Ooty flower show on May 18

UDHAGAMANDALAM: The '116th flower show and the 54th fruit show Committee' comprising the Nilgiris district Collector, Archana Patnaik and the commissioner of horticulture, plantation and crops, Santhosh Babu and other Nilgiri district officials met, on Monday, to finalize dates of various shows including the famous 'Flower Show' and 'Fruit Show' to be held in Ooty during May.According to Santhosh Babu, the 116th floral carnival will be held at the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) on May 18, 19 and 20. While the 'Rose Show' will be conducted at the Government Rose Park on May 12 and 13 the '54th Fruit Show' will take place at Sim's Park in Coonoor on May 26 and 27. The 'Vegetable Show' will be held at Kotagiri on May 5 and 6 and the 'Spice Show' in Gudalur on May 6.
The forthcoming 'annual summer festival -2012' in Ooty promises to be more spectacular as 66 new varieties of flower seedlings including special species like Acroclinum, Angelonia and Browalia have been introduced. The preparation that included planting of flower saplings for the main summer season- 2012 commenced last December. According to V Ramsunder, Assistant Director of Horticulture, GBG, the botanical garden is being prepared for the summer season in a grand manner. "Around 159 varieties of flower seeds including 66 new varieties of about 95 species have been sown in the garden," Ramsunder said.
Stating that out of 159 varieties, nearly 90 are F1 hybrids selected for its well known colour and attractive characters, Ramsunder said, "The flower saplings are planted according to their duration of life so as to keep the garden in full bloom during the summer season".