Flower show preparations in full swing at Ooty's Govt Botanical Garden

COIMBATORE: Preparations for the 124th flower show at the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) in Ooty, Nilgiris, are in full swing. The Nilgiris Collector SP Amrith, superintendent of police Ashish Rawat and other officials supervised the arrangements on Wednesday.

The collector handed over the first flower pot to a gardener ahead of the five-day flower show which is scheduled to commence on May 20. Sources said Chief Minister MK Stalin was expected to inaugurate the show.

Flowers like geranium, cyclamen, cineraria, gloxinia, ranunculus, oriental lily, Asiatic lily, dahlia, begonia, French marigold and pansy will be displayed in the garden.

S Shibhila Mary, deputy director of the Horticulture Department, said, "More than 35,000 pots with 275 varieties of flowers will be displayed. As many as 5.5 lakh flower seedlings, which were planted in October last year, are in bloom now. We have also decided to arrange another 20,000 flower pots to read 'Ooty 200'. More than 350 gardeners have been working to make the show a success. More than 13,000 tourists visited the two-day vegetable show in Kotagiri on May 7 and 8," she said.

Similar arrangements have started at the Government Rose Garden (GRG) ahead of the two-day rose show, which is to be commenced on May 14.