The 24th Garden Tourism Festival in Delhi

Did you know that herbal plants like aloe vera can heal burn marks on the body? There is more. It can also cure problems like chronic indigestion. Another herbal plant Kadi Patta can cure diabetes. The medicinal values of tulsi, marwah and stevia are equally undeniable. Stevia is an herb that is calorie free and very sweet, making it a good substitute for suga.
The three-day annual 24th Garden Tourism Festival which concluded at The Garden of Five Senses, Said-ul-Ajaib, was a rare visual treat for gardening enthusiasts. Spread over a sprawling 20 acres, this beautiful site was the venue of this festival for the ninth consecutive year. The place is close to the Mehrauli Heritage Area.
“The theme for this year’s festival was ‘Herbal for Happiness’, and the main objective was to propagate the importance of herbal plants in our stress-ridden lifestyles. We were quite happy to see the response of visitors to this garden festival. They bought aloe vera and other herbal plants known for their medicinal properties,” said Satish Mathur, horticulture landscape consultant, who has been delivering talks in schools of Delhi about the need to grow herbal plants in our homes as they don't require much space.
Delhi Tourism has been organising the Garden Tourism Festival for the last 23 years. In 1988, the first festival was held in a DDA Park at Greater Kailash and since then societies, nurseries, associations and individuals have come together under one umbrella towards making this festival a resounding success.
The festival this year was organized by Delhi Tourism in association with Government of Delhi and Incredible India. The festival had specially designed theme Gardens in size 20 ft. x 30 ft. In the theme category NDMC, MCD, DDA and Delhi Jal Board were the major participants. The other participants in the festival this year were Indian Railways, DIAL, Archaeological Survey of India, CPWD, Department of Environment, Delhi Govt.
According to Ajay Kumar Kaushik, horticulture in-charge, The Garden of Five Senses, even looking at the dazzling variety of flowers de-stresses one. We call it colour therapy. One way we can also call it the flowers for happiness. Margaret Cann and her husband Peter from the UK were all praise for the festival. “The daffodils were really amazing, and they reminded us of Wordsworth’s immortal poem. We would carry some happy memories of this festival with us to London,” said Margaret. For Sumit and Divya, the Garden Festival was a great opportunity to buy herbal plants of their choice. “We had come here all the way from Shalimar Bagh to buy some plants. Even my parents are gardening enthusiasts and we have plenty of herbal plants at home,” said Sumit.