J&K’s Tulip Garden to close a week early due to high temperature

Kashmir’s famed Tulip Garden, one of Asia’s largest with 1.5 million tulips in bloom, will close on Monday, a week earlier than usual due to above-average temperatures this season.

Since its inception, the garden has seen an all-time high arrival of over 3.5 lakh people, including locals and domestic tourists, according to officials. The garden will be closed from Monday onwards since the blooms are wilting owing to the excessive heat.

‘We are closing early this season as the bloom has reduced due to high temperatures’, said Sofi Inam-ur-Rehman, floriculture officer and in-charge of the Tulip Garden.

Srinagar’s daytime temperatures have stayed 10 degrees above average this year, with a high of 28.9 degrees Celsius this month. The garden opened two days earlier than usual on March 23, due to the high temperatures, which also resulted in early flower blossoming, as opposed to the previous year, when the garden opened on March 25 and closed on April 25. Temperature-sensitive flowers require a temperature range of 15 to 25 degrees Celsius.

Sofi stated that despite the bloom lasting for a shorter period of time, visitor arrivals surpassed all previous records. The garden is a major tourist attraction in the spring, especially following the Covid interruptions in March 2020. The garden attracted 2.3 lakh visits last year, both tourists and locals.

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While the facility remained closed due to the pandemic in the spring of 2020, the garden welcomed 2.58 lakh visitors in 2019, including many locals, and 1.9 lakh in 2018, as the annual tulip festival grew in popularity.

The 30-hectare terraced garden at Siraj Bagh, nestled on the foothills of the Zabarwan mountain range and the banks of the spectacular Dal Lake, was adorned with about 1.5 million flowers of 68 species. The tulip bloom usually begins in late March. The average life of a tulip blossom is 20 days, although it can last up to 25, depending on the variety. Late-blooming tulips can increase the entire bloom time.

According to Sofi, the high visitor count this year has set the tone for a successful tourism season in the Valley. ‘This was a record-breaking season and it seems the coming time will be very good’, he added.