose varieties were added over the years and the garden now boasts of over 35,000 rose plants of over 4,200 varieties.