NILGIRIS: Arrangements for the 125th annual flower show, which will begin on May 19, is on at full swing in the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) in Ooty. Tourism Minister K Ramachandran inspected the arrangements along with Nilgiris Collector SP Amrith on Wednesday. He further said helicopter tourism will commence on May 13 in the first phase to entertain the tourists.
As many as 65,000 potted flower plants in 325 varieties such as Geranium, balsam, Salvia, lisianthus and ornamental, will be on display in the glass house and neem garden, among other places this year, and remaining 5.5 lakh different flower plants are ready to give visual treat to the tourists in the garden this year.
As part of 125th year celebration, the Horticulture department has planned to set up a mega structure using flowers. Last year, over one lakh carnation flowers were used to create the façade of Tamil Nadu Agriculture University main building. Moreover, small flower structures in different designs will also be placed across the garden to attract the tourists. This decision has been taken to avoid overcrowding in one place.
Apart from the 125th year celebration of flower show, Government Botanical Garden is also observing its 175th year and ‘Ooty 200’ celebration is also underway. Hence, the district administration has planned to celebrate them as ‘Mupperum Vizha’.
Apart from the horticulture department, stalls of ICDS, tribal welfare department, forest department and municipality will be set up at the garden to show cause of the works carried out by the state government.