Nilgiris District Collector J. Innocent Divya on Wednesday inaugurated the planting season in preparation for the 124th flower show at the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) in Udhagamandalam.
In the first phase, plants with longer lifespan, such as the salvias, delphiniums and penstemons were planted.
Next year’s flower show is set to be one of the biggest in recent years, with 50 varieties of plants and over 400 varieties of seeds from different parts of the world, including Japan, the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands being imported for the show.
The plants will be grown at the GBG and the State horticultural farms, before being showcased to the public during the flower show in May.
Ms. Divya said that over 15,000 plants would be arranged in the viewing galleries at the botanical garden for the season.
The marquee event of the festival will feature elaborate displays of cyclamen plants, cinerarias, geraniums, gloxinia, ornamental kale, oriental lilies, asiatic lilies, daliahs, petunias, French marigolds, pansies, zinnias, delphiniums, verbenas, sunflowers, celosias and violas, officials said.
Also present at the event were the Nilgiris Superintendent of Police V. Sasi Mohan and Joint Director of Horticulture, the Nilgiris District Sivasubramaniam Samraj.
