NILGIRIS: As part of the summer festival, the 20th Rose Show began at the Government Rose Garden in Ooty on Saturday. Chief Whip of Tamil Nadu Assembly K Ramachandran inaugurated the three-day show in the presence of Kumaravel Pandian, Director of Horticulture and Plantation Crops Department, and Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru, Nilgiris Collector.
The main attraction of the show is a 22-foot-tall pair of dolphins created using 80,000 roses. Likewise, thousands of roses were also used for designing other aquatic creatures such as an Olive Ridley turtle, penguin, dugong, seahorse and starfish. Tourists, especially children, were attracted by the fish daughter, clownfish and pearl oyster displays.
Speaking at the inauguration, Ramachandran said the Rose Garden, which was established in 1995 by the Horticulture and Plantation Crops Department as part of the 100th flower show held at the Government Botanical Garden (GBG), has developed into a world-famous Rose park. Initially, 1,919 varieties of 17,526 roses were planted, and now it has gone up to 32,000 roses with 4,301 varieties, including rare ones.
“The 20th-year theme of the rose show is to ensure protection of sea creatures. A total of 7.25 lakh visitors visited last year’s rose show,” said Ramachandran, who requested the people to pay a visit to the show, which will conclude on Monday.
Ramachandran also said the state government will renovate the walking path in the surroundings of the Ooty Lake and the Kodappamund
Channel at a cost of `3 crore, along with restoration of the Bykara Road.