Despite the pandemic necessitating the cancellation of the summer festival season’s marquee event, the Horticulture Department has started preparing flower beds in the hope that tourists would be allowed during the “second season” later this year.
More than 2.2 lakh plants and 150 varieties of flowers will be planted for the second season, officials said. Dahlias, marigolds, begonias and other varieties of flowering plants will be grown at the garden over the next few months.
The Horticulture Department had grown around 5 lakhs plants for the summer festival season, and the 124th annual flower show this year, which had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.
M. Radhakrishnan, Assistant Director of Horticulture, the Nilgiris, said with the ease in lockdown restrictions, almost all staff working for the department were now back at work. Previously, only staff members who lived close by to the garden were able to report for routine maintenance work.
Officials said the pandemic had led to the cancellation of the flower show for two consecutive years, which had hit tourism in the Nilgiris. The Government Botanical Garden remains closed to tourists, but officials hope that with the number of daily reported COVID-19 cases declining across the State, that tourists could soon be allowed inside parks and gardens in the district.
“Every day, around 200-300 tourists queue outside the garden hoping to be let inside. We hope that things improve in the coming weeks and the tourist spots across the district can be reopened,” said another official from the Horticulture Department.