The people can enjoy an e-tour of the floral arrangements and decorations through videos uploaded on social media and other digital platforms. Inaugurating the virtual show, Forest Minister K Ramachandran said that usually 1.5 lakh tourists turn up for the show every year and the annual footfall is around 30 lakh.

The flower show could not be conducted last year over the pandemic. This year, however, expecting the situation to improve, the horticulture department had been preparing for six months for the show. “Five lakh flower yielding plants from 293 varieties were planted and 25,000 flower pots were arranged in the garden for the show usually conducted in the third week of May,” Ramachandran said. But the show got cancelled this time too due to COVID restrictions. The public can still enjoy the floral arrangements online and everyone from across the globe can view it, the Minister said.

The garden has been spruced up with a selfie spot decorated with coronation flowers and a floral pot arrangement to create awareness on vaccination. The officials expressed their wish that the flower show be held at least next year once the pandemic subsides.

At the inaugural function, Ooty MLA R Ganesh, Gudalur MLA, Pon Jeyaseelan, The Nilgiris Collector J. Innocent Divya and Sivasubramaniam Samraj, Joint Director of Horticulture were also present.