Dazzling display of flowers on cards in Ooty from May 17

OOTY: With the summer tourist season in the hills witnessing a huge inflow of tourists despite the wet spell and overcast sky over the past few days, the focus has now shifted to the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) here, as it is gearing up for the five-day dazzling annual flower show, the 123th edition this summer, which begins on May 17.

While showers for the past many days ensured good bloom and greenery in the GBG, it also to a little extent spoilt some portions of the lawn and some portions of the flower beds in the GBG.  Hundreds of flower varieties including renunculus, daliah, marigold, pancy, salvia, alstromaria and flox are blooming.

The organisers have started arranging the colorful flowers grown in 30,000 pots in the flower show gallery. Mr. Shiva Subramanian Samraj, joint director of Horticulture, Nilgiris, said that efforts are being made to arrange flower pots in the new garden area. He said that so far around five lakh tourists have visited the GBG since April 1 this summer, creating a new record of sorts.