Raja Syed Rather
Srinagar, Dec 30: With five more varieties in upcoming season, the Asia’s largest, Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip GardenTulip garden, located in the between Dal Lake and the Zabarwan hills is set to witness a blooming of 1.7 million tulip bulbs for the first time.
Officials while divulging the details said that compared to 68 varieties in previous year, they have decided to increase the number of varieties to 73 in this season.
Javaid Masood, In-Charge Tulip Garden said that nearly one lakh more bulbs than the previous year will bloom at the Tulip garden in the upcoming season for which the work ground has been already done.
“This year, the work period got extended till mid December unlike previous years as a consignment from Holland got delayed,” he said, adding that in the upcoming season, the Tulip Garden that was recently included in World Book of Records will be in full bloom with 1.7 million tulip bulbs.
He said nearly 100 employees including staff as well as the gardeners were employed for the beautification of the garden, adding that the work has been completed.
“As the increasing flow of tourists was recorded last year at the garden, we are expecting the number to go further up in the upcoming season,” he said, adding that the opening of Tulip garden commences the new tourist season in Jammu & Kashmir. “The number of tourists visiting J&K in the spring season was low in the past, but since the Tulip garden has come up in Srinagar, the flow has been increasing with every passing year and this year too, we are expecting the footfall to increase further,” he said.
Pertinently, the garden was opened in 2007 with the aim of boosting floriculture and tourism in the Kashmir Valley. It is built on sloping ground in a terraced fashion, consisting of seven terraces. The Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip garden is spread over 30 hectares.
