The garden has an annual budget of around ₹3 crore with three-fourth of the amount going into buying fresh tulip bulbs from the Netherlands; it has played an important part in wooing tourists during the past few years
Kashmir’s iconic (Asia’s biggest) Tulip Garden is all set to open for the public in the last week of March with over 17.5 lakh flowers of 74 tulip varieties to bloom gradually this season, officials said.
Hectic preparations are underway with over 100 workers and gardeners working round the clock to ensure a major portion of the tulip bulbs bloom in the 4,500-kanal terraced garden for four weeks on the foothills of Zabarwan mountain range and overlooking the serene Dal Lake.
“The preparations are almost complete and the announcement to open the garden will be made on March 20 onwards,” said floriculture department’s Asif Yatoo, incharge of the garden that came up in 2006.
The work on the garden is ongoing throughout the year with sowing of tulip bulbs starting by November 15. It takes around a month by which time the winter sets in. By February end when the snow has already melted, the gardners loosen the soil and remove unwanted grass. The spray is done as the flowers start to grow.
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The garden has an annual budget of around ₹3 crore with three-fourth of the amount going into buying fresh tulip bulbs from Netherlands.
Usually, the tulip bloom starts by late March. The average life of a tulip flower is 20 days and can stretch up to 25 with overall bloom getting extended by adding mid and late-blooming varieties of tulips. The temperature-sensitive flowers need mercury to stay above 15° Celsius and below 25° Celsius. In August 2023, the Tulip Garden earned a spot in World Book of Records (London) as Asia’s largest.
On Monday, Kashmir divisional commissioner Vijay Kumar Bidhuri held a review meeting, an official spokesperson said. Bidhuri directed for a massive publicity campaign, time slot and online booking of tickets by the visitors for which link will be available on the official website of the floriculture department, he said.
The garden is divided into over 30-36 plots with 16-18 beds in each plot.
The garden played an important part in wooing more tourists during the past few years. Last year, the garden witnessed an all-time high footfall of over 4.65 lakh visitors, including locals, up from over 3.7 lakh in 2023, 3.6 lakh visitors in 2022 and 2.3 lakh in 2021.
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“This year, we are expecting more and the numbers will surpass previous records,” Yatoo said.
Kashmir’s connection with tulips traces back its origin hundreds of years when the flowers were grown on muddy rooftops of houses. Gradually, they were grown in kitchen gardens and flower beds. In 2005-06, the then state government decided to convert Siraj Bagh on the banks of Dal Lake into a regal Tulip Garden in keeping with Kashmir’s historical ties with tulips.
