Srinagar, Mar 07: Over 15 lakh (1.5 million) tulips are expected to bloom at the end of this month in Kashmir’s Tulip Garden, one of the largest in Asia, and will mesmerize thousands of tourists and locals.
The bloom usually lasts up to a maximum of four weeks but the efforts in making the garden reach this stage is a long, painstaking and cumbersome process involving the blood and sweat of some 120 gardeners, labourers, among other workers.
For a few weeks of visual aesthetics for the visitors in the months of March-April, the gardeners and labourers toil yearlong, braving the vagaries of weather and indulging in constant hard work.
“The tulip flowers last for a maximum of one month but the process continues for the whole year and involves a very cumbersome activity. The garden is the result of sweat and blood of our employees and workers,” said Sofi Inam-ur-Rehman, assistant floriculture officer and in-charge of the Tulip Garden.
This year, an additional two lakh bulbs have been added to the 30-hectare terracing garden at Siraj Bagh in Srinagar than last year when the bloom of 13 lakh (1.3 million) tulips had quietly withered away without catching an eye of any visitor due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
This year, te bloom is expected to happen in the last week of March as the temperature-sensitive flowers need mercury to stay above 15 degrees at a stretch.
“The opening of the garden is weather dependent. The temperatures in March have gone down from above-normal in February. There is also a prediction of rains from March 07. The garden won’t open before March 20,” said in-charge deputy director of the floriculture department, Shayiq Rasool.
Usually, the blooming begins by late March. The average life of a tulip flower is 20 days and can stretch to a maximum of 25 with overall bloom getting extended by adding late-blooming varieties of tulips.
The flowers start to fall by late April. “During the bloom, the work gets doubled because we have to take care of the flowers as well as deal with the enthusiastic visitors,” said Abdul Rehman, 55, who has been working as a gardener in Tulip Garden for the past five years.
He said that they have to observe the plants as the foliage of the tulip bulbs is allowed to dry up for May and up to June 15. He said that the rigorous work starts a the beginning of July when the summer heat is at its peak.
“In July, August and September, we have to painstakingly remove the bulbs with proper caution to store them in cold stores with proper grading,” Rehman said. “Mind you, these are not a few hundred or thousand bulbs but over a million and a half,” he said.
The temperature in the cold sheds is maintained at around 15 to 18 degrees.
Rehman said that there is a depreciation of tulip bulbs year after year and the officials have to import more tulip bulbs every year. “Around 30 per cent bulbs get damaged or diseased during and after the extraction process and have to be replaced by new bulbs,” he said.
Sofi said that they import the bulbs every year from Holland.
“This year we bought 4.6 lakh tulip bulbs from Holland which is the world’s biggest flower bulb market,” Sofi said.
A tulip bulb may cost anywhere between ₹12 and 24. “The rates depend on the condition of the international market which works on euro rates,” he said.
The picturesque garden, one of the biggest tulip gardens in Asia and located on the foothills of the Zabarwan range and the banks of majestic Dal Lake, has over 63 varieties of red, yellow, pink, white, purple, blue, yellow and multi-color – early blooming, mid blooming and late blooming – tulip bulbs this year.
“The colours are to cherish. It is an array of hues. Besides the usual ones, we also have crimson and brick red, maroon and apricot colour. The early and late blooming varieties have been added to extend the total blooming period,” he said.
In addition to tulips, the garden also has hyacinths, daffodils and spring-flowering shrubs. “We also have ornamental trees like apricots and almonds which coincide with tulip blooming. This has been done to enhance the beauty of the garden,” he said.
The garden has been divided into 36 plots with 16-18 beds in each plot. There are three parks also inside the garden where the visitors can sit and visualize themselves in a sea of colours, dominated by the Zabarwan Mountains. Various small ornamental trees including the tulip tree decorate the sides of the numerous paths of the garden.
In October, soil preparation is done by using tractors. The beds are also prepared during the period with proper channels for draining of water as well as for beautification.
“By November 15, the sowing of tulip bulbs starts. It takes around a month by which time the winter sets in,” said Mohammad Ayoub Lone, another gardener who has been here for the past 16 years.
“By February 20, when the snow has already melted, we start to loosen the soil and remove unwanted grass. The spray is done as the flowers start to grow,” he 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 till in 2005-06 the then state government decided to convert Siraj Bagh into a regal Tulip Garden in keeping with Kashmir’s historical ties with tulips.
On the foothills of Zabarwan range, the Tulip Garden was opened in 2007 on sloping ground with multiple terraces, overlooking the scenic Botanical Garden.
In 2019, the garden attracted 2.58 lakh visitors, including many local Kashmiris and 1.9 lakh in 2018 as the annual Tulip Festival gained popularity.
Tourism nosedived in Kashmir in 2019 as the central government revoked the special status under Article 370 of the erstwhile state and split the region into two Union territories on August 5 and put it under restrictions. The lockdown implemented in March 2020 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic further exacerbated the situation.
Shayiq Rasool, the deputy director, said that the garden has become a landmark for tourism and indirectly benefits thousands of people in the sector.
“Our annual budget for the garden is around one crore rupees and in return, it gives us a lot of bookings for the hotels, houseboats and transport sector. We have to look at its trickle-down benefits,” he said.
Meanwhile, gardener M Ayoub Lone is eagerly waiting for the mesmerizing bloom.
“The beauty is not actually of the garden but of the hard work I and my colleagues have put in to make it bloom. When it does we want to be here, day and night,” he said.(HT)
