Stay safe - a message from plants to people

As many as 5,000 flowers pots with four varieties of plants were used for this arrangement at the Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam.

With more than 35,000 potted plants blooming at the Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam, the Horticulture Department has arranged some of the plants to spread awareness among the public with a message to “stay safe.”

According to officials, more than 5,000 plants, including different colours of marigolds, dianthus, salvias and verbenas, were arranged using around 50 Horticulture Department employees, who were residing near the garden, to spell out the message to residents to stay home and stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. The staff were made follow personal distancing rules.

Assistant Director of Horticulture, the Nilgiris, M. Radhakrishnan, said that visitors were currently not allowed to the Garden or any other parks. “We will wait to see if there is any relaxation for local residents to visit the garden, so that they can see the exhibits, or we will put up pictures of the message on social media or on government websites,” said an official.

May is usually one of the busiest months for the Department, as lakhs of tourists visit the district to attend the summer festival, in which the fruit, vegetable, spice, rose and the flower show is held.

Prior to the spread of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, the district administration had announced that the summer festival season would begin with the Vegetable Show in Kotagiri on May 2 and 3.

However, officials confirmed that the vegetable show has been cancelled, with a decision on the rest of the summer festival still pending.