With the arrival of spring as the flowers of different varieties have started to bloom, the J&K government is not only opening the world-famous Tulip Garden and Badamwari but Srinagar will soon have its own cherry blossom garden in the pattern of world-famous Japanese sakura parks.
With Tourism season already showing tremendous response after many years, now the government is planning to explore spring tourism in the Valley and the tourism, floriculture and horticulture department are planning to outline programs that will make spring season another tourist attraction. Kashmir has four beautiful seasons – Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter and for all the four seasons the tourists have something to enjoy on the plains and mountains of the Valley.
Buoyed by the arrival of tourists last year when Kashmir witnessed an all-time high tourist arrival of around 26 to 27 lakh tourists, this year also the J&K government and tourism department are hopeful that the year will be full of tourism activities right from the spring.
Director Tourism Faz-lul Haseeb said that more than one lakh tourists have already visited Kashmir in February.
“The department is also working on several methods for data collection concerning the number of tourists and is preparing for the upcoming tourist season so that the number of tourists in the Valley will increase,” he said adding that March will see more tourists and we are prepared as several festivals are planned and that are set to attract more and more tourists.
He said that the department is working on scientific methods for calculating tourist numbers. “It is the age of big data; we collect data based on scientific methods from registered and unregistered hotels also.” He said that having the right numbers in place will help in the formulation of policies for the betterment of the tourism sector.
By the end of this month the government will be throwing open the magnificent Tulip Garden on the foothills of Zabarwan forest range.
With 1.5 million tulips of 68 varieties expected to bloom in Tulip Garden, visitors can also expect a dash of water this spring. The gardeners and engineers are busy extending the water channel to add waterfalls and a high-rise fountain at the top of the terraced garden.
Around 60 gardeners are working round the clock on the iconic garden, one of the biggest in Asia, to make sure that the bloom of the sea of flowers starts by March 20. “This year we have more bulbs than last year, over 15 lakh have been laid of 68 varieties besides other spring blooming bulbs like hyacinth, daffodil, muscari, cyclamens,” said Inam ul Rehman, in-charge Tulip Garden of floriculture department.
Usually, the tulip bloom starts 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 temperature-sensitive flowers need mercury to stay above 15 degrees and below 25 degrees. The initial days of March had witnessed fine temperatures that could see the early bloom.
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.
And now another garden is in the offing. Officials said modalities were being worked out to make the cherry blossom garden a major tourist attraction in the coming years. With almonds, tulips and cherries, Kashmir’s spring will be different for tourists, who have lately been arriving in the Valley in large numbers.
The cherry blossom theme garden is a ₹10-crore project, which would be an extension of the existing tulip garden in Srinagar to make it more attractive and magnificent for the visitors. The project is being facilitated by the Union ministry of external affairs,” said commissioner secretary, floriculture, Sheikh Fayaz Ahmad.
“There will be a requirement of about 2,500 cherry trees in the first phase, for which certain varieties have been identified that will suit our place,” he said. Some days tourists and locals could be seen making a beeline to Badamwari to witness the almond bloom.
