SRINAGAR: As Covid-19 cases continue to decline in Jammu and Kashmir, authorities are throwing open Asia’s largest tulip Garden here from March 20 for the visitors.Tulips in Kashmir remain in bloom for 15-20 days from the last week of March to mid April depending upon the temperature. Nestled on the foothills of Zabarwan range, the tulip Garden in Srinagar would be a riot of colour as 1.3 million tulips of 62-varieties are expected to bloom in the garden.Around 100-gardeners who have been employed to take care of the flower beds are working hard to make it more beautiful.”Due to comparatively better weather this season, the tulip garden will be thrown open earlier than usual,” said Sheikh Fayaz, commissioner/secretary of the Floriculture department.He said the department is fully prepared and new projects are being started for beautification and maintenance of new gardens and parks in the Kashmir valley.”100 kanals (12.5 acres) of land has been identified at tourist spot Sonamarg in north Kashmir for setting up a tulip garden there and a rose garden would be developed at famous tourist spot Pahalgam in south which will attract more tourists,” Fayaz added.The tulip Garden in Srinagar has become one of the major tourist attractions of the valley since it was inaugurated in 2007. Till then (2008), the tourism season in Kashmir used to begin from May every year. However, the tulip garden has advanced the tourism season of Kashmir by over a month.Situated at an altitude of 5,600 feet, the tulip garden, curated by then Chief Minister of J&K Ghulam Nabi Azad at the foothills of Zabarwan in Srinagar, came as a shot in the arm for the Tourism Department in 2007.While tulips are normally associated with the Turks and Dutch, Kashmir is fast catching up with this craze to somehow squeeze itself into the exclusive zone of tulip-growing regions of the world.
